Southern Fried Science Core Themes for 2012

This month, David, Amy, and I gathered to discuss the future direction of Southern Fried Science at the Third Annual Southern Fried Retreat. One of the outcomes of that meeting was the sleek, new comment policy at the top of the page. Instead of a rigid list of rules, we’ll be trying to foster a community of open dialog and respectful discussion. In some cases this may result in more heavy-handed comment moderation to keep the discussion on track. By building a community based on mutual respect and informed dissent, we hope to generate productive, open, and honest dialog.

A second outcome was the decision to establish Core Themes for 2012. Core themes provide motivation for how we decide what to write about and force us to consider the broader world of marine science and conservation. The core themes framework will allow us to expand upon the single post format, generating deeper, more detailed articles that can build consistently off of one another. The core themes for 2012 are: The story behind the paper, Focus on nuance, Underrepresented issues in marine science and conservation, Challenging the conventional narrative, Highlighting the rural voice, and A renewed sense of wonder.

During the next week, we’ll be expanding on each of these core themes. In the meantime, check out our swanky new “Best of” page for some classic Southern Fried Science.