Seriously Academic Blog Post — Anon & Tattooed Professor
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 1 I do feel inclined to take a side in this argument, but not without some gentle critique. This criticism is only necessary because we need to stay on the defense constantly if we are to be Serious Academics™. On the fifth page of Gannon’s article he lists the ways his scholarship is relevant to the “outside” world through digital means. He compares this work on history and racism done in blog mediums or twitter to serious academic work. I’m inclined to take that stance as well, only I need to point out that work is still different that academic writing. The nature of the beast will not require as much time, it will not require peer review, it will allow you to “play” more with standard academic procedures. Writing for a WordPress blog, or even the Chronicle is simply going to be a different kind of writing than to your field’s leading academic journal.
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 5 This entire conversation seems deeply rooted in the humanities. We are expected to interact with the public, keep our research interesting as well as accessible. Historians, if you uncover some cool shit from a Civil War archive, you better be ready to write it up for a public audience [in addition to the research project you are working on for your new book, of course]. Do mathematicians need to do this? Do chemists feel the pressure to take a professional but public twitter feed? Honestly I love the idea of accessible research on blogs and twitter. I’ve done it myself. I have instagrammed documents I’ve found in archives. I only feel it necessary to point out this pressure isn’t felt equally.
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 2 The pressure takes us back to Anon’s concerns, we feel it because we need jobs. We need funding. You name it, we need it. But even then, I only feel for their outrage on a surface level. If you don’t want to be on twitter, then don’t. But then you can’t be upset when it’s a “requirement” and you don’t have one. It’s kind of like you didn’t want a pair of heelys, you were fine with your roller skates. But all your friends have heelys and they’re able to roll down the hallways at school, but you still have to sit outside and put your skates on one shoelace at a time.
Oh of course there’s a difference between work and academic writing, but I think it can still be used in an academic setting. I think the major difference between a blog and a leading academic journal is the audience. You can still send the same message, just in a different format. One of the main points of social media is to reach as many people as possible, and this type of work is just trying to reach as many as possible as well and branching out on your audience. I definitely don’t think that blogging and academic writing are on the same level, as you mentioned it doesn’t have the standard, but it’s not something to turn away from.