tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post7672930265268136241..comments2023-09-09T08:21:55.454-04:00Comments on MathNotations: Carnival of Math to the 2nd Power?Dave Marainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13321770881353644307noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-39802113920273805702007-08-27T17:48:00.000-04:002007-08-27T17:48:00.000-04:00Mikael--I believe an accord has been reached. I ...Mikael--<BR/>I believe an accord has been reached. I for one appreciate your research efforts as well as John's and others and I am aware of how much you've contributed to the Carnival. I originally raised the issue of 'bifurcation' (must be a buzzword these days, 'split' is good enough for me) back in Carnival X because I thought it would lead to fruitful discussion and it did. You picked up on it as well and I responded to your comments and later to John's. I invited input and I sure got it! In the end, it appears that the Carnival will emerge stronger and a balanced reasoned solution appears to be the best, that is, keeping one Carnival but encouraging both the math-ed contributions and the upper end math pieces as well. I'm ok with this. How do you feel?Dave Marainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321770881353644307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-61626644051749604012007-08-27T11:33:00.000-04:002007-08-27T11:33:00.000-04:00Coming pretty late to this discussion I have just ...Coming pretty late to this discussion I have just one point to make.<BR/><BR/>Kurt: you pick out Terence Tao as an example of someone blogging about their own research, and an argument that research mathematics is not really a topic at the CoM.<BR/><BR/>I have, several times, had posts about my own research posted at the CoM. Even more times, I have had fluffed up posts about my generic area of research posted. Similar things go for John Armstrong - he's posting with a goal in mind, which seems to be to explain his own research to the readers.<BR/><BR/>And we're not very surprised to be the ones most annoyed with the math-ed slant in the carnival (which was present before the summer slump btw) - we're among the people really writing down our research in our blogs AND simultaneously trying to help keep the CoM alive.michiexilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00008302080954798496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-44338408928484532032007-08-20T20:25:00.000-04:002007-08-20T20:25:00.000-04:00Thanks, Dave, now I get it. :)Thanks, Dave, now I get it. :)mathmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05869925405540832241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-73821008518279918992007-08-20T18:09:00.000-04:002007-08-20T18:09:00.000-04:00mathmom--Look athttp://blogcarnival.com/bc/faq.htm...mathmom--<BR/>Look at<BR/>http://blogcarnival.com/bc/faq.htmlDave Marainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321770881353644307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-91705724858316913642007-08-19T20:43:00.000-04:002007-08-19T20:43:00.000-04:00Can someone post a pointer to something explaining...Can someone post a pointer to something explaining what the point of the carnivals is supposed to be? I don't really get it.mathmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05869925405540832241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-40158852226563650362007-08-18T20:07:00.000-04:002007-08-18T20:07:00.000-04:00Darn it - everytime I read another great comment, ...Darn it - everytime I read another great comment, I start moving in a new direction! Kurt, your idea seems to make a great deal of sense. This is exactly what I tried to do in Edition X of the Carnival. I listed the math ed pieces first, then the graduate level math posts.I asked bloggers to write a brief overview, although I didn't specifically ask them to choose a category. The content usually makes that clear. And I also agree that the term research math is too restrictive. My original comments used exactly the demarcation you mentioned. <BR/><BR/>In the end, Jonathan may have summed it up best. The summer may not be the best time to judge the pulse of the Carnival. Looks like we're back where we started with some minor modifications.<BR/><BR/>Thanks to all the wonderful respondents who have helped clarify the picture for all of us. <BR/>Pls feel free to add more comments here or over at Michi's blog. You may want to read Alon Levy's comments. He is alive and well and welcomes support. Again, as I mentioned on Michi's, I am willing to host the 16th Carnival. Alon said he would contribute to it as well!Dave Marainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321770881353644307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-24385989736401352972007-08-18T13:31:00.000-04:002007-08-18T13:31:00.000-04:00The more I think about this, the more I think it m...The more I think about this, the more I think it makes sense to bifurcate the carnival. It seems to me that there is an important difference in the mission of math ed bloggers - whose focus is on <EM>how to teach</EM> mathematics - and on the 'research' math bloggers - whose focus in on <EM>learning how to do</EM> mathematics. Even if the actual math topic happened to be the same, I think you'd get two very different blog entries from the respective type of blogger.<BR/><BR/>I think it would also increase overall readership to have the two types separated, by making it easier for people to find the things they're interested in. <STRONG>This could actually be done within a single carnival.</STRONG> Maybe just dividing up the submissions into two categories for 'math ed' and 'research math' would be enough to satisfy people, and in any event it could serve as a test to see if a split of the carnival is really warranted. When making a submission, the author could simply indicate which category s/he feels the post belongs in. (I would also suggest including a blurb describing the post, in case the carnival hosts can't do justice to the submission with their own description.)<BR/><BR/>Finally, I have a quibble about the phrase 'research math'. This is really 'upper division and graduate level math'. I know that Terry Tao and some others have written about their current research interests, but for the most part posts in this category have been expository pieces describing long-standing results. Doing actual research via the web would be something else altogether. Michael Nielsen has an interesting recent post <A HREF="http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/?p=257" REL="nofollow">advocating the latter</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-35062459621580082002007-08-17T18:13:00.000-04:002007-08-17T18:13:00.000-04:00Great suggestions, John! Your two cents have much ...Great suggestions, John! Your two cents have much higher value than that! I'm glad we opened up this dialogue. I've definitely rethought my position thanks to all who replied. My original instinct was that some of the educator crowd might be turned off or intimidated by the graduate level math but the responders thus far have shown me I'm wrong! I suppose some at the higher end might prefer to have their own (based on John Armstrong's comments),but I suppose the Carnival concept is still in its infancy and we need to let it find its own way. However, if there seems to be a dearth of contributions from one group or the other we may want to revisit all of this. <BR/><BR/>I like the monthly idea, particularly during the summer. If Alon is no longer able to support the Carnival, then we need to look for another moderator who can manage the main site. I'm willing to volunteer for this but help would be welcome. Perhaps, John, as someone involved in advanced mathematics and science (I guessed this from your excellent blog), it might be great to have a partnership manage this. Math educators could benefit greatly from the perspectives of professional mathematicians and scientists. Another approach might be to have co-hosts, the research mathematician/computer scientist together with the math educator. I don't know how this could be done, but, hey,'ya never know!<BR/>BTW, John, I'm sure you've been asked a 'googol' times, but are you linked to one of my heroes, your namesake, John G., who passed away about 15 years ago? Pls don't be offended by my asking...Dave Marainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321770881353644307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-3939308063683237272007-08-17T15:50:00.000-04:002007-08-17T15:50:00.000-04:00As host of possibly the last CoM as we know it, I ...As host of possibly the last CoM as we know it, I feel compelled to throw my 2 cents in. I think it is great to have graduate-level mathematics mixed with K-12 level, and the lines are sometimes blurry. As a math enthusiast in grade school, I recall the pleasure of checking out high-level math texts to see what I could fathom. If the higher-math crowd is bored, we could: 1) start assigning ratings to links, like the movies (PG for post-graduate?); and 2) have every other issue "tilted" toward one side of the scale. Finally, I agree with the sentiment that a monthly publication schedule is more tenable both for writers and readers, especially during the doldrum months.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-66718921825553352092007-08-16T17:19:00.000-04:002007-08-16T17:19:00.000-04:00tony--I like your point. However, I'm beginning to...tony--<BR/>I like your point. However, I'm beginning to move in Jonathan's direction. The Math Research people probably should have their own. As I suggested in my last comment on Michi's blog, we could leave the CoM alone and it will find its own level after awhile. See, Jonathan, I am flexible!<BR/>Jonathan--<BR/>I'm not sure of the 2-week schedule. If we have enough strong hosts this may be ok, but if only 1 or 2 maintain it, monthly seems more reasonable. I do think you're right about the summer, although the traffic to this site has actually been strong, whatever that proves!<BR/>As far as Alon continuing to maintain the Carnival, I really wasn't sure of that and I should never 'ass-u-me'! I did ask Alon to comment here to let us know for certain. We do need to know in the next week or so if the Carnival is to continue into the fall.<BR/>I guess what's happening is that by raising this issue, we are moving in a positive direction. That's good! I still would like to read more reactions from others. I'm still not wholly comfortable with this, but then the Carnival doesn't have to please me!Dave Marainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321770881353644307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-18343199705500609232007-08-16T16:20:00.000-04:002007-08-16T16:20:00.000-04:00And Dave, Alon said he's not blogging. Did he say ...And Dave, Alon said he's not blogging. Did he say that he wasn't keeping up the Carnival? I think you may have misread.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-6994155063361878472007-08-16T16:14:00.000-04:002007-08-16T16:14:00.000-04:00But where's the advantage? Certainly there's none ...But where's the advantage? Certainly there's none for me. If some grad students want to run their own thing, let them. But this has not been so easy to sustain over the summer, without the split.<BR/><BR/>(suggestion, keep the carnival at every two weeks, but reduce to every 4 weeks for June, July, and August)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-33293819181889774672007-08-16T15:53:00.000-04:002007-08-16T15:53:00.000-04:00I don't see a problem with separating them. It se...I don't see a problem with separating them. It seems to me like it would be fairly easy to have one or two of the strongest posts each month appear on both, so there's still a strong partnership.Mr. Lucchesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11489214765844797652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-21403133759324489012007-08-15T23:38:00.000-04:002007-08-15T23:38:00.000-04:00I left a comment on Michi's blog as well. I'd hate...I left a comment on Michi's blog as well. I'd hate to see them separated. We get enough of that in the real world, and, we get especially interesting discussion when people who work in one area of math get together with those who work in others.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8231784566931768362.post-76428419945895382722007-08-15T22:36:00.000-04:002007-08-15T22:36:00.000-04:00commented on Michi's blog:http://tinyurl.com/3dtlt...commented on Michi's blog:<BR/>http://tinyurl.com/3dtltnJackie Ballarinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16859831037023994373noreply@blogger.com