It started mainly with articles on my favorite subject, scientific writing, which we are experts in at Koonec. The tips we offer come directly from our past experience dealing with customers struggling with their manuscripts’ preparation, and especially in terms of paper organization, correspondence with the editor and reviewers, and choice of the journal for publication. As I have been confronted during my career with many of the same issues that our clients might face today, and since I am a scientific writer and occasionally also a reviewer and guest editor myself, I have extended experience on this subject. Somehow, I hope that Science for All will help other scientists publish their results and it will promote the new science developments and discoveries. As a result of the efforts we have made in trying to answer all these queries, we also wrote a book on scientific writing that compiles all the information in the site and includes extra tips and examples.

With Science for All’s growth, we soon turned our attention to other matters that usually are not easy for scientists to get around to such as lab management and technology transfer. For example, I recently got myself into the redaction and transfer of patents and the joy of discovering this all new world of scientific marketing. This “bench to boardroom” jump has been so incredibly fascinating and different from everything I ever learned before that I thought I had to share some of the information I’m anxiously gathering with our fellow readers.  I personally believe that the future of science lies in our capacity as scientists to share and pique the interest of  institutions and companies in our discoveries and, what better way to do so than with classical marketing strategies like the ones I was taught during my MBA classes?

However, Science for All is far more than an informative blog. It pretends to be the foundation for a community of scientists interested in sharing their own tips with their fellows and in discovering many more things like awesome internet tools, tips for better productivity, or fun stuff like web comics and ranting pages.

So come on, visit Science for All, we can’t wait to see you there

You can imagine my surprise when I landed my first job in an Internet startup and noticed that, when I went in to meet the team, 5 out of 7 people had to take their headphones off to greet me. Uhh… don’t they know that it’s going to take them longer to finish what they’re doing?

Eventually, I understood that many things aren’t pearl white or pitch black. Listening to music while working can be very positive under the right circumstances. Here I’ll try to explain why.

When is it good to work with the music on?

• When you need to isolate yourself from a noisy environment
  Very often, you’ll find yourself in a noisy environment that’s distracting you from your work. Good neutral music can lift you up to tranquility and help you focus.
• To block possible interruptions
  At work, it can sometimes be challenging to focus on a complex matter when people are trying to get a hold of you every 5 minutes. Putting your headphones on shows that you’re in a private space and that you don’t want to be disturbed.
• When you’re doing something boring or that you dread
  We all have to do many things that we don’t enjoy that much. I’ve found that the prospect of listening to some good music makes it easier to start those tasks and, sometimes, you can even get to enjoy them.
• As a way to control your mood
  Some days seem harder to get by than others. Carefully selected music can take you out from the moody slums and up to feeling-good heaven.

When is it a bad idea to work with the music on?

• As a rule, no music is better than music
  Silence is precious and music can easily be disturbing. If you’re not sure, you’re probably better off without for now.
• When you need absolute focus
  Again, if you really need to concentrate on something and there are no environmental conditionings, no music is the best option. There’s no beating your brain’s rumbling sound to find the solution you’re looking for.
• When you’re trying to learn something by heart
  While changing the lyrics of a song is a known trick that we’ve all used, my teacher was right: use 100% of your brain-power to focus on what you’re doing. Say it out loud, write it down, etc… without noise pollution.

What kind of music should I listen to?

That’s pretty personal. In general, the only condition is that it shouldn’t stop you from doing what you are supposed to. Some tips:

• No lyrics
  There’s nothing harder than translating an urology paper from German to English while listening to a song in French. While this is especially true for translations, it also applies to other tasks. Our brain has learnt to focus on humans’ voices and, therefore, it is really hard not to listen to the lyrics of a song. Have you tried thinking about parrots and writing about horses? That’s what I’m talking about.
• Good old classical
  Nowadays, classical music is a very good option for most people, since we’ve never heard most of it and the pitch never goes too high or too low, so it doesn’t distract us. I’d recommend to start with any Sonata by Domenico Scarlatti.
• Groove or chill-out music
  Both kinds of music are great for working since they are not intrusive and their conspicuous beat can help you keep up an active rythm.

Now it’s your turn . What do you think? Did we leave anything important behind?

1. Make (the right) use of the “CC” and “BCC” fields

“CC” stands for “carbon copy” and it should be used everytime that you want to keep someone in the loop, but s/he doesn’t have to act on the email (usually yours or the actor’s direct manager).
“BCC” stands for “blind carbon copy”, which means that the email addresses that you put in that field will be hidden from the other recipients, and you should use it when you’re sending an email to various different people which don’t necessarily know each other’s addresses.

2. Always include all previous content and attachments in a reply

Check your email client’s settings and make sure that you always include the whole history of an email conversation in your email. That way, if you or the recipient’s need to take a look at what you said before, it’ll always be within short reach. It’ll also help in case anyone joins the email conversation.

3. Include all attachments first thing, right after the recipient’s email address.

How many times have you sent an email without the attachment and you’ve had to resend it right away or even worse, you haven’t even noticed until they’ve told you. Make sure that this doesn’t happen again by adding any attachments right after the recipient’s email adress. Problem solved!

4. Add a short delay between clicking the send button and actually sending an email

We’ve all had the experience of realizing right after clicking the send button that we’ve forgotten something or that there’s a huge spelling mistake. Set your client to perform the send action 20 seconds after you tell it to send an email and you’ll have enough time to correct any mistakes.

5. Don’t leave any real person’s email unanswered (a quick “done” or “thanks!” is enough)

Emails are an important way of communication. The same way it is rude not to repy to a letter or not to call back someone who’s left you a voicemail, not replying to an email is considered disrespectful towards the sender. Most of the time a simple “done” or “thanks!” or maybe a short sentence is enough.

6.Write one email per task

Keep your messages focused on one single task. You’ll make it easier for the other person to understand what it is that you need accomplished, it’ll be easier for you to know if it has been completed and no tasks will be lost in the process. Also, be concise; there’s nothing more dreadful than a long self-repeating email.

7. Don’t reply in-line

The problem with in-line replies is that they’re harder to find and they may end up becoming conversations on their own, making the email thread way too long and thus harder to read and reply. If you stick to one task per email you won’t have to reply in-line.

8. Never delete an email, just archive it

In most countires, the content of an email is covered by the same laws as the contents of a letter.  Emails are important and they have a legal value, make sure that you don’t delete them. When an email conversation is over, just archive it.

9. Use an email signature, it’s important for the recipient to know who you are

Everyone wants to know who they’re being contacted by. Make sure that every email you send out has, at least, your name, title and company. It’s good for you too, since you get some necessary self-promotion.

10. Avoid sentences that can be misread and ease communication with emoticons

Since in email there are no voice tone or body language cues, we have to be particularly careful on how we write to make sure there’s no chance of misunderstanding. Try writing in an objective way and use transparent statements. Whenever you think that something can be misread, try rewriting it or use an emoticon to dispel any possible doubts.

Now it’s your turn . What do you think? Did we leave anything important behind?

- Origen 99.9%. This restaurant franchise has a few places in Barcelona, and notably one on Passeig del Born. I really love it for mainly 3 reasons. First, you can try many tasty sample dishes that are typically Catalan. Second, it comes with a cute menu/magazine with information on Catalan culture and gastronomy. Finally, you can also buy high quality Catalan products in the shop section of the restaurants.

- La Rosa Negra. La Rosa Negra is a Mexican bar and restaurant. I know they recently opened a second restaurant in the Raval, but I only ever went to the one on Via Laietana. I LOVE the original and unique design of this place (by Lorena Zertuche), that mixes kitsch and Mexican elements. I have to say that I have never been such a huge fan of Mexican cuisine, than since I tried their strawberry margaritas served with nachos con guacamole.

- Pim Pam Plats. This restaurant has 2 separated sections: the Pim Pam Plats to take out and the Pim Pam Burgers where you can eat or take out like you wish. Damn those burgers have to be the best you can find in Barcelona. They have a really amazing taste, look healthy and homemade, and are served with cheese sauces to die for! The “Plats” section offers more than 180 different dishes ready to eat! The location of the restaurant is a bit hidden, thankfully. We wouldn’t want everyone to know about it!!

- La dolça Herminia. This is where I go every time I have someone visiting me, because the food is Mediterranean and the menu is quite vast, so usually there is something for everyone. The place is really beautiful (although it can be really noisy), the service incredibly rapid (although the waitresses are often really unfriendly), and most of all it is really cheap. The place does not accept reservations, so if you plan on trying it, make sure to be there at 9 o’clock, for the doors opening!

- La Candela. I couldn’t find a webpage for this restaurant (really?!!!). But well it’s located here, two minutes walking from Koonec’s headquarters! Obviously, I love the area, in the center of the gothic quarter, close to the amazing Palau de la Música Catalana, the Santa Caterina market and the Arc de Triomf. The restaurant’s location is ideal, on the small Sant Pere square, right down the oldest church in Barcelona, dating from the Middle Age. You can also usually eat on the terrace, which became absolutely exceptional in Barcelona!

]]> http://www.koonec.com/blog/2010/01/my-5-favorite-places-to-eat-out-in-barcelona/feed/ 2 http://www.koonec.com/blog/2010/01/why-should-you-translate-your-website-into-another-language/ http://www.koonec.com/blog/2010/01/why-should-you-translate-your-website-into-another-language/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:59:28 +0000 Sophie http://www.koonec.com/blog/?p=80 Automatic translation allows you to easily set up many languages on your website. However, as your business expands internationally, you might want to consider translating it.

What’s the difference? Automatic translation is not perfect. It is useful to have more content and to get a bit more traffic to your website. However, if you really want to acquire new customers, not only will they need to understand your products, but also feel like you are close to them. This point is really important. Most very successful companies appear local and accessible to their customers. Think globally, but act locally! If you consider global marketing, you’d think that your business should at least be present in English. That’s fine, but not only! The real point of marketing is to make it as easy as possible for customers to buy from you and this mean communicating with customers in their own language.

Now what’s stopping you? The budget is always the first concern in people’s mind. But restrained budget does not necessarily mean poor marketing strategies! For example, you could choose to translate the entire website for €3000 into French, or you could try to translate it in 3 or 4 European languages for €1000 each. This way, you’ll have a better idea of who your customers are, and which markets work best.

Is translating your website enough? Well, of course that’s a first step. But why not go further? Did you consider marketing your website in other countries? Why not invest in a few advertising campaigns with Adwords in Spanish directly? Should you optimize your content for search engines in other languages too? Maybe start blogging or create a Twitter account in German? Some easy steps to follow for your marketing strategy would be to develop a professional website in English (with clear content and minimal but attractive design), translate your website’s content (in a few other languages & optimized for search engines), add country flags on your website’s frontpage, place clear and easy contact information on your frontpage, invest in local advertising campaigns, use your staff multi-lingual abilities for sales effort or use external services to answer to your international buyers in their language.

At Koonec, we can:

• help you with the creation, design and translation of your website
• work with you on the marketing strategies to use for your business international expansion
• offer you virtual office services, by helping you contact and answer to your customers directly in their own languages
• etc…

So don’t hesitate, contact us now!

1. What is it?

When scientists make discoveries, they write what we call papers, or scientific articles, where they describe their findings. They then send their articles to more or less prestigious scientific journals, where “peers” will review them for publication. The peer-review system is a process of selection of the articles which consists in sending the scientific article to other scientists, who are experts in the field and will judge the work accomplished. This process is usually anonymous. The goal is to permit the publication of only articles that meet some minimal requirements, such as if they respect ethical conventions, accepted standards, if the results are relevant and well interpreted and in general to avoid the divulgation of false information and personal views.

2. How does it work?

- First, the articles are sent to journals where an editor evaluates them. If the editor judges that an article fits the scope of the journal, is relevant or bring new information in the field of research, he will send a copy of the article to two reviewers (also called referees). If not, he will send it back to the author with a letter of rejection, usually within 1 week.

- Next, the reviewers examine the article and report their opinion to the editor who re-evaluates the article in consideration of the comments. At that point, the editor decides if the article should be (1) accepted for publication; (2) accepted after minor changes to the manuscript; (3) rejected with the opportunity to edit it; (4) directly rejected; and sends the decision to the authors, together with the referees’ comments. This process usually takes between 1 to 6 months (if the reviewers’ comment differ a lot, the editor might send the article to a 3rd reviewer or take a decision on his own).

- If the authors have the opportunity to do so, they answer point-by-point to the reviewers’ comment, modify their manuscript (adding content, experiments or whatever they estimate necessary) and send everything back to the editor (within 2 months) for a new evaluation (which might take another few months).

- Once again, the article is sent to the reviewers who give their opinion and the last decision of acceptance or rejection falls entirely to the editor.

That said, the majority of articles are either rejected, either rejected with the opportunity to edit them. The whole process is quite long and frustrating, especially in the case of rejection because of the time wasted, but the referees’ comments are usually very valuable for the authors and the article.

Do you need help sending an article to a peer-reviewed journal? Contact us!

Here is how you do it:

1- First, you need to buy a domain name (the actual name of your site, e.g. www.yourfirstname-yourlastname.com) and a hosting server (the space where your files and your website are saved). For that, I used DreamHost, although it’s not the cheapest, because it’s really nice and user friendly. A cheapest option is to buy a domain from domainsinseconds and hosting from BlueHost.

2- I installed WordPress on it. With DreamHost, it’s really easy, but if you are using another host, just follow these simple guidelines.

3- I changed the default appearance of my website by downloading a nice and free WordPress theme from Press75.com. You can also find a list of 100 great themes from Smashing Magazine. There are also many themes directly available from your WordPress dashboard. Simply go to the “Appearance” section and press “Add New Themes”. Select the options you want and press “Search” or “Find” and choose a theme from the hundreds one available. You can then simply click on “Install” to change your site’s outlook. If you want to use a theme that you downloaded on the internet, go to the “Appearance” section and press “Add New Themes”.  Select “Upload” and browse for your theme file. Click “Install Now” and wait for the page to reload. Under the “Appearance” menu, click “Themes” and select the theme to activate it.

4- Next, click on “Pages” and “Add New”. There you can create a page with all the information you want. You can add text, images, links, anything. It is really easy to do and intuitive. In the section “Pages”, you can also change the typical “About” and “Contact” pages. Just play around and click on Preview to see the results…

5- Go to “Settings” and to “Reading”. Change the “Front Page Display” to static and save. Then select the name of your page as the “Front Page”. This sets the page you just created as your website’s homepage.

6- You’re done!

There are hundreds of options in WordPress and it’s really easy to use, so feel free to play around and try all the possibilities. You can add pages, posts, categories, sidebars with boxes and links, etc. If you are having trouble with anything, just contact us and we will try to help you!

Let’s say that you work on “hypertension” and you want to receive an email every time an article comes out related to hypertension. Simply go to PubMed and type in “hypertension” in the search box. You should come out with a list of about 310,000 publications:

Simply click on the “Save Search” button right above the search box and it will bring you to a “My NCBI page” where you can create a personal account. Take a few minutes to do so and then follow the simple “save search” process. You will have to first create a name for your search. On the next page, you will see the following option: “Would you like e-mail updates of new search results?“. You can then choose if you want to receive mails every month, every week or every day, the format and the number of items you want to receive. Just click save and you’re done!

Of course you can create many different searches and most importantly, you can use many different keywords and keywords combinations to receive just about anything you’d like and as often as you’d like straight to your email!

Just to give you some updates of what’s going on at Koonec: we are finally back from our cold Christmas break in Longwy (France), after a busy December month!

Lately, we have been working on a project for a business management software called HORUS-ERP, with translations to French and Spanish of several pages of their website and other documents such as powerpoint tutorials. This was quite a big project and there is still more work to do, so hopefully we will keep working on these translations in the next months.

In January, we will also start a new project of English to French translation for an online mailing services provider: Click2Mail.