Science blogger is putting his talents where his typing is
Joseph Caputo is keeping the Hub's admirers of science and health studies connected.
On Monday, for example, Caputo posted a blog entry featuring a video that documents chemical compounds found in household pesticides. One section of the website features science poetry, with one entry reading, "Electricity -/sixty-four bulbs at six hundred watts, you/might even hear it." Another recent post mentions an upcoming play titled "QED," meaning quantum electrodynamics, to take place at the Central Square Theatre.
Caputo's blogging ambitions began when he was studying at Boston University's College of Communication.
"Journalism is going to change so much because people want niche media," said Caputo, a New York native who now lives in Allston. "The idea came out of my anxieties that I wouldn't be prepared for a career in new media. A lot of the blogs out there are associated with opinion wasteland. I wanted it to be a community resource."
Since early January, ScienceMetropolis.com has been loaded with information on such topics as "going green," where to find local lectures on science, and even science blogging. He includes snippets of his experiences as an extracurricular science teacher in elementary and middle schools across the state.
Although the blog snags only about 15 visitors a day, it has at least one notable achievement. The 22-year-old Caputo recently won the first Harold G. Buchbinder Entrepreneurial Media Studies Competition and a $10,000 grant. ScienceMetropolis.com was one of four projects in the competition, funded by Brian Cohen, a College of Communication alum. The award is intended to provide first-year graduate students at the college an opportunity to research and design innovative products and services.
Said Cohen: "With the ongoing torrent of reinvention in the media business, it's more important than ever before to rouse these young minds to think creatively and execute on new business ideas."
MARC LAROCQUE
