Meaningful conversations
in my last entry, i mentioned a discussion i was having with another blogger about the role blogs can serve. Miguel added a new blog entry to address our discussion and in the comments he mentioned, with regard to blogs that:
The goal is is to facilitate sharing of ideas and research, reflection of such, and, as Vicki writes, “meaningful conversation.”
Blogs aren’t the end all, but other approaches, including open access journals, present an intriguing alternative to the way things have been done. The change is coming…what role will you play as researcher to facilitate it?
i guess the bottom line for me is that “meaningful conversation” is fine and i have no problem with having these discussions. in fact, i enjoy them quite a bit for their entertainment value and they even help to shape my thinking on various topics — but this is already happening without any new focus or direction for blogging. my worry is that “meaningful conversations” will end up being given more weight than is deserved. i love discussion as i wrestle with various new ideas, beliefs and philosophies, etc., but i wouldn’t expect a school or classroom to change their educational practice(s) primarily based on a “meaningful conversation” that takes place on my blog or another blog. does anyone have this expectation? i think the question becomes . . . what role do these conversations serve that they aren’t currently serving?
i have a follow up blog entry that will develop this thought much more fully and help to illustrate the danger of giving too much credence to the blogosphere . . . i’ll develop this thinking more as i have time in the next few days.
Tags: blogs, blogging, research, education, peer-review, scholarly, journal
June 21st, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Sean, thanks for continuing the conversation. I’m really excited about this blog entry Doug Johnson shared in the comments over at Around the Corner (my site).
i hope your thinking and response incorporates some of the points made…
http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2006/06/nature_rejiggers_peer_review.html
Best wishes,
Miguel
June 21st, 2006 at 2:09 pm
i just read what you linked and i think that’s right in line with how i hope to see journals progress. i want all journals to shift to a more user friendly model. i want journals to be more participatory and accessible to the masses. kudos to Nature. that link describes the efforts of a professional journal; not of individual bloggers. if the journal community makes a change to a new model then i think the promotion and tenure process barely skips a beat and continues right on. i was under the impression that we were discussing individual blogs like yours and mine and how they might fit into the process.
i really like what nature is doing and i will add some caution and commentary about it in my next post. i am administering a final exam in less than an hour (online, of course) and i will be completing grading for the next day before i can really post my thoughts.