What are their content interests?

March 16th, 2008

Potential readers of Behavior and Biology are people who may have a developed interest in science, who would have an vested interest in conserving the habitats of threatened species and who like to know about new research. One particular area of focus is neuroscience and cognition - a lot or exciting new research looks into what makes us human and what separates us from other primates. Even people who may not be interested in the animal biology may be interested in what this research tells us about ourselves.

I spoke with three people from a cross-section of the targeted audience - an attorney with an vested interest in animal and habitat conservation, a professor from a scientific discipline outside of animal biology and a graduate student in the area of neuroscience and animal behavior.

They told me that they liked the posts concerning research from top journals and being able to learn about the subject without reading the dry journal articles in their entirety and expressed a desire in learning about the science behind the issues.

” I really liked the fact that you could learn a lot from the site without reading boring journal articles, but I also liked that you did have links to some journals like animal cognition,” said the graduate student. He also offered the suggestion, “for those with more than a passing interest in this stuff, I would also have a separate section of ‘tags’ for links to scientific journals.”

and

“I personally would find the stories about warming and endangered
species more compelling if they had more references to “hard science” and
referenced the studies behind people’s declarations.”

Online content:
Besides BehaviorandBiology, there are several other blogs that provide information on animal behavior or biology . Mongabay.com and Scienceblogs.com are perhaps the two most comprehensive Web sites that publish information on this topic and feature a lot of diverse content. PhysOrg.com is also a pretty neat site.

Print and Online:
A major source of information is the journal Science, which publishes research, news and analysis. Another source with great coverage of science news is The New York Times. Both are great sources of news and with a wide range of content, but may require a subscription to see the content in its entirety.

Television and Online:
Television programs that address issues of habitat conservation, biology and behavior of animals are NOVA on PBS, and the Discovery Channel with the very popular Planet Earth series.

“Real world” and Online:
Zoos offer education programs to the public and sponsor meetings and symposiums on the issues of conservation, biology and behavior for both the public and people with a professional interest in these topics. The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago is a good example, and the San Diego Zoo is another trusted source that also features blogs on their Web site from animal keepers and zoologists.

I plan to differentiate mine with more focused coverage of a topic. One reader liked the diverse content on my Web site, but found it a bit much because there were so many different, unrelated topics covered.

I would address this by devoting a week to posting information relevant to a specific issue. For example, chimpanzee week or neuroscience week. Each post could stand on its own, and taken together, give an perspective on complicated subject matter.

Some of the traffic to my blog came from subject specific searches like, “seismic communication in elephant’s 2008.” I think the proposed format would satisfy people looking for comprehensive coverage of a specific issue and as well, visitors simply learning more about a interesting science-related topic.

It is my understanding the perspective readers are interested in authoritative content from reputable sources. For that reason I will get most of what I write about from journals and experts in the field. I will write my own content so that people without a sophisticated knowledge of the subject will not tune out. To satisfy those looking for more sophisticated coverage, I will link to and provide excerpts from the articles in scientific journals.

I think the guest blogger would a huge draw and would give people access to someone they might not otherwise contact. It would encourage interactivity with the site and also help readers to view the information as credible.

One reader said she would appreciate: