7 Reasons why you should be blogging as a PhD student
(N.B. Content may be biased towards the life sciences)
It almost seems a rite of passage for many PhD students. At some point during their studies they have at least pondered the idea of writing a blog, and now, at the risk of fulfilling the PhD cliché stereotype, I have added to the vast number of internet pages devoted to postgraduate study. Nevertheless, there are many good reasons why one would want to start a blog and even more reasons why they should. So in my first blog post, I've gone ‘meta' and decided to validate my own internet-published ramblings by talking about 7 reasons why a PhD student might want to write a blog. Hopefully also in the process, I will convince you to start publishing insights into your work to the world in an informal and easy way.
Scientific Communication
There are many PhDs that are funded by public money and if your research is in the public interest enough to be funded, it stands to reason that the public would be interested in discovering what you have found out. For those of you that are funded by some other means, there are many benefits to communicating your research to the public too. Communication of your research is a key skill not only in academic literature and at conferences but also opens up career opportunities in science communication in the future. This provides an informal, yet public way of practising that skill. There are also more holistic reasons why communication of current scientific research to the public is essential. Engaging the general public in current scientific research makes funding and investment in science a more prominent political issue and topic. Therefore, it is hopefully one of the small ways in which you can engage in science policy and secure future funding for science. Make sure you are aware of your Institute's/University's rules on publishing research though and never publish your unpublished work.
On a more personal level, communicating your project and other scientific ideas to friends that last experienced science at A-Level or perhaps even GCSE can be a rewarding and educational experience for both of you. Creating a blog may open the mysterious curtain that shrouds your research to non-scientifically trained friends. Seneca's Latin proverb: Docendo discimus, (Latin for ‘by teaching, we learn') reminds us that perhaps by teaching one's research to a new audience one may learn a few things about their own research.
Clarification of Your Thoughts
One of the more selfish reasons for starting a blog is simply to clarify one's own thoughts. This could be done on anything from a very niche area within your PhD or a more comprehensive analysis of your PhD to date. Either way, the act of formulating a post as well as the extra scrutiny of publishing this online could push one to understand a complex topic, faster.
Sharing Research/Writing Done by Others
Posting links to the work of others that you have found useful or pertinent to your field of study can spread important messages in the field or science in general.
Public Education
Let's face it, most mainstream media outlets don't always do a good job at communicating recent scientific developments, especially smaller impact ones. By condensing published material into a news report for the general public one can help bridge the divide between the public and science.
Philanthropy: Helping Future PhD Students
On the topic of helping others, perhaps by reading some of the rantings on specific topics or just, in general, it will improve someone else's PhD experience as they won't make the same mistakes.
To Get Help: Input from others and collaboration
According to a 2015 report from the International Telecommunication Union, more than 3.2 billion people are now using the internet. It's unlikely that a PhD student's blog will become that popular, and perhaps even unlikely that 32 people will read a PhD student's blog regularly. However, of the people that will read your blog posts, it is likely that among them will be people that may have ideas or input that you could use in your project. Some of these people may even be researchers themselves close to your field that may be interested in collaboration.
Building Your Public Profile
As well as collaborators, possible future employees may come across your blog at some point. It's not inconceivable to think that when you apply for future jobs, your potential employer will come across your blog and if it's well written and well-read it could help you to secure a position. Furthermore, if you are publishing, blogs can attract a larger audience than most journal articles and so give your published articles more exposure. Finally, you may be more visible to the media, any media appearances are bound to build your public profile even further.
So there you are, some of the many reasons why a PhD student (or any other researcher for that matter) might want to write a blog. It almost goes without saying that you can obviously achieve all of these things without a blog but personally, I think a blog allows one to achieve these aims and objectives in one easy effort. There are many sites: Wix (which I use), Tumblr, Wordpress etc. that are completely free to begin and easy to use.