My previous post on sponge relationships had me thinking some about this weblog business, because, honestly, I know next to nothing about sponges. I am not a sponge expert. If you're wondering about details of that paper because you are a sponge expert, you're not going to get them from me. So, anyway, I'm indulging in a little meta-discussion here in addition to delivering a morsel of scientific meat because I felt like clarifying exactly what I'm doing.

Why am I weblogging? Here's a list of reasons in random order with no attempt to quantify their importance.

1. Out of a sense of obligation. This is a rather high-minded excuse, but I think we academics should feel a duty to disseminate information beyond that small group of people who actually pay us tuition. I don't believe this kind of thing can single-handedly change the world, but if all of us took a little time every week to share and explain some small bit of our specialized knowledge, the world might start becoming a slightly smarter place.
2. Because I can. I may not be an expert on sponges, but I do have a good generalist's knowledge of biology, and I have bookshelves full of some of the most obscure and most fundamental books on some of these subjects, and I have access to my university's library resources. I know how to quickly extract all kinds of interesting academic knowledge, so I do.
3. To educate myself. Why write about sponges? Precisely because I don't know a lot about them. It motivates me to pull a few invertebrate biology texts down and browse through the relevant chapters. One of the great things about science is that it is so huge and complex, and stimuli to explore some otherwise unexamined byway in the great maze of the literature is appreciated.
4. To organize my thoughts. I've always been happy to amble off on odd tangents in my reading, and I've always accumulated collections of factlets. I've found that since I've started weblogging some of this stuff, though, it helps me assemble some structure to those ideas. It's added a bit of discipline to the process.
5. To be a better teacher. I have the most wonderful job in the world, because for me to spend an hour or two exploring the weird world of poriferan phylogeny actually contributes to my success as a teacher. All this stuff gets tucked away in my brain and eventually re-emerges in a lecture (relevantly and cogently, I hope.)
6. For fun and ego. World, I matter! You may think that the stuff my kids do, for instance, is trivial and doesn't affect you, but I care, and I'll say so. You're just going to have to tolerate the fact that everyone else on the planet has slightly different hierarchies of concern. Mine are expressed here. Mine, I tell you!
7. Venting. I think I matter, but I'm not delusional: I know the rest of the world mostly doesn't care. So when I'm frustrated at the way the universe disregards my sensibilities, I can at least shout out my discontent here, and maybe stake out a little piece of reality that works the way I like it. Or find people who are similarly distressed.
8. Escape! I'm in a teeny-tiny town in a huge empty swathe of the rural midwest—the internet may be virtual and limited, but it's one slender connection to the rest of the world. Talk to me, please. Entertain me, now.
9. To proselytize. Science, progressive politics, and secularism are the tools that will save the world and lead humankind to a new Renaissance, while creationism, Rethuglicanism, and religion are the forces of darkness. I find it hard to believe that some people are so blind that they do not realize this, so I must spread the Word.
10. To inspire interesting discussions. I started off in this game with very little concern about how many people would read this page, and I think I'd keep it up even if no one else ever read it. But as readership has risen, one other good thing that has emerged is that I can throw out some scrap of an idea and people actually disagree with me or expand on it or give me a completely different perspective, and that's extremely cool. Who knows, maybe even a real sponge expert will show up and say something. So now I'm sorta thinking it would be nice if everyone on the planet read these articles of mine and left a little bit of their own personality and information attached to it. (This idea may be a little unhealthy: see #7. Must preserve sense of perspective.)

OK, the system is temporarily purged of introspective tendencies. Thoughtless babbling will recommence…now.