tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post116775363190328847..comments2024-01-28T03:35:51.182-05:00Comments on Reassigned Time: How Do I Make This Count? A Post about the Value of Academic BloggingDr. Crazyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1168841249148125072007-01-15T01:07:00.000-05:002007-01-15T01:07:00.000-05:00I really think you hit the nail on the head with t...I really think you hit the nail on the head with this post. I agree with your conclusion that blogging gives us a playful space, even as it puts "a face on this profession." To admit my dirty little secret...*I don't enjoy writing.* In fact, I dread it, which sometimes worries me since historians have to write (and frequently). But, I've found that blogging has allowed me to recapture some of the joy (yes...trite...I know). Somehow, I feel that having a more playful space will ideally balance out my professional work by showing me how writing can be fun again. Anyway, I digress. Its an excellent post, all around.<BR/><BR/>P.S. I wish I could've attended that MLA panel!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167841782293061732007-01-03T11:29:00.000-05:002007-01-03T11:29:00.000-05:00Yes, great post, I heartily endorse your conclusio...Yes, great post, I heartily endorse your conclusions. This idea of things "counting" is very awful! Of course they COUNT, but they should not not to "count" in the for-tenure kind of way...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167838171372705372007-01-03T10:29:00.000-05:002007-01-03T10:29:00.000-05:00Another thing that's interesting here is that "cou...Another thing that's interesting here is that "counting" means "toward tenure," as if nothing else counts. I oversimplify, obviously, but there are a lot of ways in which my psuedonymous blog does count, just not in monetary terms. <BR/><BR/>But the point you make stands: you are a public intellectual, and as a public intellectual, and an owner of a fabulous man-kitty, and as a wearer of tiaras and animal-prints, you help demystify academia, which is a service as much as anything. <BR/><BR/>Even so, things needn't always have tangible value to be valuable: we're all familiar enough with the basic premises of Marxism to know that measuring every activity against a capitalist service economy only makes us more in thrall to it's devious charms. And while I'm as bourgeois as the next upwardly mobile academic, I also don't mind opting out in tiny tiny ways.<BR/><BR/>Great post, and it was a pleasure putting a face to the pseudonym! I only wish I'd gotten to hang with the cool kids for a little bit longer (though it looks like I got a pub out of the panel I ditched you for).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167835056196735302007-01-03T09:37:00.000-05:002007-01-03T09:37:00.000-05:00On blogging counting: the space where I *can* ima...On blogging counting: the space where I *can* imagine it counting (not that I would want it to!) is in field of "creative nonfiction writing." To give a fictional example: if I had a blog about apples, say, and wrote "cooked" (to use Berube's distinction) essays on apples and posted them there, it wouldn't be much different than if I took the same essay and submitted it to a literary journal that specialized in literature on apples. What would be different, of course, is the review/editorial process. Those same essays on apples wouldn't help my tenure case any more just sitting on my hard drive than they would on a blog but, oh, if someone agreed to publish them, even on an *electronic* publication.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167830926598378112007-01-03T08:28:00.000-05:002007-01-03T08:28:00.000-05:00It was great to meet you at last, Dr. C. And would...It was great to meet you at last, Dr. C. And would that all dinner restaurants within walking distance of the MLA were like unto Rangoon! Funny thing, but I pronounce "pseudonymously" the same way you do, because otherwise the "pseudo" gets lost and it sounds like you're talking about Sue and Don. We should start saying "ah - noh - NIHM - uhs - lee" too, just to mess people up. And I have finally decided that my name has no correct pronunciation at all, sort of like "chimera."<BR/><BR/>Anyway, great post, and good luck with the j*b s**rch! As for me, I'll be singing classic mid-period Sinatra on my upcoming "Strangers in the Night" tour.Michael Bérubéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12875868040631597999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167802668279241952007-01-03T00:37:00.000-05:002007-01-03T00:37:00.000-05:00It was great to meet and to get to talk with you, ...It was great to meet and to get to talk with you, too, Mel! And I agree: it makes sense if one is specializing in New Media it makes sense to want blogging to count. But if one is a lit person... and if one does not yet have tenure so can't really "specialize" in writing about the profession... yeah, I don't quite get the impulse to want blogging to "count" as scholarly activity. And if one wants it to count as service, well, I suppose I see that impulse except for I agree with Michael (Berube - I can't bring myself just to write his first name yet) on this one: I don't want my evaluators to know every detail of every bit of my life. He gave a great example of a colleague of his who does a number of community service activities, whom he advised not to "count" those things so as not to have every part of his life evaluated. This isn't just about blogging - it's about keeping some portion of one's life free of surveillance. To me, I need parts that are free of the watchful eye of those who evaluate me, parts that are just for me. Even if the choice to be an academic is a lifestyle choice, I just can't get on board with the idea that every single part of my life is about my job, or should be. Maybe this is technically about my job, this blog, but it's NOT my job, and I don't want it to be. I hope that makes some sense (not sure if it does).Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167794365642483712007-01-02T22:19:00.000-05:002007-01-02T22:19:00.000-05:00It was so great to meet and hang out with you at M...It was so great to meet and hang out with you at MLA! The whole experience has given me lots to think about . . . <BR/><BR/>Like you I certainly don't expect, or want my blog to "count" --that's really been part of the point. I'm not sure I understand why some people want it to (unless you're one of the very small people specializing in new media communications etc, so that maybe it would be relevant).Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18101745666402341618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167793801139902502007-01-02T22:10:00.000-05:002007-01-02T22:10:00.000-05:00Oh, and I probably won't be posting in detail abou...Oh, and I probably won't be posting in detail about the interviewing experience. I just feel like it may not be the most auspicious thing to do at this juncture - maybe when the process is over I'll post about it? I don't know, I need to think about it a bit more. Suffice it to say for the moment that I'm happy with how things went and now it's time to wait and to stop myself from replaying how things went in my head.Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167793723643258542007-01-02T22:08:00.000-05:002007-01-02T22:08:00.000-05:00Thanks for the comments, everybody :) And if othe...Thanks for the comments, everybody :) And if others want to comment, please don't hesitate. (I find that when I pop in to respond, it often shuts down discussion. Don't know why that is. But I'm reading comments people leave with interest, and I'd especially be interested to hear what others who saw one or the other of the blogging panels think about what I've written here, as well as what others who weren't in attendance think.)<BR/><BR/>To Anne: I'm so sorry you find the template hard to read. I've got to say, I don't see it changing any time soon (A. because I'm lazy, and B. because I really like it, in part for its craziness, which I think is the very thing that can get in the way of readability....). Do you read at all through bloglines? That might be easier on the eyes. Another idea is to open two MS Word windows and to use them to cover up all but the texts of the posts, but that seems like a huge effort.... Another idea, also a fairly huge effort would be to copy and paste the posts into a more readable MS Word document....<BR/><BR/>Hell, maybe I SHOULD change my template :)Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167789690676907762007-01-02T21:01:00.000-05:002007-01-02T21:01:00.000-05:00A great post, Dr. Crazy. You almost--almost--make ...A great post, Dr. Crazy. You almost--almost--make me wish I'd been at MLA. <BR/><BR/>(Maybe it's just my ageing eyes, but I do find the stripes make it hard to read here--and that's a bummer because you have a great, great, funny blog which I am pretty devoted to.)<BR/><BR/>Happy New Year!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167782957403908012007-01-02T19:09:00.000-05:002007-01-02T19:09:00.000-05:00Yeah, great post! I don't have a blog (for variou...Yeah, great post! I don't have a blog (for various reasons, some having to do with not wanting people to find out, but also b/c I think I'd feel too much pressure to write). But as someone who comments on a handful of blogs with some regularity, I have to say that I'd feel less comfortable even commenting freely if I knew who the person was (and knew that everyone else knew that, too). <BR/><BR/>Especially pre-tenure, many of us are worried about what others think of us (perhaps a bit paranoid even) since so much of the profession is based on reputations. I think it's easier to create a sense of community when that worry is lessened by the pseudonymous nature of these blogs. I've said things in comments (not necessarily here) that I wouldn't share with my colleagues, but that I would and do share with my friends. It feels safter to do this in a place where I can talk honestly without worrying about what people might think (and how that might in some way impact my career). And, yeah, "helenesch" isn't anything remotely like my real name.<BR/><BR/>All this is to say that I would be much less interesteed in commenting on blogs--and maybe even in reading them--if they were something more official, written in part to satisfy a service requirement of some sort.<BR/><BR/>Of course, that's not to say you aren't performing an important service (you are!). In any case, I'll stop rambling, since I'm really just agreeing with everything you said above.heleneschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00379096203492608139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167778603804691432007-01-02T17:56:00.000-05:002007-01-02T17:56:00.000-05:00It's very interesting to hear about that panel ses...It's very interesting to hear about that panel session and how in your field some people are pushing for blogs to be 'scholarly'. I am in a discipline that straddles the sciences and social sciences (I am on the science side), so nobody in my discipline would ever consider anything like a blog to be scholarship (not that MLA-people would, either but I'm trying to make a distinction between the kinds of writing we tend to do in our respective disciplines). I use my blog as more of (pseudo)public journal- a place to vent, get ideas about life in academia, discuss teaching with people outside of my own U, etc. It's been a little over a year now and I also have a few regular readers (blog friends that I hope to meet!) I find it to be fun diversion and semi-productive tool of procrastination! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Crazy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167760186032611792007-01-02T12:49:00.000-05:002007-01-02T12:49:00.000-05:00I love this post, Dr. Crazy! I love the way you wr...I love this post, Dr. Crazy! I love the way you write about the pseudonymous blog being a form of service - you being the public intellectual.. That is such a great - and accurate, i think - way to think about it. <BR/><BR/>(I heart Rita Felski, too! She was the external on my dissertation defense. Intimidating, but very good.)Hilairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09033740943173352249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1167759882435335152007-01-02T12:44:00.000-05:002007-01-02T12:44:00.000-05:00I like what you say about blogs and service. I can...I like what you say about blogs and service. I can see how some blogs that focus on the less personal side of professional issues might be relevant. (If that makes sense-it's just that your blog obviously talks about professional issues, but I am thinking of how profgrrrl mentioned once that she had a different blog that was purely about her academic field. Those kind of blogs are less likely to be anonymous as well, I suspect.) <BR/><BR/>At my university, volunteer work in the community counts as service if it is related to one's field, so for a lit prof it would be Girl Scout troop leader, no, but tutoring high school kids, yes. <BR/><BR/>And the things that don't count might be more important at times (for me, at least, in keeping me sane and happy).luolinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00213308635831376287noreply@blogger.com