The Boneyard, a blog carnival devoted to paleontology, was founded in 2007 by Brian Switek. It eventually fizzled out, but after the Pepsigate brouhaha and a heightened discussion about networking among science bloggers, I was impelled to take another crack at it. Brian was kind enough to hand me the keys. This is me starting the engine.
Schedule
I'll kick things off myself. The carnival will appear on the first Tuesday of each month. Here's the schedule for the first six, then:
September 7: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs
October 5: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs
November 2: Other Branch
December 7: The History of Geology
January 4: When Pigs Fly Returns
February 1 Deep Sea News
Hosting
Its crucial that we get plenty of people stepping up to host editions of the Boneyard. If you would like to host one of the above dates, email me at chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll update the list. Your duties are pretty simple: write up a post explaining the links. While some carnivals have themes for each edition, I've decided to hold off on that, until we see how well the Boneyard is received. To reflect that this is the second life of the Boneyard, I've decided to number them 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc. You get the point.
As for how hosts moderate their editions, I leave that to their own judgment. Besides paleontology, posts about geology and other related sciences under the banner of natural history seem like fair game to me. Since I write primarily about dinosaurs, I'll even include relevant bird research.
Why Bother?
You may not be entirely familiar with the concept of a blog carnival. You may be wondering why you should bother. I can do no better than to urge you to read this characteristically wonderful post by Bora. He makes a good case for them, and lays out the benefits and responsibilities.
I am excited to start this up, and a little nervous that it won't be greeted by the same. I believe in the possibilities of blog carnivals, so I'm optimistic. As I noted at my dinosaur blog, Love in the time of Chasmosaurs, I will need loads of help to get the word out.
Need Input!
In other words... send in your submissions! Simply email a link to the post you'd like to include in Boneyard 2.1 to chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com.
