ScienceOnline'09 Update

Woo hoo! I'm happy to announce that I now have a co-moderator for the Science Fiction in Science Blogs session at ScienceOnline'09 in January. Peggy Kolm of, among other blogs, Biology in Science Fiction and Women in Science, will be joining me. Peggy is exactly the person I would have wanted as a co-moderator, had the choice been left up to me, and I was tickled to hear that she can make the conference.

The description for our panel has been updated a bit:

Science fiction has inspired curiosity and enthusiasm in generations of children. How can science bloggers draw on SF’s power to entertain and educate? What science can we find in fiction beyond the old multi-page calculations of rocket trajectories? What does the practice of science look like in SF? In the past, scientists like Asimov and Clarke were the ones writing SF. Who’s producing the good stuff these days, and what makes a good bad example? Many modern SF writers blog too. What opportunities exist for cross-promotion and educating the writers? And which bloggers are already doing it all right?

It is, however, still a work in progress, which is where we can use your help. A discussion page has been set up for the session. Go tell us what you want us to be prepared to talk about, whether it's a question you want to see answered, a writer you want talked up, or a field or discipline you want covered.

For that matter, just drop us a note to let us know you're coming to the session. It's an early one, and just knowing we're going to have an audience will help us both as we contemplate being verbal at that time of day.