Actually useful comments on scientific blogging

I came across Rachel Thomas’ comments on blogging in the context of machine learning, and they’re good. I’ve been telling people things like this for awhile now and Rachel distills them better than I do. I’ll quote some of my favorites, but check out her post to read the full story.

This single point was the major motivation for starting Labrigger:

[blogging] Saves time. Any time you answer a question multiple times through email, you should turn it into a blog post, which makes it easier for you to share the next time someone asks.

The following is generally true in teaching, and is part of the reason scientists love doing it:

Helps you learn. Organizing knowledge always helps me synthesize my own ideas. One of the tests of whether you understand something is whether you can explain it to someone else. A blog post is a great way to do that.