Strange headline–I’m irresistibly reminded of Blue Oyster Cult, even if I can’t get the proper diacritical mark there–but an interesting article in the Chronicle nonetheless. Rebecca Goetz writes a thoughtful, even temperate essay on her own experience as a grad-school blogger, offering evidence of its personal and professional value in her studies, and challenging the current backlash-assumption that blogging is dangerous to one’s career. She cites the earlier, pseudonymous “Ivan Tribble” essays in the Chronicle, and shares the “metablogging” questions and answers that emerged for her as she considered “Tribble”‘s arguments.
I’m not naive enough to think that masking and the ultra-careful control of information don’t play a large role in academic success, but I am stubborn enough to think it shouldn’t be that way. Higher education in particular has the responsibility to demonstrate to the world that there’s a better way. Irony doesn’t begin to describe the current situation, though, in which we urge our students to find their voices and spend most of our time manipulating our own. Perhaps this is the sour result of Foucault’s argument that all discourse is merely the circulation of power. I don’t believe that’s true, myself, but if it is, who could be blamed for turning to concealed weapons? And what could be more disruptive than the blogosphere?
Unless the blogosphere itself is nothing more than the latest instance of discourse as the circulation of power, as some (not all) students of social network analysis believe. I don’t believe that myself, not because I don’t believe the blogosphere cannot become a Foucaultian power exchange, or that power circulation doesn’t characterize some of the blogosphere already, but because I don’t believe such a thing is inevitable.
Rebecca says it’s a great time to be an academic blogger. I agree. And that greatness is our shared responsibility.
Thank you for the link and the kind comments!
I recently had a long discussion with my parents, who thought that the mildly offensive content (four-letter words) on my mp3blog would keep me from ever working in this town/country/world again.
I assured them that this was not the case, that my frank writing style is SOP in audioblog circles, and that no-one reads my angsty drivel anyway. They didn’t buy it, until I was hired as a writer last week by Mudsugar Magazine, an alternative press based in DC.
While there’s certainly nothing academic about my blog, I’m thrilled to do my part in debunking the myth that blogging is always bad for your career.
The Chronicle has done a real disservice to emerging forms of academic discourse by publishing those two articles by the anonymous Ivan Tribble. I have seven students in my Educational Technology Planning class that traditionally has a requirement that students keep weblogs. This year we began the class with a lengthy discussion of the Tribble article, and I gave students the choice of a public blog or an alternative assignment. In the end, everyone chose to blog, but the group seems more constrained in their content and style that other years. Part of that may be due to the chilling effect of our initial discussion.
Rebecca’s article is a small counterweight to the poorly argued and documented early assessments of the dangers of blogging.
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Hi Gardner.
You responded to my blog Bridge to Dreamland a while ago and I wasn’t aware you had done so, so excuse my late response.
I am a DJ at a community radio station here in Olympia and I’ve been reading a few places about the concern over the state of radio in the current environment. I understand what you say “radio is dead,” and it is at least very threatened. It seems to me that in order for radio to survive it must become viable online. This seems very true at least. I am very defensive about radio in general because I fear the station I work at in particular is fading into obscurity because it is without online presence.
As you may be aware there are radio stations that are hugely successfull because of that online presence, and I wonder if they would be successfull without their embracing evolving technologies.
Sorry to be responding to a non-related blog entry.
-Domenica Clark