In case you have missed the buzz, the International Studies Association Governing Council will be considering a resolution that requires any editor or editorial board member of the six journals affiliated with the association to give up blogging while serving unless it is the official blog of the journal or association (you can read about it here in Inside Higher Education). I figured that people like Dan Drezner, Jon Western, and Steve Saideman had covered this issue well, but decided to chime in myself after seeing this issue make it into a mainstream academic news service versus only seeing commentary in well, uhm, blogs. So now in the early hours of my day I find myself giving my own two cents about blogging and professionalism among political scientists (I'll limit myself to this arena as I do not claim to be an expert in any other discipline and some might even question calling me an expert in political science).
So, I began blogging about three years ago. I sometimes go a month between blog entries, other times I blog multiple times in one day. My blog is a combination of humorous considerations (or at least I think they are humorous), my insights into personal hobbies and interests (cigars, movies, firearms, etc.), and the consideration of issues and events that puzzle me, or excite my thinking as a political scientist and a member of the academy in general. Now we are being told by a sub-section of the academy that as political scientists it is potentially unprofessional of us to blog. Yet, my blog is in part an outlet for professional commentary on issues of the day. I also allow former students the opportunity to share their thoughts on important issues by guest blogging. I carefully consider what I am posting in my blog even when it is of the more frivolous variety or simply about something I am interested in that falls outside the scope of my academic life and professional duties. I do not believe that my blogging is unprofessional, nor do I believe that it casts negative light on any professional association I have (whether that is with the college where I serve on the faculty or any professional association of which I am a member). I also believe that my blogging is to appropriate extent protected speech (lawyers and armchair lawyers feel free to dispute my understanding of protected rights of speech).
I regularly read what I consider to be the professional blogs of academics in areas of political science in which I study. I gain some interesting insights regarding current events, and the application of theory of human behavior to be gained from considering these events. I see in these blogs the shaping of research agendas, the spark of new questions, the culmination of careful thought regarding our world. The discussion of important issues of our profession are also considered, including thoughts on directions for organization, boundaries of study, means and methods of study. The status quo is often chastised, and as often defended in regard to the profession of political science. So, I am hard pressed to see how blogging is unprofessional and should be avoided by the very people who we in the academy have elevated to important positions as gatekeepers in the process of publishing our detailed research.
I understand how a blog might make an employer uncomfortable. We have all heard of places where K-12 faculty are asked not to use social media because of problems it can potentially create. We have all read reports in information outlets regarding the use of social media by people in positions of authority for inappropriate liaisons and other nefarious purposes. But, this is not the type of behavior we are talking about here, I will not defend inappropriate legal and social behaviors. The problem is not that blogging can be used inappropriately, the problem is the insinuation that all blogging is unprofessional. Sorry "Political Violence at a Glance", sorry "Duck of Minerva" the material being shared and used to spark research and teaching among a large swath of political scientists is just unprofessional, or at least so says a group of scholars who for my two cents are being irrational defenders of the status quo of academic communication created prior to accelerated use of digital communicative media in our world.
So, I began blogging about three years ago. I sometimes go a month between blog entries, other times I blog multiple times in one day. My blog is a combination of humorous considerations (or at least I think they are humorous), my insights into personal hobbies and interests (cigars, movies, firearms, etc.), and the consideration of issues and events that puzzle me, or excite my thinking as a political scientist and a member of the academy in general. Now we are being told by a sub-section of the academy that as political scientists it is potentially unprofessional of us to blog. Yet, my blog is in part an outlet for professional commentary on issues of the day. I also allow former students the opportunity to share their thoughts on important issues by guest blogging. I carefully consider what I am posting in my blog even when it is of the more frivolous variety or simply about something I am interested in that falls outside the scope of my academic life and professional duties. I do not believe that my blogging is unprofessional, nor do I believe that it casts negative light on any professional association I have (whether that is with the college where I serve on the faculty or any professional association of which I am a member). I also believe that my blogging is to appropriate extent protected speech (lawyers and armchair lawyers feel free to dispute my understanding of protected rights of speech).
I regularly read what I consider to be the professional blogs of academics in areas of political science in which I study. I gain some interesting insights regarding current events, and the application of theory of human behavior to be gained from considering these events. I see in these blogs the shaping of research agendas, the spark of new questions, the culmination of careful thought regarding our world. The discussion of important issues of our profession are also considered, including thoughts on directions for organization, boundaries of study, means and methods of study. The status quo is often chastised, and as often defended in regard to the profession of political science. So, I am hard pressed to see how blogging is unprofessional and should be avoided by the very people who we in the academy have elevated to important positions as gatekeepers in the process of publishing our detailed research.
I understand how a blog might make an employer uncomfortable. We have all heard of places where K-12 faculty are asked not to use social media because of problems it can potentially create. We have all read reports in information outlets regarding the use of social media by people in positions of authority for inappropriate liaisons and other nefarious purposes. But, this is not the type of behavior we are talking about here, I will not defend inappropriate legal and social behaviors. The problem is not that blogging can be used inappropriately, the problem is the insinuation that all blogging is unprofessional. Sorry "Political Violence at a Glance", sorry "Duck of Minerva" the material being shared and used to spark research and teaching among a large swath of political scientists is just unprofessional, or at least so says a group of scholars who for my two cents are being irrational defenders of the status quo of academic communication created prior to accelerated use of digital communicative media in our world.
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