Matin Durrani - Science Journalist
Famous first words
Typing one's first words into a new blog has a slightly momentous feel -- a bit like buying your first record I suppose -- but it oughtn't to be such a dramatic thing. After all, there are a gazillion blogs already out there. (And yes, I know, gazillion, is not a proper scientific unit.) One thing I should make clear right at the start is that this blog is my personal blog and has nothing to do with the Physics World blog that I contribute to in my day job when time permits. In fact, this blog gets right to heart of a point we have debated many times in the Physics World team, namely where does one's "work persona" end and one's "home persona" take over. Social-media tools make the distinction a rather blurry one, but I like to think that what I write on the Physics World blog is different to this blog in two main ways.
First my comments there will have usually been fully debated with other members of the editorial team, which means that they has passed some sort of editorial scrutiny. Second, the blog there is a collective team effort with different people contributing on different days -- so although it is a multi-author effort, I hope that each of us would stand by and agree with what other contributors have said.
This blog, in contrast, will be my personal ramblings and mine alone -- an outpouring of thoughts if you like from brain to keyboard. Also they won't usually be about topics that I write about at work. I expect most of the posts to be about science journalism in general, but we shall see if I have enough to say on that matter.
There, that was faintly momentous wasn't it?