Just after I graduated from college, I started blogging for the first time. On and off (mostly off) through graduate school, I tried to blog, but it never really caught on. Now that I've graduated, I'm attempting to start blogging again. In order to avoid future embarrassment, I had originally deleted all of my old posts, but thought better of it. While I realize that much of what I had written over 5 years ago is not my best work, I think that it will be helpful for my future students to see the work and the development.
It will also help me practice what I preach. One of the most important messages that I try to communicate in my courses is the importance of connecting your work with the community. For scientists a blog is one of the best vehicles to reach a wider audience (as most of the public doesn't have access to articles held up behind publisher paywalls, though that my be a blog for another time). Many others have talked about the importance of science blogging (here and here for example), with the main message being that blogs help facilitate a discussion and collaboration between the community and scientists.
Even as I start to get into blogging again I know that it will take time to develop the blog and my writing. On my website I set up the blog as a way to informally think through issues related to teaching, research and engagement. If I have time, I'd like to build the blog through multiple venues including twitter for quick thoughts, updates and current research (you can follow me @EngagedBrain; the blog for more thorough explorations of issues related to research teaching and engagement, and as a stretch, a podcast with interviews (its always good to dream big!).
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