I Am Bachelor #3

Okay, I am outing myself. In the examples Drew McManus uses in his entry today, I am indeed the person mentioned in Example 3.

Of course, the only reason I am admitting it is because as Drew noted, things have turned out fairly well for me. Partially because there were a lot of people who were interested in new uses of technology on my hiring committee. It is also partially due to the fact there are enough things to write about that it is easy to exercise restraint when the temptation to gripe arises.

However, you might be surprised to learn how incorrect assumptions about the freedoms accorded those who work in higher education are. There have been a number of stories recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education (here and here for example) and in a recent series on education that appeared on Slate which have noted the very act of blogging, regardless of the tone or even subject matter, can ruin an academic’s chance for a job or tenure.

In some cases, even tenured professors were viewed as wasting time on blogging that could be better spent on publishing in academic journals.

It is all enough to give a job applicant pause as noted in a Chronicle column by a doctoral candidate and blogger who received dire warnings about blogging at a career counseling session. She ultimately felt that the act of blogging made her a better scholar (boosted by the fact that one of her entries received fairly honorable recognition.)

I certainly feel that it has made me a better manager since reading my old entries helps remind me of some good ideas and concepts I had.

Over time I think blogging will become a more accepted method of scholarly discussion, research and publishing. This will be especially true as those who frown on the practice retire and are replaced by bloggers and those who may have benefited from reading them.

There would certainly be an opportunity for a much wider, more extensive peer review of papers than there is currently. Of course, there would be much wider, louder, and public debate over these issues. Unfortuantely, perhaps without the investment of reflective time that the current system includes.

Still the speed of receiving such replies could be helpful in scientific research, even with all the concerns about industrial espionage and intellectual property rights, by allowing scientists to posit ideas, discuss conumdrums or ask if anyone had come across materials with certain properties.

Other than Andrew Taylor, I don’t know any other arts bloggers in higher education settings so it is difficult for me to gauge whether arts faculty are any more or less accepting of bloggers in their ranks.