The playing field

I'm just noticing that there are several other similar blogs (similar but not the same), but that they tend to update 1-2x's per week. I'm still trying to sort out how to keep this going once the novelty wears off (time commitment, momentum, tone, etc), so yet another thing to consider. The biggest problem of blogs nowadays, as I see it (and I know me some web tech market stuff) is distinguishing yourself.

I predicted this when I got into podcasting for Digital Trends. When I started, the big craze was just little "about me" snippets. I said to myself, "Me, once people realize that they have their own life to live, and, really, other people's lives get as boring to you as your own, they will be looking for content." Sure enough, that's where it all went - topical conversations.

No matter how topic driven, and this goes for any media, part of the lure of a particular show is the personality. So, I'm still struggling with the tone of this blog. Do I go for a Gizmodoian light hearted, brief summary tone, or a Neurophilosopherian in depth exploration or topics? Personally, I like The Retrospectacle's tone, which is what I'm hoping to build myself up to. The perfect blend of personal and technical, IMO. Though, I tend to be more goofy, so that will hopefully shine through.

Welcome to my internal dialogue, I guess. I haven't actually tried to promote The Blog much, as I feel like I'm still working out the bugs. Why not just start throwing it out there and adjusting based on feedback? Easy. I'm a little fish in a big sea. There are many, many, many options, and people tend to go with first impressions when presented with that many options. So, I want things to be more finely polished and a decent archive going. I don't want to be that site where people say, "Hrm, that's interesting, but I'll wait until it has more substance before I actually start watching it."

My goal right now is to have this place ready for promotion before the first semester of the next academic year (so I won't be embarrassed when my undergrads refer people to it). I don't want them saying, "Go visit my TA's site. We feel sorry for him. i think he had some sort of major head trauma when he was a child."

It's 7am...

I've had no sleep for a couple days...
MatLab in crunching away and stealing application focus on monitor 2...
I've had 4 shots of espresso in the last hour...
SfN abstracts are due in less than 36 hours...

... and I decide to start a blog. Sure, what's one more commitment?

Welcome to my neuroscience and Brain Computer Interface (BCI)/Brain Machine Interface (BMI)/Neuroprosthetics/Rehabilitative Neural Engineering/Doo-Dads In your Brain blog. Over the past couple months I've been gathering new information in the BCI field on an almost daily basis, and thought this might a) help me organize that information and b) provide others with some entertainment plus a venue to discuss ideas related to BCI.

Don't let my informal language deter you. I assure you, I am as sharp as a bowling ball. This is my generally preferred whimsical tone, and if you crave the stuffy ultra-precision of a 24/7 nose to the grindstone scientist, well, I won't be offended if you trek off mid-article to bask in the cold dehumanizing comfort of the Neural Computation journal. Not all the posts will be this informal, but be aware that some will.

Feel free to check out my bio, as soon as I figure out where that is myself (I've had a GMail account for all of 10 minutes now). The basics? I am a second year grad student in the lab of John Donoghue at Brown University, involved in the analysis of human neural implant data as part of the CyberKinetics BrainGate clinical trials. Yes, I am a graduate student, but as JD says, I'm one of those types that has lived several lives before returning to grad school. I am also the Senior Editor of the Digital Trends website, where I do product reviews, articles, and host the site's podcast. The folks there have stuck with me through some crazy times, and have absolutely earned my trust. They're good people. Before my time at Brown, I was a pharma rep, and before that a research neurophysiologist/programmer for Phil Kennedy, one of the pioneers of the invasive BCI field. I graduated from Emory University, with a double BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology (NBB) and Computer Science (minored in Philosophy).

This blog is intended to be focused on BCI, but there is a good chance I will delve into other topics related to neuroscience. As I said, there is a selfish motivation in creating this site, and one extension of that is the idea that it gives me a reason to pull together information, organize my thoughts, and express them in a (hopefully) clear manner.

With any public discussion of science and lab work there is a balance I am going to have to keep between disclosure and protection of my work. While there is very little chance I will be 'scooped' - the number of labs analyzing neural data from human implant subjects can be counted on one hand - I have to protect my projects and those of my fellow lab mates (and CyberKinetics, Inc, and the identities of patients). So let me say this now: The views expressed here are solely mine. They are not the views of CyberKinetics, Inc, Brown University, Neuroscience Graduate Program, The Donoghue Lab, John Donoghue/Michael Black/Jerome Sanes/Leigh Hochberg/etc. There will be no discussion of this material. Got it? Legal repercussions due to my caffeine infused, ADHD-esque, scatterbrained, sleep-deprived decisions are unacceptable! The decisions themselves, though, are delicious.

I will possibly be hosting a sister blog via Digital Trends on purely technology related topics. When that goes live, I'll announce it here as well. I have to budget my time wisely, with my primary obligation to the lab/grant, but I work best when I am distracted. it sounds counter-intuitive, but my attention fades quickly, and if I don't have a related 'distractor', I tend to drift away into unrelated work.