Many of us appreciate insects, spiders and other arthropods for more than just their scientific, biological or ecological value: they also have an aesthetic that some of us find irresistible, inspiring us to capture them in photographs or in paintings rather than sweep nets or aspirators.
For this special feature, we interviewed Elizabeth Goluch, a Halifax artist, and asked her about her breathtaking insect sculptures.
PRAYING MANTIS
Sterling silver, copper, 14K & 18K gold
18.5″l x 12″w x 9.5″h
ESCBlog: Please tell us a little bit about your background – where you grew up, when you started doing art, where you did your formal training.
EG: I grew up on a farm in southwestern Ontario. I have been making drawings and objects for as long as I can remember.
I took summer drawing classes at the University of Western Ontario, after which I acquired my BFA in 1976 at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. However, my major was in Painting. Much later, around 1997, I learned to solder by taking continuing education classes at NSCAD. I also became a member of the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia which is a Guild in the traditional sense. If you wish to learn a certain skill, you have only to ask and another member will provide the help that you need. Over time, I enrolled in several summer sessions at Haystack Mountain School of Craft thereby acquiring additional metalsmithing skills. So I would have to say that I have had little formal training in working with metal and am, for the most part, self-taught.
ESCBlog: Why insects? Have you always been interested in insects as subjects for your art?
EG: Insects have always attracted me. As a child I collected and examined dead insects, seeing them as objects of beauty. An early memory is one of drawing page after page of spiders which gave me a great sense of satisfaction.
TARANTULA
Sterling silver, 14k & 18k gold, tourmaline
7.25″l x 8″w x 2.25″h
ESCBlog: Most of your sculptures have movable parts; many contain hidden trinkets that can be removed and even worn as jewellery. Tell us about this choice to include interactive components.
EG: When I first began to make metal insect sculptures, I concentrated on the insect form. Over time, I realized that I wanted to add another dimension to each sculpture which resulted in the secret compartments containing hidden treasure.
ESCBlog: Although your pieces are incredibly lifelike, they also include many whimsical elements (a children’s poem enacted in a lady beetle) and often embrace word-play (e.g., the violin beetle). Tell us about your choice to blend the realistic with the fantastical.
EG: As my work has grown I have come to realize that, as much as I enjoy accuracy in building the body parts of each insect, I am also interested in telling the story of the insect. This is accomplished by including information about the insect’s life, lore and environment in the decorative details and secret spaces, increasingly important elements of each work.
ESCBlog: Insects are so often portrayed as something dark and sinister – something to fear. Your work, however turns insects and spiders into precious things made of gold, silver, pearls and gemstones. Can you talk a bit about your choice of materials in your pieces?
EG: Conversely, I have always seen insects as living jewels. However, I enjoy the combination of fear and attraction engendered in the viewer by the juxtaposition of the subject matter (insects) and the richness of the materials used (gold, silver, gemstones) in the making of the object.
ESCBlog: You’ve tackled many different types of insects, and even arachnids, in your work. Is there anything you haven’t attempted to sculpt yet that you’d like to?
EG: There are so many insects in the world that I can’t imagine ever running out of options for the next piece.
(However, I must confess that after repeated requests, I recently completed a commission that was not an insect. I made a Snail which turned out to be one of the most complex pieces that I have made to date. It will appear on my website in the near future.)
ESCBlog: Do you have a favorite piece? If so, why is it your favorite?
EG: I can’t say that I have one favourite piece. What I will say is that I enjoy the increasing complexity of story and detail incorporated in each new piece.
LADYBUG
sterling silver, 18k gold, garnets, enamel, ceramit
4.75″l x 3.75″w x 2″h
ESCBlog: Can people purchase the work your have shown on your website? Do you ever do commissioned pieces?
EG: Much of the work on my website has been sold or was a commissioned piece. I have, on occasion, made a second or third version of one insect (Dragonfly, LadyBug). However, no two pieces are ever the same, each differing in size, details and story.
ESCBlog: Is there anything else we should know about you or your work?
EG: I have won numerous awards including Finalist for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award, the Frank Phillips Award for Excellence in Craftsmanship, Best in Show in many Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia Competitions/Exhibitions, grants from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, and from the Canada Council for the Arts.
My work has been exhibited internationally, including the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea where Canada was invited as the guest country, the Cultural Olympiad in the Museum of Vancouver BC to coincide with the 2010 Olympics, Cesky Krumlov in the Wenceslas Cellars of the State Castle of the Czech Republic, SOFA New York and the Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax NS. One of my works was included in the Metal Arts Guild of Canada Exhibition in Print 2011 curated by Gloria Hickey.
My sculptures can be found in public and private collections in Canada, the USA, Denmark, Australia, Turkey and Hong Kong.
I have given lectures in Halifax at the Joint Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Entomological Society & the Acadian Entomological Society and at NSCAD, in South Korea at the 2009 Cheongju International Biennale, in New York at SOFA, and in Cornwall ON as the keynote speaker at the Artpreneur Conference.
I sit on the Exhibition Review Committee of the Mary E. Black Gallery Halifax NS and on the Standards Committee of the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council.
ESCBlog: Where can we go to see some of your work?
EG: My work will be included in upcoming exhibitions at the Mary E. Black Gallery Halifax NS and at The Rooms Provincial Gallery in St. John’s NL, both of which will subsequently travel across Canada.
I am in the Studio Rally Map and will participate in the upcoming Studio Rally Weekend.
Dates: Saturday September 29th and Sunday September 30th
Hours: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm – by chance or appointment
more info: www.StudioRally.ca
BUMBLEBEE
Sterling silver, 14K & 18K gold
7″l x 7″w x 4″h
If you’d like to reach Elizabeth, here is her contact information:
Website: www.elizabethgoluch.com
email: e@elizabethgoluch.com
Representation: Mobilia Gallery,Cambridge/Boston MA.
Availability in Halifax: my Studio – 6913 Tupper Grove, Halifax, NS.
Visitors & commissions welcome.
__________________________________________
Do you know any other incredible Canadian artists who feature insects in their work? We’d love to hear about it?
Insects as works of art
Many of us appreciate insects, spiders and other arthropods for more than just their scientific, biological or ecological value: they also have an aesthetic that some of us find irresistible, inspiring us to capture them in photographs or in paintings rather than sweep nets or aspirators.
For this special feature, we interviewed Elizabeth Goluch, a Halifax artist, and asked her about her breathtaking insect sculptures.
PRAYING MANTIS
Sterling silver, copper, 14K & 18K gold
18.5″l x 12″w x 9.5″h
ESCBlog: Please tell us a little bit about your background – where you grew up, when you started doing art, where you did your formal training.
EG: I grew up on a farm in southwestern Ontario. I have been making drawings and objects for as long as I can remember.
I took summer drawing classes at the University of Western Ontario, after which I acquired my BFA in 1976 at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. However, my major was in Painting. Much later, around 1997, I learned to solder by taking continuing education classes at NSCAD. I also became a member of the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia which is a Guild in the traditional sense. If you wish to learn a certain skill, you have only to ask and another member will provide the help that you need. Over time, I enrolled in several summer sessions at Haystack Mountain School of Craft thereby acquiring additional metalsmithing skills. So I would have to say that I have had little formal training in working with metal and am, for the most part, self-taught.
ESCBlog: Why insects? Have you always been interested in insects as subjects for your art?
EG: Insects have always attracted me. As a child I collected and examined dead insects, seeing them as objects of beauty. An early memory is one of drawing page after page of spiders which gave me a great sense of satisfaction.
TARANTULA
Sterling silver, 14k & 18k gold, tourmaline
7.25″l x 8″w x 2.25″h
ESCBlog: Most of your sculptures have movable parts; many contain hidden trinkets that can be removed and even worn as jewellery. Tell us about this choice to include interactive components.
EG: When I first began to make metal insect sculptures, I concentrated on the insect form. Over time, I realized that I wanted to add another dimension to each sculpture which resulted in the secret compartments containing hidden treasure.
ESCBlog: Although your pieces are incredibly lifelike, they also include many whimsical elements (a children’s poem enacted in a lady beetle) and often embrace word-play (e.g., the violin beetle). Tell us about your choice to blend the realistic with the fantastical.
EG: As my work has grown I have come to realize that, as much as I enjoy accuracy in building the body parts of each insect, I am also interested in telling the story of the insect. This is accomplished by including information about the insect’s life, lore and environment in the decorative details and secret spaces, increasingly important elements of each work.
ESCBlog: Insects are so often portrayed as something dark and sinister – something to fear. Your work, however turns insects and spiders into precious things made of gold, silver, pearls and gemstones. Can you talk a bit about your choice of materials in your pieces?
EG: Conversely, I have always seen insects as living jewels. However, I enjoy the combination of fear and attraction engendered in the viewer by the juxtaposition of the subject matter (insects) and the richness of the materials used (gold, silver, gemstones) in the making of the object.
ESCBlog: You’ve tackled many different types of insects, and even arachnids, in your work. Is there anything you haven’t attempted to sculpt yet that you’d like to?
EG: There are so many insects in the world that I can’t imagine ever running out of options for the next piece.
(However, I must confess that after repeated requests, I recently completed a commission that was not an insect. I made a Snail which turned out to be one of the most complex pieces that I have made to date. It will appear on my website in the near future.)
ESCBlog: Do you have a favorite piece? If so, why is it your favorite?
EG: I can’t say that I have one favourite piece. What I will say is that I enjoy the increasing complexity of story and detail incorporated in each new piece.
LADYBUG
sterling silver, 18k gold, garnets, enamel, ceramit
4.75″l x 3.75″w x 2″h
ESCBlog: Can people purchase the work your have shown on your website? Do you ever do commissioned pieces?
EG: Much of the work on my website has been sold or was a commissioned piece. I have, on occasion, made a second or third version of one insect (Dragonfly, LadyBug). However, no two pieces are ever the same, each differing in size, details and story.
ESCBlog: Is there anything else we should know about you or your work?
EG: I have won numerous awards including Finalist for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award, the Frank Phillips Award for Excellence in Craftsmanship, Best in Show in many Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia Competitions/Exhibitions, grants from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, and from the Canada Council for the Arts.
My work has been exhibited internationally, including the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea where Canada was invited as the guest country, the Cultural Olympiad in the Museum of Vancouver BC to coincide with the 2010 Olympics, Cesky Krumlov in the Wenceslas Cellars of the State Castle of the Czech Republic, SOFA New York and the Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax NS. One of my works was included in the Metal Arts Guild of Canada Exhibition in Print 2011 curated by Gloria Hickey.
My sculptures can be found in public and private collections in Canada, the USA, Denmark, Australia, Turkey and Hong Kong.
I have given lectures in Halifax at the Joint Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Entomological Society & the Acadian Entomological Society and at NSCAD, in South Korea at the 2009 Cheongju International Biennale, in New York at SOFA, and in Cornwall ON as the keynote speaker at the Artpreneur Conference.
I sit on the Exhibition Review Committee of the Mary E. Black Gallery Halifax NS and on the Standards Committee of the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council.
ESCBlog: Where can we go to see some of your work?
EG: My work will be included in upcoming exhibitions at the Mary E. Black Gallery Halifax NS and at The Rooms Provincial Gallery in St. John’s NL, both of which will subsequently travel across Canada.
I am in the Studio Rally Map and will participate in the upcoming Studio Rally Weekend.
Dates: Saturday September 29th and Sunday September 30th
Hours: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm – by chance or appointment
more info: www.StudioRally.ca
BUMBLEBEE
Sterling silver, 14K & 18K gold
7″l x 7″w x 4″h
If you’d like to reach Elizabeth, here is her contact information:
Website: www.elizabethgoluch.com
email: e@elizabethgoluch.com
Representation: Mobilia Gallery,Cambridge/Boston MA.
Availability in Halifax: my Studio – 6913 Tupper Grove, Halifax, NS.
Visitors & commissions welcome.
__________________________________________
Do you know any other incredible Canadian artists who feature insects in their work? We’d love to hear about it?
Upcoming Meeting – Entomological Society of Ontario AGM
Greetings fellow entomologists,
The 149th annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario is fast approaching!
The venue: Bonnenfant Outdoor Education Centre, West Carleton, Ottawa, Canada.
The dates: September 28-30th, 2012.
Registration is now open at the official meeting website.
Submit your Posters and Oral Presentations before September 17th to be assured of getting onto the program.
Students: enter the President’s Prize competition and win cash!
Don’t be disappointed – register early as we are limited to 100 participants.
See you in September!
Bruce Gill
ESO President
Chair ESO 2012
Sneak Peek: Some upcoming papers in The Canadian Entomologist
By Chris Buddle, Editor-in-Chief, The Canadian Entomologist
———————–
As Editor-in-Chief for The Canadian Entomologist, I have the privilege of knowing what papers will be appearing in our journal in the future… in this post, without saying too much, I wanted to give you a ‘sneak peek’ of what to expect in the future.
Physiology Fridays: Trace-metal phantoms
Living in metal-contaminated lakewater is just another day’s work for phantom midge larvae.
In the lakes surrounding Sudbury, Ontario and Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, over 75 years of smelter operations have left their mark by contaminating soil and water with the trace metals cadmium, nickel, copper, and zinc.
This contamination led Maikel Rosabal, Landis Hare, and Peter Campbell, all from the Institut national de la Recherche scientifique in Québec, to study how aquatic animals tolerate these contaminants. To do so, they needed a study organism that was abundant, easy to collect, and could accumulate and tolerate trace metals. The best option turned out to be larvae of the phantom midge Chaoborus.
“The lakes in the area, and their watersheds, have been contaminated by the deposition of atmospheric aerosols and particles. Metal concentrations in lake water tend to be higher in the lakes that are downwind from and close to the smelters, than in lakes that are upwind and distant from the smelter stacks,” says Dr. Peter Campbell. “The presence of Chaoborus in lakes with high metal concentrations implies that they are highly metal tolerant.”
The researchers chose a total of 12 lakes around Sudbury and Rouyn-Noranda with differing concentrations of trace metals, and collected water samples, using diffusion samplers that excluded particles, and midge larvae using a plankton net. After homogenizing the larvae, the researchers used a series of centrifugation, heating, and sodium hydroxide digestion steps to separate the subcellular components of the larvae. They then measured the amount of metal in each fraction as well as the concentrations of dissolved metals in samples of lake water. This allowed them to relate the concentrations of each trace metal in lake water to the concentrations in larvae.
They found that the majority of each metal accumulated in the cytosolic heat-stable protein fraction that they isolated from the larvae—a fraction that contains large amounts of metal-binding proteins. And while other fractions also contained small amounts of metals, it was in the heat-stable protein fraction that metal concentrations responded most obviously to the increasing metal concentrations in lake water. This suggests that the Chaoborus larvae were able to bind and detoxify increasingly large amounts of these potentially toxic metals.
“This suggests an important role for these metallothionein-like proteins in the detoxification of metals,” says Dr. Campbell. “Presumably this contributes to the presence of this insect in highly metal-contaminated lakes.”
While laboratory studies usually focus on the effects of exposure to a single trace metal (usually dissolved in the water), animals in this study were exposed in the field to many trace metals both in the water and in their planktonic food. The researchers suggest that Chaoborus larvae would be effective “sentinels” for estimating trace-metal exposure to lake plankton, which is a key component of ecological risk assessments.
“Rough estimates of trace metal exposure are often obtained by measuring total metal concentrations in the water or the sediment. Such values usually overestimate metal exposure because much of the metal present is not available for uptake by organisms because they are bound to substances such as organic matter or iron oxides,” explain the researchers. “For these reasons, measurements of trace metals in organisms are increasingly used to estimate exposure in risk assessments.”
Rosabal, M., Hare, L. & Campbell, P.G.C. (2012). Subcellular metal partitioning in larvae of the insect Chaoborus collected along an environmental metal exposure gradient (Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn), Aquatic Toxicology, 120-121 78. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2012.05.001
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22647479
Photo: Maikel Rosabal
Reader Photos – Jeffrey Higgins
Jeffrey Higgins has enjoyed the same 2 mile stretch of the Thames River in London, Ontario for ~50 years. He traded his fishing rod for a camera about 5 years ago to celebrates the natural world, and enjoys sharing his photos on his website and on Facebook. Jeffrey submitted the following photos and asked for suggestions about the species ID. If you have a suggestion, please let Jeffrey know in the comments.
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Photo by Jeffrey Higgins (Click to enlarge)
Photo by Jeffrey Higgins (Click to enlarge)
Photo by Jeffrey Higgins (Click to enlarge)
Photo by Jeffrey Higgins (Click to enlarge)
Dear Buggy: Writing your first manuscript
Dear Buggy is the the alter-ego of Dr. Chris MacQuarrie, a research entomologist with the Canadian Forest Service. You can ask Buggy questions of your own on Twitter @CMacQuar.
—————————-
Hello all,
Writing your first manuscript can be difficult. I remember spending a ridiculous amount of time preparing the first draft of my first paper. I thought I had produced something pretty good. So imagine my surprise when the file came back from my supervisor dripping in red ink (digital red ink, that is).
I had two big problems. First, like many new students, I didn’t make a particularly convincing argument in my introduction, my methods were confusing, the results were a mess and the discussion was meandering. My second problem confounded the first. I wasn’t a good writer.
Solving the first problem was easy. I had two very patient supervisors who taught me how to write a scientific paper. Solving the second problem is taking a little longer, because the only way to become a better writer is to practice. That is, you need to write. I write as much as I can, but I still have a lot of work to do. I’m lucky that I’ve had the good fortune to work with good writers and good editors from whom I’ve managed to learn some good habits (and break some bad ones).
The rest of my education has come from books. I thought I’d share some of these with you.
Books about writing in science:
This is an excellent primer on how to write a scientific paper and should be on the bookshelf of every grad student.The 6th edition is a bit pricey, but you might be able to pick up a copy of the 4th or 5th edition at a good used bookstore. I own the 4th edition, it’s a bit dated but more than adequate for everyday use.
I was introduced to this book during my undergrad where it was on the required reading list (in part, I think because the author is also an alumni of the University of Saskatchewan’s biology department) I’ve carried it with me ever since. McMillan focuses on writing term papers and lab reports with less attention paid to writing journal articles, so this might be a better choice for undergrads. That said, there are good sections on formatting and citing that also apply to graduate level work. The current edition also covers the formatting of posters.
Writing to Learn Biology by R Moore
These two were recommended to me by Cedric Gillot, editor of the Bulletin (Cedric is one of those good editors I mentioned earlier. He’s been editing my work, on and off, for over 15 years).
Moore’s book looks to be out of print but many copies are available from online used book stores (as are most of the books in this post). Pechenik’s book is well reviewed on Amazon. I’ll track down a copy and report back. If you’ve read this book let me know what you thought.
Books on writing in general:
These three books are not about writing in science, but are all excellent guides on how to write well.
Perhaps the granddaddy of all grammar guides. While it’s a bit dated (Devlin goes into detail on the proper use of ‘shall’ and ‘thou’), writers should still find it relevant. In particular, those, like me, that were never taught the rules of english grammarl. One other plus, since it was published in 1910, the copyright has expired and it can be had for free!
The Elements of Style 4th ed. by W Stunk and E.B. White.
The classic guide to writing in english. Buy this. Read it. Then put it on your bookshelf and read it again every year for the rest of your life. The best $12 you can invest towards becoming a better writer.
Zinsser focuses on guiding the writer to telling a compelling story. A great resource if you fancy becoming a writer about science (in addition to a writer of science). Regardless, science is about telling stories and the advice in this book about constructing a narrative can be applied to writing in the peer-reviewed literature.
And two for the road…
These last two books are on the art and craft of writing. Both are fun reads and worth checking out.
Yes, that ‘S King’. King has much good advice to offer to all writers. If you ever wondered how King could be such a prolific writer, consider this: he writes at least 1000 words a day, six days a week. Anyone who has spent that much of their life writing should have good advice to offer. Set any doubts that you may have about King as a fiction writer and read this book. Probably one of his best.
When you catch an adjective. Kill it. by B. Yagoda
cover photo [ http://covers.openlibrary.org/w/id/528568-M.jpg ]
A fun little book about exercising verbosity from your writing. Clearly, I need to read it again.
I’d also love to hear your recommendations. What books influenced you as a writer?
Cover images in this post are from the Open Library project. Links are to Amazon.ca, but you should be able to find many of these in your local used bookstore, university bookstore or library.
Why a scientific society needs a blog
Chris Buddle, Editor-in-Chief, The Canadian Entomologist
________________________________
I’ve been involved with the Entomological Society of Canada for a long time. It’s a wonderful community of Canadian entomologists sharing an interest and enthusiasm for arthropods. The ESC’s activities are mostly centered around its annual conference, its range of publications, and it offers a suite of awards and scholarships. The society’s website also hosts career opportunities, photo contests, and a range of other rich and varied entomological content. The latest, big news for the society is that on 1 June, the ESC officially launched its own blog. This blog was the brainchild of a few members of the society.
So…why does a scientific society need a blog? What’s the benefit to members of the society, to the society itself, and what’s the benefit for the broader entomological community? Here are some thoughts about this:
1) Visibility: it’s a tough time for scientific societies – funding is tight, and for a lot of people, the value of memberships to societies may seem less important than it once was. Therefore, increased visibility though an on-line presence is important. A static website is essential, but a blog has a fluidity and dynamic presence that is hard to match with a website. An active blog with well-written and interesting content will do a lot to increase a society’s visibility. The visibility from an active blog is also global in its reach.
2) Opportunities to contribute: the ESC blog will have dozens of contributors – means anybody with an interest in entomology (regardless of their profession and educational background) has an opportunity to write something for a broader audience. Blog posts are often easier to write, they are shorter than research papers, and the content need not be vetted through a peer-review process. It’s a forum for creative ideas, stories, photographs, and fun facts about insects. The blog already has a couple of nice examples to illustrate this point. For example, Chris Cloutier, a naturalist at the Morgan Arboretum on the Island of Montreal, just wrote a lovely post about the Hackberry Emperor. Chris is an example of a different kind of entomologist – he’s not a research scientist, nor is his primary profession Entomology. However, he does outreach, has a wealth of expertise and talent, and he has a lot to offer the entomological community. These kind of opportunities create an environment of inclusion for a society – members have a voice and can share their ideas and expertise. Non-members can also contribute and recognize that there is a strong community associated with the ESC (…and perhaps some of the non-members will see the value of the society and join).
3) Economics: more than ever before, scientific societies are struggling to maintain members, and balance their books. A blog is a cheap and effective way to promote their science to the world and the cost can be as little as a domain name. I can think of no other method by which a society can promote itself at this cost point. You could even argue that the time for static websites may be coming to a close since they are costly to host, require people with specific technical skills, and require a lot of back-end support. The good blog sites can be administered by people with relatively few of these skills (I’m proof of that!!).
4) Marketing and branding: a high quality blog helps a society get its brand to a broad audience, and helps to market the society to the world. The ESC has a long and wonderful history, but its main audience over the years has mostly been academics, research scientists, and students of entomology. The ESC brand has excellence and quality behind it and that kind of brand should be shared, expanded, and through this process, the society will hopefully gain positive exposure and more members.
5) Communication: At the end of the day, knowledge is something to be shared. Scientific communication is a fast-changing field and one that is making all of us reconsider how we talk and write about our interests. I think we all have a responsibility to do outreach. There is so much mis-information out on the Internet, and people with specialized and well-honed skills must be heard and must have a means to share accurate information in a clear and effective manner – e.g., a society blog. I also think many entomologist are perfectly positioned to do effective outreach (I’ve written about this before). Part of the ESC’s mandate is dissemination of knowledge about insects and social media is a key piece of any communication strategy.
What do you think? Can you think of other reasons why scientific societies need to embrace social media? Please share your ideas!
I will finish with a stronger statement: scientific societies are perfectly positioned to have the BEST blogs on the Internet. A scientific society is a community, a community with history, and a community built on high level of expertise. A scientific society also provides a structure and framework for bringing together high quality knowledge about a particular topic. A blog can be amazingly strong with this kind of support. A society is also about people and these people work tirelessly behind the scenes to facilitate the dissemination of high quality content. These people, structured in committees, and with oversight from an executive committee, can provide tangible support that will help to keep a blog from becoming unidimensional. The ESC’s blog administrators (Crystal and Morgan) know how to keep the content of high quality, and know how to put all the pieces together – and they know they can do this because they have an entire community behind them. The society is committed to supporting the blog and for that reason, there is reason to be optimistic about its long-term success.
___________________________
Originally posted at: http://arthropodecology.com/2012/06/13/why-a-scientific-society-needs-a-blog/
Meet the ESC Blog Admins (Part 2)
Time to meet another ESC Blog Admin, but first an update.
The ESC Blog has been going strong all summer, and is quickly becoming established within the “Bug-o-Sphere”; sometime today we’ll hit a total of 5,000 visits from 85 different countries, just 2.5 months after launching! For comparison, that’s about half the number of athletes and the same number of nations that took home at least one medal from the 2012 Summer Olympics! None of this would be possible without the support of the entomologists and insect enthusiasts from across the country who have taken the time to share a story, advice, or a snapshot of their research with us.
As the insect season starts to wind down and the entomology conference season approaches, we encourage you to share your favourite photos, stories from the field, or even introduce yourself, your work or your lab to the world. Feel free to email us at entsoccanada@gmail.com with your ideas and stories because we can’t wait to hear from you!
As the ESC Blog Admins, we figured we’d break the ice and tell you a little bit about ourselves before we start bugging each of you to do the same. You met Crystal last month, so I guess it’s time you got to know me, Morgan.
———————————————————
In my third year I signed up for an insect diversity & natural history course on a whim, and the rest, as they say, is history. Of course I had known about insects before this course, but I hadn’t taken the time to look at them closely, to realize the many ways in which they had evolved to survive, the morphological differences that revealed whether a species was the diner or the dinner, or even realized the shear number of species that had literally been around me my entire life! It was like I had stumbled into a secret world that hardly anyone else knew about, but which was filled with so much to discover that I knew I could never look away again.
This first entomology course also taught me how many insects were out there waiting to be discovered, named, and placed onto the tree of life. The prospect of travelling and exploring the world, catching flies, and then being the one to give them names captured my imagination, and when I realized I could actually get paid to do all this, I joined Dr. Stephen Marshall’s lab and started my career as an insect taxonomist.
Working with Steve at the University of Guelph Insect Collection, I completed my Masters of Science last year studying the taxonomy and phylogenetics of stilt-legged flies (family Micropezidae), and I’ll soon be starting my PhD to continue my work on this group.
When I’m not working with flies, I spend my time promoting entomology and trying to make the world’s insect fauna more accessible to the public. I’m the technical editor for the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, an ESC journal developed to publish illustrated keys for insects and other arthropods, and am a co-author on a soon-to-be-released field guide to Northeastern Jewel beetles (family Buprestidae). I developed an interest in macro photography in 2007 (working with Steve I suspect this was probably inevitable) so I could show my friends and family why I thought insects were so cool, and in 2010 I started my blog, Biodiversity in Focus, to share my passion for entomology even further afield. Like Crystal, I feel that social media has the potential to revolutionize not only the way in which scientists go about their day-to-day research, but also their interactions with each other and the public.
And this is why I think the ESC Blog is such a great resource for entomology in Canada. With the support of the Entomological Society of Canada and researchers from across the country, we can raise awareness about insect-related issues, share exciting research being done in Canadian labs, and expose students to the many opportunities and careers in entomology. The Entomological Society of Canada is breaking new ground with its ESC Blog, and I’m proud to be associated with it.
Who knows, if the ESC Blog was around while I was growing up, I may have gotten a head start on my fly collecting!
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If you’re interested in learning more about my work, you can follow along on a variety of social media websites: Twitter, Google+, Mendeley, YouTube, FourSquare, Pinterest, Project Noah, and iNaturalist.
Demystifying the publication process: A workshop brought to you by the Entomological Society of Canada
Chris Buddle, Editor-in-Chief, The Canadian Entomologist
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These days, scientific societies are struggling to maintain membership. This is, in part, because the value of membership is not always apparent. The Entomological Society of Canada has recognized this issue for years, but I believe we are starting to enter a new, exciting era for ESC members. This will be especially apparent at the upcoming ESC Joint Annual Meeting (November 3-7, 2012) when the society will host its first hands-on “workshop”; this workshop is free for members of the society. Let me repeat: FREE for ESC members! That is value for your membership.
There is, however, a catch: you must register for this workshop in advance!
Here are the details:
Workshop: “Perspectives on the Publication Process”
On Sunday November 4 from 9-12am, immediately before the start of 2012 Joint Annual Meeting in Edmonton, the Entomological Societies of Canada and Alberta are jointly hosting a workshop on the publication process at the JAM venue. This goal of this workshop, focusing on Entomology in Canada, is to provide practical information and demystify the publication process from writing to reviewing to editing to publishing. This workshop is intended for anyone with an interest in the publication process, irrespective of career stage, experience, or age.
The workshop will start with four short and informative presentations
This will be followed by moderated break-out sessions on five topics (selected based on feedback from ESC members). These sessions are meant to be informal and interactive. Attendees will be able to attend two breakout sessions.
The workshop will finish with take-home messages from each of the break-out sessions and with a panel discussion with the featured speakers.
Attendees MUST sign up for the workshop by ticking the correct box on the form when pre-registering for JAM
This is a first come, first serve event with limited space and it is filling up fast. So if you want to attend, register soon! Registration will include a food break, and is free to ESC and ESAB members; $50 for non-members (to be paid at the workshop).
If you have any questions, you can contact members of the workshop organizing committee:
Chris Buddle (chris.buddle@mcgill.ca)
Kenna MacKenzie (Kenna.MacKenzie@agr.gc.ca)
Rosemarie De Clerck-Floate (Rosemarie.DeClerck-Floate@agr.gc.ca)
ESC Caption Contest – Cycle 1, Photo 3
The votes are in, and the winning caption for photo 1 was “Think, think, what would a mantid do in this situation?” by Sam Droege! 5 points go to Sam, while Brian Cutting and Matt each get 3 for a 2nd place tie.
Here are the finalists for Photo 2:
ESC Caption Contest C1 P2 – Photo by Morgan Jackson
[polldaddy poll=6454511]
And here’s Photo 3 (courtesy of Sean McCann), just waiting for your best captions! (Rules)
Photo by Sean McCann