Monday 13 July 2009

Academic Blogging

Interesting post by Bill Caraher, on "Reflecting on Academic Blogging". Something I've been thinking about recently. Why bother? What tone of voice should I use? Who is reading this? (a recent applicant in a job interview that I was on the hiring panel for said "nice blog, by the way!" which made me sit up a little. I would also file it under things not to say at a job interview. No, it doesnt mean you know me).

I've been blogging for over a year now, and I still feel like I'm finding my feet. Whereas on Facebook, its clear who I am (personal, random, familiar), and on twitter (@melissaterras) I'm professional and informational - I think here I'm trying to find the space between the two, which is difficult. I dont update this enough (or have the time to read the whole interweb anymore to have many scoops to post) for it to be a news blog. Yet I am aware of the... brand?!! and dont want to rant personally without editing.

I know a little about my regular readers, who may or may not be in the habit of commenting, but its a careful space nevertheless.

(And I feel a little bad for angsty teenagers these days spilling out their lives on blogs and not thinking who will be able to access this information in ten years time, when they will be very different people. At least I have spared myself that!)

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

I find it interesting that you would suggest not mentioning your blog in a job interview. I found your blog because you recently advertised a position I was interested in (if woefully underqualified for). I'll admit that I definitely would mention that I read your blog (amongst others on similar topics) in an interview situation if it came up as an answer to a question. Surely this shows some engagement with the field, current trends, and personalities in the area?
You wouldn't want to try and hinge your interview on it, and it certainly doesn't mean you know the blogger, but it surely is better than not mentioning it at all?
I'm very grateful to academic bloggers, as they give insight into a field that can be very opaque from the outside looking in - how else are interested non-academics meant to know what's going on?

Djibril said...

You should be more careful what you write...

Melissa said...

Love the comic. Big fan of XKCD.

I think I didnt make the point clearly about mentioning the blog. That wouldnt be wrong per se (and indeed the person who got the job had read my blog too!) - it was the way the person insinuated that they knew *all* about me because they read my blog, and that I was "doing quite well" to have a blog, and that it was "not a bad attempt" at having a blog. I dont appreciate being patronised, especially when I am hiring! so it wasnt the fact that they had read it (indeed, I would probably expect someone to have googled me these days) but the way they commented about it which was both out of place... and even slightly creepy! Does that explain more? Jennifer, I totally agree with you!

Melissa said...

ps. there's plenty of angsty music of mine from the past kicking about from a previous life. More about that soon!