- Makes collaboration on a project easy - blogging allows any number of academics to collaborate on a research project or just talk about their experiences without the need to email a long list of people or send a project from one person to the next in line. Collaboration on research or article writing can therefore be done much more quickly and efficiently.
- Academics can share knowledge easily - with a blog, you can inform another blog member of an article you just read or where to look for a specific archive without having to find out their email address or introducing yourself formally via email or jumping through any other academic hoops that can be a part of traditional communication between academics. With a blog, if you are a member, you may feel you can give help to an academic whom you otherwise would be reluctant to contact via email if he or she is a tenured professor and you are just an assistant professor. Since the medium is understood by all to be more casual, it removes some of the "fear" of suggesting something to someone higher in the academic food chain than you are.
- Academics can advertise their latest works easily - with a blog, you can immediately inform everyone of your latest published article. If it is a fairly large blog, there’s a pretty good chance that there are people reading it who otherwise would never know about your latest article and may actually read it, thus increasing your visibility.
- Networking - because an academic blog can be a flexible vehicle with members joining and leaving at any time, you may find you have a direct link to meeting academics you otherwise would not have an opportunity to meet or would feel awkward about approaching at a conference.
- Learn about new research - those academics who blog tend to be those on the cutting-edge of any academic field. That’s not to say that those who study more traditional topics don’t have blogs; it’s just more commonly found among younger academics who are working on new methods and approaches to both new and older topics. Blogs, therefore, can be a great source for learning about the latest research going on in your field, even if you just read the blog and don’t actually participate in it.
- Blogs are not inherently private - the entries on a blog (unless it is one that is restricted by various means which really defeats the purpose of a blog) are available for anyone to view on the Internet. If you blog about your research, be sure you are ready for the whole world to k now about it and you are comfortable with others reading about your research and maybe even taking your ideas and running with them themselves. If you are working on a collaborative blog with other editors or writers for a book to be published, you will want to ensure that your blog is protected from public view.
- Academic blogging is serious - despite the informal look and feel of a blog and even the original intention of blogging to be more casual, academics take their blogs seriously. Be careful about what you write in an academic blog, especially if you are just beginning an academic career, because what you say about someone’s research will be available for everyone to see. Be sure of your facts before you blog to an academic blog and be careful about the way you word criticism. You never know when you might be looking for a job teaching at a university that employees an academic you have insulted in a blog years ago.
- Academic blogs aren’t moderated - unlike educational blogs in the "teacher" category, academic blogs will not have someone checking the blog entries to ensure they are appropriate. Often, one academic or a small group of academics, assume the position of moderators by their actions in the blog, which can be good for a blog or bad for a blog, depending upon how the other blog participants feel about someone taking more control or attempting to keep things organized.
- Individual academic blogs can be seen as self-serving - unlike personal blogs by ordinary people, some educators do not like individual blogs that showcase a particular academic. Academics can be a very competitive field and some academics view personal blogging of your research or experiences or achievements in a negative light. Most will not, but some will - just like most members of a group will participate in a group project, but there is usually that one person who just does not follow through and expects the others to pick up the slack.
- Blogs are forever - although this warning applies to all blogs, academics in particular need to remember that if they blog, any opinions they express may become immortal. The link to the blog may remain on the Internet forever and someone 5 years from now may read an entry you made that you now regret.
As with any type of blogging, educational blogs need to be handled with caution. For teachers, the main thing to remember is that as useful as blogging may be for you and your students, you are exposing them to the world with the free blogging tools available, and so you must be particularly vigilant in protecting them and ultimately yourself. The same applies for educators or academics who blog - be cautious about what you put in you are or wish to become employed as an academic or if you are applying for or have funding for your research. Blogs were not originally designed with teaching as their purpose, so you must use the tool much more carefully than an average person who has a personal blog, since you are involving others in your endeavor - your students and colleagues. If you use the power of blogging well in your classes, however, you will likely find your students will embrace the medium and participate willingly and find the experience both educational and fun at the same time, which is one of the best ways you can teach anything to anyone!
Technorati Tags: Blogging Academics, Cons, Blogs Are Forever, Type of Blogging, Networking, Blogger
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