Power to the People

Back, Karla and Barwick, Daniel. "High Tech's Double Edge: Creating Organizationally Appropriate Responses to Emerging Technologies." On The Horizon: 15.1 (2007) 28-36. 22 Jul. 2008 Emerald Journals. .

Whilst the "emerging technologies" this article addresses are blogs it regards them more from a management perspective rather than a practitioner's one. It is based on a case study of the situation at the State University of New York College of Technology at Alfred in 2006. In this situation, a public blog became staff and students' only outlet to air grievances with the college's president. This forum became so powerful as to effectively end the president's tenure. However, instead of decrying blogs in general Back and Barwick argue that administrations need to understand it so they can deploy it in their favour and prevent the college receiving bad publicity.

Selected quotes (resplendant with annotations):

"Little attention is paid to the leadership/management challenges and opportunities these technologies create" (28)
"Openly critical academic blogs present administrators with unique opportunities for increased effectiveness, and most of their supposed drawbacks are really just indicative of disguised institutional problems of which such blogs are merely symptomatic" (29)
"A public college presidency ended not simply because of the president's failure to meet expectations, but also as a direct result of an administration's inability to adequately respond to a private blog"

This just goes to show how powerful this method of communication can be; since blogs are popular publishing, word can spread quickly around the blogosphere so, if the right information is spread, you can reach a large audience very quickly. You just need to tap into this tool to make sure that - in your opinion - the right information is spread.

"Free speech is traditionally regarded as a cornerstone of the campus environment" (31)

Yet this article points out that it is only free speech of a certain type - i.e. upholding the system - that is the true cornerstone of the campus environment. Should such a phenomenon be unchallenged?

"Students are an integral part of the operations of the campus. They live on the campus, work on the campus, and in many cases help govern the campus. [...] Students are also implicit ambassadors for the college and both active and passive recruiters as well" (31-32)

If we teach students a way to incorporate new technologies into their formal studies then we are better assisting them to cope with future challenges. Indeed, most students don't need to be taught how to use emerging technologies - the computer literacy of a large percentage of tertiary students these days is astounding - but rather on how to use them effectively to manage/store information and create/synthesise knowledge.

"Although many believe that academia often leads with the integration of new technologies, history does not support this belief"

Indeed, if academia does not start making up some of the ground they lost then universities are in danger of being left behind as places of learning; if the system does not adapt then it is in danger of being seen as antiquated and irrelevant. There is also the wider issue of universities being slow to change generally. Is this a symptom of trying to account for tradition and new technologies? Also, because things have been done for a certain way for the entirety of living memory then when something new comes along there is a great sense of inertia which this new technology has to counter.

"We believe that administrators should seek ways to use new technologies to increase the level of communication(or to provide alternative means of communication) across the campus, and that the result would be improved perception in the work environment" (33)

Indeed, the same goes for lecturers communicating with students. Do we not provide a richer experience when we teach the students why something is important? What better way to help inculcate this why than with a blog which reflects the personal philosophies of a lecturer?

Should Academics Blog?

Here I summarise 7 articles which each take academic blogging as their focus. These summaries are mostly quotes from the particular papers with a little of my own commentary - appended in italics. The aim of this post is to provide academics which will, I hope, entice them to blog professionally to:

1. Increase exposure of their programme.
2. Provide a model for students who have to submit reflective journals.
3. Offer a different format for reflective journals.

• Glenn, David. "Scholars who Blog: The soapbox of the Digital Age Draws a Crowd of Academics." The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 6, 2003): http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i39/39a01401.htm

"Academic bloggers worry that the medium smells faddish, ephemeral."
"Academic bloggers are sometimes subject to twinges of self-consciousness and guilt, and fear that their elders will thing they're misbehaving."
"There are no financial returns to blogging."

Yet a department/programme can increase enrolments - a form of financial return - through the wider publicity their blog can generate. There is also the chance to raise the institution's good-will factor as well as the possibility of picking up publishing contracts. All these benefits are not tangible "financial returns" but blogs can increase financial returns in the long run.

"Anyone at all can read and comment on their discussions."
"Blogs also appear to bring full professors, adjuncts, and students onto a level field."
"Write on your blog only when you think you have something to say."

This article provides advice and information for academics who are starting out in the blogsphere. Glenn, correctly, sees the blogsphere as a more open, democratic sharing of knowledge but this openness - currently at least - challes established publishing protocols of what constitutes "research."

• Tribble, Ivan. "First Person: Bloggers Need Not Apply." The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 8, 2005): http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/07/2005070801c.htm (accessed July 10, 2008).

"But it's best for job seekers to leave their personal lives mostly out of the interview process."

I am not sure how this impossibility is to be achieved - is he asking that we should have some nasty - not to mention mentally unstable - Dr-Jekyll-Mr-Hyde thing going on?

"Several committee members expressed concern that a blogger who joined our staff might air departmental dirty laundry (real or imagined) on the cyber clothesline."

Tribble takes a very sceptical view of blogging. Indeed, he stops just short of saying that blogging can totally ruin your chances of securing a tenured position. Although, he does chose good - and funny - examples of people who's blogs show they are unsuitable for the position; here is the warning: think before you blog!

• Tribble, Ivan. "First Person: They Shoot Messengers, Don't They?" The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 2, 2005): http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/09/2005090201c.htm (accessed July 10, 2008).

"The issue is not the medium itself, but how it is used."

After the backlash from "Bloggers Need Not Apply" Tribble felt he needed to further clarify his thoughts on blogging and conceded that it was more the current use of blogs he was decrying. Although this article was more paying lip-service to The Chronicle's readership.

• Farrell, Henry. "The Blogosphere as a Carnival of Ideas." The Chronicle of Higher Education (October 7, 2005): http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i07/07b01401.htm (accessed July 10, 2008).

"Is it a good idea to blog if you're on the job market or have a nontenured position?"
"Blogging would eat up time that could be devoted to publishing articles or working on a book."

But blogging IS a form of publishing. Not only are you actually publishing - and there is fault here with the system which does not regard a blog as a research output - but you can also blog with a view to publishing.

"While blogging has real intellectual payoffs, it is not conventional academic writing and shouldn't be an academic's main focus if he or she wants to get tenure."

This is talking more about the system than blogs themselves. Perhaps it is time for a bit more fine-tuning...

"Their blogs allow them not only to express personal views but also to debate ideas, swap views about their disciplines, and connect to a wider public."
"Academic blogs offer the kind of intellectual excitement and engagement that attracted many scholars to the academic life in the first place."
"Academic blogs also provide a carnival of ideas, a lively and exciting interchange of argument and debate that makes many scholarly conversations seem drab and dessicated in comparison."
"Blogging sacrifices some depth of thought [...] but provides in return a freedom and flexibility that normal academic publishing can't match."

A blog doesn't have to always sacrifice depth of thought though. You can always save your post as a draft and then keep working on it as you would an article. And there is no need to keep blogs short - even though the internet can give us the attention span of gnats.

"Which is not to say that blogs and more conventional forms of publishing can't compliment each other very nicely."
"Prominent academics who start blogging do have an initial advantage; they're more likely to attract early attention than people without established reputations."
"Less-well-known academics, and nonacademics with interesting things to say, have a real opportunity to speak to a wider public and to establish a reputation over time."
"Blogospheric conversations, when they're good, have a vigor and a liveliness that most academic discussion lacks."
"An unusually high level of intelligent discussion around a topic is more usually associated with stale pro- and anti-theory polemics."
"It's far harder than it used to be for academics to become public intellectuals."
"All of those blogs weave back and forth between the specialized language of academe and the vernacular of public debate. They are creating a space for dialogue between the two, connecting them together, and succeeding, to a greater or lesser degree, in changing both."
"They represent a serious challenge to well-established patterns of behavior in the academy."

Farrell's article is the most balanced I present here. Although he clearly sees blogging as a beneficial activity for academics, he also points out the dangers of which bloggers should beware. Perhaps I read too much into the article but I see that Farrell wishes to change the current academic system by undercutting the hegemony of the scholarly article to democratise academic publication and - here's the rub - help institutions value blogs as a "proper" academic outlet.

• Goetz, Rebecca A. "First Person: Do Not Fear the Blog." The Chronicle of Higher Education (November 14, 2005): http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/11/2005111401c.htm (accessed July 10, 2008).

"Blogs and the blogosphere are new concepts, and the possibilities for scholarly communication are endless and exciting."

Even though written almost three years ago and there has been some uptake of blogging by academics, the change is still slow to percolate up the institutional ladder.

"I have come to believe that those online exchanges build better, more involved scholars who have a wide circle of blog-colleagues."
"Perform thought experiments and try out ideas quickly without going through the conventional publication or conference process."
"There will be many more bloggers like me who mix the personal and the professional in fun and quirky ways."
"Job seekers who blog are thoughtful, interesting people who are fascinated by the possibilities that this new medium has for enhancing their personal and professional lives."

Goetz started this blog when she was a post-graduate History student at Harvard. Now, she has an academic position in Texas and is continuing to blog. This article was a conscious rebuttal to "Bloggers Need Not Apply" and consolidates the points raised by Farrell.

• Delong, J. Bradford. "Can Blogging Derail Your Career?: The Invisible College." The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 28, 2006): http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i47/47b00801.htm (accessed July 10, 2008).

"I would like a larger college."
"My invisible college is paradise squared, for an academic at least."
"Web logging is a lottery ticket to something int he future, unknown but good."
"Academics who blog think more profound thoughts, have a influence on the world - both the academic and the broader worlds - and are happier for it."

This depends on your definition of academic. Do academics not have the duty to the public good - since they, in New Zealand at least, are funded by public money - to promote increased knowledge?

"A thoughtful, intelligent, well-informed Web logger like Juan Cole or Dan Drezner is an important part of a university's public face."

This article is one of a further series of rebuttals to both of Tribble's articles and has become one of the foundation texts for academic blogging. Delong sees the blogsphere as a way for academics to widen their network of associations; a particularly useful tool for those departments which have a smaller staff and, therefore, for academics who may not have any colleagues interested in their particular area of research on hand.

• Drezner, Daniel W. "Can Blogging Derail Your Career?: The Trouble with Blogs." The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 28, 2006): http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i47/47b00701.htm (accessed July 10, 2008).

"Any substandard publication creates a black mark that is difficult to erase."
"Blogs are an outlet for unexpurgated, unreviewed, and occasionally unprofessional musings."
"Today's senior faculty members look at blogs the way a previous generation of academics looked at television - as a guilty, tawdry pleasure that should not be talked about in respectable circles."
"Any usurpation of scholarly authority is bound to upset those who benefit the most from the status quo."
"Quality blogs allow scholars to link grand theory to real-world events, cultivate new ideas, and spark public debates."

Again, Drezner focuses on how blogs can upset the status quo of academic publishing. It is for this reason that he feels the academy views blogs as somehow inferior rather than an innate sub-standard quality.

What to Blog

I have encountered a problem with one of my blogs. I set up one blog to publicise what I am doing when directing plays. The purpose of this blog is to entice the audience to come and see the show. As such, I don't want to give the audience the impression that things are not going well. This is a particular bind for me because I tend to notice the negative. Consequently, I find myself blogging about my process more on my reflective practice blog. In a way, this nullifies the intent of my blog since it was set up to keep the audience informed on what I am doing so the audience can better appreciate the production. It just goes to show that you need to consider what you are blogging and the purpose of your blog before you post an entry.

Reflective Practice and Blogs

Now that the opening of The Winter's Tale draws nigh, my attention is turning more towards what I have done. I believe that throughout this project I have been far more self-aware than I have been previously. Part of this greater self-awareness has come from the fact that I have been blogging about my process - this blog - throughout. Having to make my thoughts more coherent for someone else to read helps focus me on what actually is important rather than letting myself ramble on too much. Also, having Google Analytics installed helps me to keep updating my blog regularly to see if you are coming back to read what I am writing or how many new people are reading my pearls of wisdom. And - because the act of writing something makes it more clear - I am also finding ways to solve my problems and am gaining the heart to face them.

I have, however, encountered two particular problems when I have been blogging: having an advertising blog and actors' anonymity. My Current Projects Blog is designed to advertise the production. So, obviously, it would be inappropriate to mention certain things in there. Then, if I am having problems with certain actors, I must be very careful in how I speak about them. Particularly since there may be nothing inherently "wrong" with what they are doing but there may just be a personality clash in which I myself am not completely blameless. Then again, this is a general point about blogs: what you write is in the public domain and may remain there in perpetuity so if you bag people you may be looking like an ass; in looking like an ass, you write yourself as an ass in indelible ink.

Various Sundry Titbits

I first wanted to post something that was of the utmost importance and I felt I REALLY needed to post - but do you think I can remember what it is?

I have been working on reading published articles for academics' blogs to help show the Theatre Studies Programme what benefit they could gain for blogging. The benefits mentioned are all pretty obvious: greater collaboration, quicker publishing time, increased exposure, more freedom to mix the personal and professional (one thing I particularly admire). The negative aspects all seem to boil down to one piece of advice: what you write online is viewable by everyone. Pretty common sense really...However, I will be putting up something a wee bit more fulsome here eventually.

Now I remember what I was going to write about: why am I exploring on-line video editors when their off-line counterparts are often much more powerful and just as simple to use (I am thinking here of iMovies which has been designed with those with little or no video editing experience). However, the advantage with an online editor is that you do not have to have a terminal set aside as a video-editing station but students can use any terminal on campus - or indeed off. The good thing about a free service is that there is no further cost outlay to provide software licences.

However, it seems I have hit somewhat of a stumbling block. There are many tools out there designed to share your clips or add social bookmarks but very few for creating your own clips. Is this because the coding is so difficult? Is it too hard to make such tools easy enough to use? I know not...

Dawn and I also had a chat about online photo editors. In particular, we discussed those which claim to improve your photos. Whilst it could be a good idea to use these to improve that pic you snapped spur of the moment there could be some danger in relying on them heavily. This danger comes from diluting the basic skills of photography. I am not saying we shouldn't digitally manipulate images after we take them - this is a common-place and is part of photography. It is just that you can only improve the quality of an image so much; you can never make a bad image good with digital manipulation. Also, these editors are designed for web display. If you are using them for any purpose other than web display they will be effectively useless.

Today was also a first for me. I made my first comment on a colleague's blog. I found the blog of one of the Otago Polytechnic participants who is undertaking a project very similar to mine so could provide her with, I hope, helpful information on where she can locate tools to create an online slide show.

I also have discovered the danger in online tools where you quickly update what you are doing - such as Twitter and Facebook. My boss is my friend on Facebook and saw that I had updated my status somewhat flippantly. You see, I had insinuated that I sometimes do not apply myself fully to the task at hand. This, however, was not my intended meaning. I simply meant to state that I had the energy/motivation to get work done - two things that can begin to fade when you work the 5-9 shift. Just a word of caution: be clear in your communication and you can avoid possibly embarrassing situations. Incidentally, this brings me back to the topic with which I started my blog as this is one of the warnings that constantly cropped up in the readings I was doing for academic blogging...