Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The 2012 Paleo Project Challenge

Everyone has an unfinished project. Most of us have at least a half dozen. Those partly finished manuscripts, paintings, data sets, and preparation projects. Oh, we started out with good intentions. Maybe we even poured a productive week into it. But then, the honeymoon glow faded. Something else got in the way. The field season, or teaching duties, or another more pressing project, or a grant deadline, or just plain old life circumstances, interrupted us.

Luckily, all of that work doesn't have to go to waste. Why not finish up that project? What are you waiting for? Heck, what am I waiting for?

Regular readers of this blog may remember that Dave Hone and I instituted the "Paleo Paper Challenge" (PPC) back in 2009, in an effort to shame all of us into cleaning our (figurative) research plate. We had pretty remarkable success - although not everyone (including ourselves) were able to finish everything we wanted to, most folks made some major progress. Some papers even made it into publication, in venues like Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and PLOS ONE. Not too shabby.

Not wanting to rest on our laurels, it's time to kick things off for 2012. As before, Dave and I want to pursue a "bigger tent" approach. Why limit the PPC to just academic research? Let's open it up to all paleo enthusiasts! Preparators, artists, researchers, bloggers. . .after all, paleontology does not survive on publication alone. Thus, we are happy to kick off:

The Paleo Project Challenge
Do you have a paper that just needs the finishing touches before it heads off to publication? Is there some half-prepped fossil sitting in a cabinet in the lab? Have you started and finished a big blog post half a dozen times, but never pulled the trigger? Is that masterpiece rendering of a liveTylosaurus still sitting on the easel? Stop sitting around, and finish it!

Here are the rules:
1) Indicate your willingness to participate in the Paleo Project Challenge (PPC) in the blog comment section. You should at a minimum indicate the category it falls under (paper, blog, art, or whatever), and the project (if you can - we totally understand the need for secrecy in some cases!).
2) Do the work! You have until December 31, 2012. Remember, we're all watching.
3) Once you're done, celebrate!

Let's get to work!

My Commitments
1) Write up the ODP results. [yes, for real this time!]

What are you going to do? Chime in below in the comments section!

Note: This post is largely recycled from my post back in 2010. In the interest of laziness--which really is the impetus behind the PPC--that 2010 post is given with only slight modification.

15 comments:

Mike Taylor said...

My plan is to FINALLY get the Archbishop description done (that's the Tenadguru brachiosaur at the Natural History museum, for those of you who for whatever reason don't read SV-POW!)

Note: This comment is largely recycled from my comment back in 2010. In the interest of laziness--which really is the impetus behind the PPC--that 2010 comment is given with only slight modification.

Eric Morschhauser said...

I'd like to finish a short paper on misidentified ceratopsian elements. (Though to be fair, it is in the hands of my coauthor now, so it's not all on me. But I'm pledging to keep up my end of the bargain.)

There are so many other projects I could add, but lets keep it simple/attainable.

Joseph Peterson said...

My plan is to get this large manuscript on pachycephalosaurid injuries submitted.

It is written, the figures are complete, and is it now in the hands of co-authors for further suggestions and changes.

Due to the high volume of figures and 3D images for the supporting data section, I am planning on submitting to Acta Palaeontologica Polonica or PLoS ONE.

Clint Boyd said...

Ok, I'm in. I pledge to finish retooling my manuscript on a new 'hypsilophodontid' from the Kaiparowits Formation and resubmit for review before the end of the year.

Unknown said...

I will genuinely wrap up the pre-review draft of the Oryctodromeus osteology paper that's been neglected for half a year and then harass co-authors for edits.

Jordan said...

What the hell: submit my paper on megaherbivorous dino skull ecomorphology.

Heinrich Mallison said...

ha! If Mike fesses up to having a two year delay and twice failure I can do so as well.



Oh, hm, I have three of those :(
OK, speedwalking dinos it is this year.

Jay said...

Mike, good thing you added that final disclaimer regarding archbishop, ..or I was gonna say...

As for myself, I, boldly, will try wrap up two manuscripts for my phd thesis - and have one of these submitted by the end of the year, and have completed my bit on another paper where I'm a junior contributor...fingers crossed.

Anonymous said...

OK, I'll bite. I will finish my current project with Hebert Campos on describing a pterosaur jaw bone. But ... I cannot assure completing by year's end due to the interests of an outside party and such's control over what I can do with this paper.

I will NOT promise to complete an illustration project that I've been doing for the last few months because I'm a lazy bastard, and all that.

Anonymous said...

I fully appreciate Andy needs to get the ODP moving again, but I was hoping / assuming he'd be plumping for the manuscript we're working on together! :) It is in good shape but needs finishing off, and with my teaching load at the moment, the end of the year is about right. So it's the Protocersatops piece for me.

coelophysis said...

when are scientist going tell the public that dinosaurs are alive. and its just a prehistoric aligator. and aligator ancestor is spinosauridae. gators have 5 fingers 3 claws 4 toes 3 claws bony palate goniopholis had 4 toe claws dated 145 millon years ago. and scientist claim top candidate to turn into modern crocodilian is protosuchus. the no bony palate and no sensory dot skin dated 155 millon years ago 5 finger claws 5 toe claws. crocodilian became aquatic 150 millon years ago. and spinosaurdae dated 155 millon years ago we know is older the skull link with coelophysis. and spinosauridae has bony palate and sensory dot skin a modern crocodilian feature. and catcroc regenerate its 2 missing claws dated 105 millon years ago all its toes are claw. aligator missing claws is a aquatic feature like fin like scale on its back leg for speed . protosuchus is convergen evolution to look like modern crocodilian. and crocodile is a aquatic dinosaurs.

coelophysis said...

i forgot to say sheildcroc is link with frill dinosaurs

Anonymous said...

I'm not a scientist, but my favorite classes at school were Paleontology and Geology. I have a modest collection of fossils and of course rocks which I add to as I travel.

When my kids were small, I really hoped to take them on a family vacation to the Dinosaur Highway in Utah and Colorado. They're not very portable these days but I'll bet they'd still enjoy it. Camping in the desert, exploring the footprints and fossils by day and sketching and journaling by the fireside at night. Perfect family get-away. 2013 has to be the year.

gimpasaura said...

I will finally get my pterosaur manuscript submitted, which will be my first paper submission ever! And hopefully also submit a manuscript from my undergraduate thesis project, but I'm not as convinced for that one since it is largely in the plans of my super busy previous supervisor.

coelophysis said...

glimpasaura do you do no bony crocodyliforms science stuff do they teeth replacement like modern crocodilians.or the prehistoric modern crocodilians dated 85-150 millon years ago the both bony palate croc.any way i take any help.the amature scientist more like a dino fan.