A version of this piece was originally published as ‘Conformity blunts creativity’, The Australian. Higher Education Supplement, Dec 12, 2007. I have added a few minor tweaks to bring it more up to date. But unfortunately not a lot has changed since 2007! Up till now there have been two dominant images of the humanities and …
There has been quite a discussion of late going on in the academic blogosphere about both the advantages and difficulties associated with academic blogging. (See links at the end of this post). I have found references in this discussion to an avoidance by academics of public exposure particularly interesting. This kind of avoidance has become …
I was interested by this comment by Rhiannon Bury in an interview on Henry Jenkin’s blog Let me close by saying that Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way I disseminate research on fandom. The norm in academia is to analyze our data behind closed doors and not report on it until we have a …
Stuart kindly responded to the comments in my previous post with some further interesting observations. I am adding a couple of clarifications here to clear up the amibiguities in my initial comment. I should emphasise that I am coming from the point of view of readership and impact, rather than production. The problem of readership …
Stuart Elden has a number of particularly interesting posts on academic writing on his blog Progressive Geographies. Recently he put up a post offering excellent advice on preparing for journal publication and then another on his own writing practices which has prompted the following reflections on my part. Stuart notes that his book: The Birth …
Posted on my site michel-foucault.com No-one is forced to write books, or to spend years elaborating them or to claim to be doing this kind of work. There is no reason to make it obligatory to include footnotes, bibliographies and references. No reason not to choose free reflection on the work of others. It is …
Daniel W. Drezner, ‘Public Intellectuals 2.0’, Chronicle of Higher Education, v 55 n12, Nov 2008, p. B5 My rating: *** Link to article (word doc) Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the USA and has run his own blog for about …
Joy Wattawa (2008) ‘Can Academic Blogging Advance Wisdom Research? Defining Wisdom project. My rating: *** I have just found another useful article on the benefits of academic blogging. From the references it appears to have been written this year (2008). In case you were wondering, given this is my second post on academic blogging, I …
My rating: *** Continuing on with the same theme… For those of you came in late, ‘lolcats’ is a phenomenon that really took off on the net early in 2007 – although it dates back to around 2005. It involves photos – usually of cats – with funny captions in broken misspelt ‘Engrish’ in a …
Andrew Walker and Nicholas Farrelly, ‘Boffins blogging: unlimited review’, ANU Reporter, Summer 2008, p. 34 My rating: **** Here are some extracts from an excellent short analysis of the benefits of the blogosphere for academics. The two writers have been running a blog titled New Mandala since June 2006. I absolutely agree with what the …
Refracted Input 