As a regenerate blogging nay-sayer, I am discovering that blogging is (or certainly has the potential to be) much more than a forum for ranting. These five articles suggests a variety of uses of blogs for information management, self-expression, an alternative to traditional news-gathering and news-dissemination media, and community building, and social action. Of course, as in any genre the potential for the trivial also exists, as when blog celebrity Clancy Ratliff discusses her use of the Sweet Valley Twins for her masthead. Nevertheless, the potential for authentic, purposeful usage is immense.
Synthesizing (accurately or not...) the material in several of the articles, I decided the greatest potential offered by the blog is as a forum for dialectic, where two equally authoritative and informed individuals can engage in conversation (question and answer) to arrive at the "truth" or highest probability of the truth. This has important implications for both journalism and academia. In journalism, persons interested in a specific topic or issue can access entire text of speeches, position papers, or online interviews without the filter of the reporter's perceptions and biases. The ostensible result could be a better informed public (although this conclusion rests on the assumption that the public is motivated enough to actually seek out the material). Incidentally, I found it interesting that Walt Rubel, a LC Sun-News reporter, tacitly acknowledges the limitations of conventional journalism in his article in the Sunday paper (p. 1C), "Getting beyond the campaign distractions," when he steers readers to websites (albeit not blogs) for McCain, Obama, and independent views.
In addition, academic blogging seems to have huge potential for raising general awareness and understanding of critical issues. As Farrell notes, the constraints of conventional journalism have clouded the evolution/creationism ("intelligent design") debate to the point where scientists began expounding their views unmediated in blogs "that weave back and forth between the specialized language of academe and the vernacular of public debate." Such discourse cannot help, it seems, but leaven public understanding of critical issues. As Farrell states, blogging "democratizes the function of the public intellectual." Indeed, why should academic knowledge appear in papers written solely for a (relatively) tiny, elite group of scholars?
A common theme of most of these articles seems to be democratization, especially of information access and dissemination. As Farrell suggests, the time of the privileged discourse of the Forum has been replaced by the wider discourse of the Carnival (even with its potential for error and misuse).
Blog mates, what did you think about the Herring (et al.) article? Did anyone else besides me wish the guy from "Numbers" (the television show) could have been available to interpret? Also, I apologize for several typos in previous postings. I suppose I am too used to automatic spell checkers. See you Monday.
Educational Gaming
15 years ago
2 comments:
I think academic blogging could potentially loosen up that rather rigid boundary between us and R.O.W. (that's "Rest Of the World"), but that point you bring up about language seems like the biggest snag to me. Maybe I'm just treating them like snobs, but I think a lot of academics forget how to talk like a normal person. Perhaps blogs could be used as a form of un-training someone to talk like a scholar?
Judy-
I agree that the Herring piece is pretty dense. Lots of numbers and scary pictures that didn't make much sense. I did latch onto their ideas about tight local communities within the blogosphere rather than massive, all-inclusive blog coversations. I liked the talk about the lack of linking on some blogs, too. Makes me wonder if we need more categories - linked blogs and blogs in isolation or something.
I agree with you and Jen that blogs are a great way for academics to widen our nets and to get beyond preaching to the choir here in the academy.
I'm wondering about the purpose and place of personal, sometimes "ranting" blogs. I know they are annoying but they seem valuable in their way - if nothing else maybe just to the blogger posting them.
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