Thanks for writing! The
response to our decidedly nonscientific survey of readers
of Science@Berkeley Lab (formerly Science Beat) is in, and
we appreciate what you shared with us. The results were gratifying
even when they weren't surprising, for example that 60 percent
of those of you who responded read every issue, or that almost
half of you visit the site when you're alerted by our e-mails
meaning you are already on the Berkeley Lab news mailing
list (those who'd like to subscribe can do so by going here).
Another 40 percent of you apparently wait until you see that
a new issue of Science@Berkeley Lab has been posted on the
Berkeley Lab home page also gratifying, because it
supports the notion that our home page itself is an important
way to keep people informed about what goes on at the Lab.
Nor were we surprised to hear that half of you describe yourselves
as science fans, not professionals (including overlaps with
science teachers, students, and writers). We're delighted
to reach you, and learning that more than another third of
you are professional scientists indicates we're having some
success conveying the science done at Berkeley Lab to a readership
with critical abilities and broad interests beyond their fields
of specialty.
In addition to your many kind comments there were suggested
improvements too, and we'll do what we can to implement these
as soon as we can for example, making it easier to
forward our articles by email. One suggestion we'll decline,
however, and I hope our respondent, a writer, will understand
why: rather than giving unit measurements in the English system
first, we'll continue to state them in metrics first (unless
our proofreading eye wanders). It's true that Americans don't
yet think in metrics, but we'd like to do our part to ease
that overdue change.
To reiterate, we're well aware that our voluntary survey has
little statistical significance. Nevertheless, any comments
you have are important to us. We're retiring the survey now
that last month's issue has gone into the archives, but we're
always delighted to hear from you at any time: just drop
us an email.
The
Editors
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