Why I Keep a Research Blog • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#41

Post by chubot » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

mbeex wrote: post #23

I have been looking for a blogging environment for this kind of topics for some time. So, my question to the author: What kind of software / tools /styles are behind this blog in the technical sense? I see mathjax, probably some static site generator(?), what else are you using?

Not the author, but IMO the form should follow the content. So I would write the content first (e.g. in text or Markdown) and then if people read it, improve the formatting.

FWIW I wrote my own scripts to generate static HTML over 3 years, but people were reading it from the first day. So it was just gradually improved over time, Unix style. (It even works on mobile now, after I learned how to do that in the last week :) )

http://www.oilshell.org/site.html

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#42

Post by TurkishPoptart » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 10:09 PM UTC

gwgundersen wrote: post #14

sciencewolf wrote: post #9

Off-topic, but Gregory - I was a participant in your C4Q Python workshop several years ago! So good to see that you're doing well in academia, and great article. Agree with many of the points you've made regarding writing-- as an example, one trick I've found for getting better at technical interviews was creating walk-throughs of problems I struggled with. Thanks for the great read and for helping to kick off my sof…

Hey, it sounds like you're still programming. Glad to hear it's going well!

Are you still putting on that workshop?

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#43

Post by arnold_palmur » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 10:43 PM UTC

Remarkable stuff Greg - no surprise to see your work on the front page of HN - always inspiring.

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#44

Post by skmurphy » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 11:22 PM UTC

agentultra wrote: post #13

"Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is" [0] Writing is my primary tool. I keep a blog... and journals. I keep a journal for my reading: what I've read, what I thought about it, choice things I'd like to recall. I keep a journal of my mathematical reading, thoughts, and work. Programming too! Keeping your writing in a blog and sharing it with others puts a bit of pressure on you to keep a…

"Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is"

Great quote, it's actually by Bob Mugele (see earlier cite http://commonplacebook.com/jokes/funny-lists/one-liners-from... ) his website is http://www.junglebob.net/cv.html I exchanged email with him and he confirmed he coined it in the mid-90's

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#45

Post by aneesh297 » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 11:22 PM UTC

loceng wrote: post #37

rytill wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What forum rules would you like to see experiments with?

The easiest one would simply be removing the down vote mechanism. If with an existing site then can compare with the years' prior stats - assuming they've been recorded; I don't know if HN does. There are a number of things you could monitor - would be interesting to see if any sets of people with the same behaviour change their behaviour more than just down voting, like if they stay on the site more or less, if they…

So like Facebook or YouTube comments (downvotes on YouTube don't really do anything) ?

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#46

Post by aexl » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 11:40 PM UTC

cushychicken wrote: post #4

I absolutely love this. It's a great distillation of many of the reasons I myself keep a blog. It's a means, and an end, of learning more, and keeping yourself accountable to your knowledge. It is difficult to know what you should know when you have a lot to learn and are in an intelligence-signaling environment. A side effect of having written detailed technical notes is that I calibrate my confidence on a topic. If…

@cushychicken: Where can we find your blog?

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#47

Post by gwgundersen » Mon, Jan 13, 2020, 11:47 PM UTC

mbeex wrote: post #23

I have been looking for a blogging environment for this kind of topics for some time. So, my question to the author: What kind of software / tools /styles are behind this blog in the technical sense? I see mathjax, probably some static site generator(?), what else are you using?

I write drafts in Markdown + MathJax and then build everything into a static site using Jekyll. I didn't use a theme or template, since I found most were too noisy. It's just custom HTML/CSS.

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#48

Post by cushychicken » Tue, Jan 14, 2020, 12:16 AM UTC

aexl wrote: post #46

cushychicken wrote: post #4

I absolutely love this. It's a great distillation of many of the reasons I myself keep a blog. It's a means, and an end, of learning more, and keeping yourself accountable to your knowledge. It is difficult to know what you should know when you have a lot to learn and are in an intelligence-signaling environment. A side effect of having written detailed technical notes is that I calibrate my confidence on a topic. If…

@cushychicken: Where can we find your blog?

So glad you asked.

http://cushychicken.github.io

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#49

Post by phantarch » Tue, Jan 14, 2020, 12:45 AM UTC

Darkphibre wrote: post #32

rytill wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What forum rules would you like to see experiments with?

Not op, but one idea: Ask for an articulate reason for downvoting. Increases the barrier of downvotes, and if people don't feel that it's articulate they could then downvote the downvote (with their reasons why). Frequently downvoted reasons could be added to a blacklist that requires additional elucidation before being able to submit the downvote. This has been an interesting thought experiment. I'd expect the resul…

Additionally, you could rephrase from "downvote" to "rebuttal", which I think makes it more clear that not only is the opinion/post unpopular, but that there is information that contradicts the OP's post. It could make for a more substantive phrasing

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#50

Post by toantruong95 » Tue, Jan 14, 2020, 2:44 AM UTC

"Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is" This is exactly the reason that I have started a blog recently. Before, I have only read the material and got a feeling of understanding while it is far from the truth. When I start writing, I know I can gain a deeper layer of understanding in a way that is not impossible with just reading. Really appreciate this.