Cephalopodcast - The Ocean Podcast

Beach Chair Scientist
I learned about a new Web site at last month’s NMEA conference called the Beach Chair Scientist. It is run by Ann McElhatton and features a companion blog for “anyone with an enthusiasm for learning about the science behind life in the ocean or along the seashore.” So far there are entries on horseshoe crabs, seaweed and ocean exfoliants.

WATERlog
Another blog I learned about recently is run by The National Aquarium in Baltimore and is called WATERlog. The blog is updated weekly and features posts on their conservation efforts and peeks behind-the-scenes. A recent post featured news of the birth of an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at the Aquarium. The blog’s sidebar shows photos from the National Aquarium’s Flickr Pool, which gives a personable angle on how the guests view the institution. In contrast, the blog’s About page seems terribly formal, as if it was ripped from an annual report. It does not give a clear idea who the primary author, or authors, are for the site. Compare that to The Monterey Bay Aquarium blog called Sea Notes. They list the authors for each of their posts and I wish the National Aquarium would do this too.

As a side note, the National Aquarium blog is hosted at Wordpress and the Monterey Bay Aquarium blog is on Typepad. For anyone interested in comparing the two hosting services, you can see how these two aquariums take advantage of the different blogging hosts. It is also interesting to note that neither one chose to host their blogs on their own servers.

EcoSRQ
Finally, there is also a new Web site for environmentalists in my area of Florida, called Eco Sarasota. If I recall correctly, this site is an outgrowth of the Sarasota environmental Meet-up group. But just like the National Aquarium site, there is a dearth of contact and background information on who is behind it. Hope they add more info soon.