On Blogging
I'd heard about this a while back, but Lilia's got a fully linked TOC to the new special issue of Reconstruction, on "Theories/Practices of Blogging." In addition to her own piece, the issue features writing from Michael Benton, Craig Saper, danah boyd, Tama Leaver, Erica Johnson, Carmel L. Vaisman, David Sasaki, Anna Notaro, Esther Herman, and Lauren Elkin. Also check out the issue's "Blogroll," which includes brief "Why I blog" statements from all sorts of folk. I haven't had time to look the whole issue over yet, but it looks like a good mix of topics and approaches.
Craig Saper's "Blogademia" in particular was one I found worth reading. From his conclusion:
The challenge of blogademia is to focus on this translation process of scholarship and knowledge into the currently disparaged and debased sociopoetic form of blogs. Beyond apprehending the issues at stake in using this form, one can begin to articulate the advantages of research that uses the blog, not as an object of study, but as a vehicle to comprehend mood, atmosphere, personal sensibility, and the possibilities of knowledge outside the ego's conscious thought. The blog, podcast, and wikis may hint, fleetingly, at the future tools of academia.
And I recommend it not only because a few of us from Jeff's blogroll appear there. It's a nice extended reflection of what academic blogging might have to contribute to the production of knowledge--a question that has too many answers right now to be quickly or comfortably resolved.
So go take a look. And enjoy what's left of the Thanksgiven weekend. That's all.
Comments
What's with, all those, commas, where commas, shouldn't, be?
Am I, simply bitter, because I, was not, included in, that article? May, be.
Posted by: Scott Eric Kaufman | November 26, 2006 5:05 PM
Heh.
Isn't that a little greedy of you? I get what amounts to a parenthetical mention, while as of December, you're an (ML)A-lister...
I can't make too much fun of the overcomma given that I sometimes punctuate my sentences, as though, up 5 flights, of stairs, I've just run.
Still, heh.
cgb
Posted by: collin | November 27, 2006 8:04 PM
@ Scott: yes, you're simply bitter :-) There are only two unnecessary commas in that quote, those which come before "and" as the last item of a list. All others are correct because they introduce, or separate out, a subordinate clause.
Posted by: Udge | November 28, 2006 4:41 AM