My Knee Jerk Reaction to other Knee Jerk Reactions.
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 2 I agree with much of what Gannon said in his article. Anonymous’s post struck me as elitist and Luddite. In his screed Anonymous did have one valid concern, there might be to much pressure in academia to participate in social media for little or no professional payoff. A lot of that point is lost at the end of his article when he says “But surely the dedication I show in the lab, and the subsequent data I collect, should speak for itself. I do not – and should not – have to parade myself online to please my employer” (Anonymous 1). If you’re a good researcher then yes your work will stand on its own, but it never hurts to get the word out on what you’re doing. Even more can be said for going above and beyond and using social media for outreach, perhaps explaining it to people not in your field, or even to the general public.
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 5 I found the comment thread on Gannon’s post to be quite civil. The closest it got to being hostile was when Gannon was arguing with Another Anonymous and said, No. You do not get to do that. If you think that’s what I’m saying, you need to work on your reading comprehension” (Gannon 15). I loved the comment especially considering Another Anonymous unwarranted attack on the computer industry claiming, ““democratization and diversification” are computer-industry buzzwords for deskilling of various sectors that they are working hard to eat alive” (Anonymous 14). His comments enraged me. Because of this, I loved Gannon’s response. Anonymous seemed to use Gannon’s blog post as a springboard to post his anti-technology rant. It had little to do with the things Gannon said and deserved to be called out. Although I think he should have been somewhat more civil, it was probably a heat of the moment comment.
I agree, that Anonymous often came off as elitist, certainly a tone suggested by their title.
I like your point re: “getting the word out.” But how, specifically, might social media be used to do this? If social media is, in Gannon’s eyes, to be used as a tool to communicate with public audiences, does that mean that one’s research must also be accessible / able to be interpreted by public audiences? And what if it’s just, well, not?