Academic Blogging Style Guidelines
Blogs are slowly but surely changing the face of academia. In a world where universities are run like businesses (intellectual property and patents are now, given traditions of disinteredness in academia, still somewhat uncomfortably the norm (1)), and scholars, especially scientists, perennially run into the problem that negative results don’t get published, blogs may offer a way to retain the university’s ideals of vigorous and open pursuit of knowledge while simultaneously launching scholars into the Internet age (2).
Blogging allows for rapid discussion between scholars worldwide on topics ranging from concepts, current events, literature, to data analysis or the sharing of tools. Not only may scholars use blogs to receive feedback from colleagues, they can also use the medium to inform a larger public about their research. Some feel that blogging may be a right step towards reforming the academic publishing industry, by allowing partial credit to be given to those first to blog an idea. More importantly, some feel that blogging might expand the focus of academic work, which is often almost exclusively concerned with publishing in academic journals (3).
The move towards blogging is timely. Studies show that researchers, in an ever-increasing number, publish and patent in teams (4). This trend is not limited to sciences like biology, chemistry, or physics, where it has been suggested that team science merely grows with the cost and scale of ‘big science.’ For example, in 1955 17.5% of publications were authored in teams, whereas in 2000 this number had jumped to 51.5%. Publications in mathematics, wherein the ‘solo genius’ stereotype remains among the strongest, show a similar trend. Moreover, these studies tend to be higher impact, that is to say, field changing (5). Among the many causal factors for this trend is the necessity for teamwork in an environment of increasing specialization. Blogs may facilitate intra and interdisciplinary communications in a world where scholars have already acknowledged the advantages of collaboration (6).
Blogging and collaboration also have the potential to create a new field of wisdom research spanning multiple disciplines by creating a community of scholars. The Wisdom Research Network website was designed as an essentially collaborative tool, allowing scholars to share ideas, data, profiles and opinions. We will actively recruit both Wisdom Network members and others to contribute to this discussion forum. I also welcome and encourage you to post responses, even if they are merely brief thoughts or comments. If you would like to post a discussion question, please email wisdomwebsite@uchicago.edu.
Given recent trends in academic blogging and team science, as well as calls for professionals to engage with the public about their research, I suspect, from a mere lay understanding, that creating a blogging community about wisdom is indeed a wise decision. But maybe that’s just hubris. I’ll leave that for you to determine.
If you seek guidance regarding how to write a blog entry, please see our Academic Blogging Style Guidelines, linked as a pdf at the top of this page.
References
1) For more about academy/ industry tensions see Merton’s famous theory on the “The Normative Structure of Science” in Merton, Robert King. The sociology of science: theoretical and empirical. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1973. Also, see Merton's "The Matthew Effect in Science: The Reward and Communication Systems of Science are Considered," Science, Vol. 159, No. 3810, pg. 56, 1968, which describes trends in academic publishing that tend to renforce the conclusions of those single authors already recognized. For a more modern view on these tensions and another view on how technology impacts how universities work and generate knowledge, see Kathryn Packer, Andrew Webster. “Patenting Culture in Science: Reinventing the Scientific Wheel of Credibility (1996).” Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 427-453.
2) “So, might blogging be subversive precisely because it makes real the very vision of intellectual life that the university has never managed to achieve?” the author states in “Attack of the career-killing blogs: when academics post online, do they risk their jobs?,” by Robert S. Boynton (2005). Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2130466/ This gives an excellent summary of the controversy surrounding blogging in academia just as the trend was taking off.
3) “By the Blog: academics tread carefully” by Zoe Corbyn (2008), Times Higher Education. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=403827&c=1
4) Stefan Wuchty, Benjamin F. Jones, Brian Uzzi (2007). “The Increasing Dominance of Teams in the Production of Knowledge.” Science; Vol. 316. no. 5827, pp. 1036 – 1039. Here, team is defined as two or more authors. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/316/5827/1036
5) Ibid., Higher impact is defined here as an increased number of citations. This has been shown to correlate with research quality. For further details, see paper.
6) Many academic blogs already exist. Please follow this link to an “Academic blog portal” which allows you to search many of them by subject: http://wiki.henryfarrell.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
7) Julia Davies and Guy Merchant. “Looking from the Inside Out: Academic Blogging as New Literacy,” A New Literacies Sampler. Peter Lang, 2006.
Academic Blogging Style Guidelines
For some of us, contributing to discussions on the Wisdom Research Network will constitute our first foray into the blogosphere. This document was written to help newcomers navigate the academic standards, expectations, and possibilities of academic blogging.
If you have any questions, please contact the Wisdom Research Network at wisdom@uchicago.edu, to discuss any ideas you have for your entry, and we will be happy to assist you in accomplishing your goals.
Format
Blogs should be about 2‐5 paragraphs in length, but they can be longer or shorter if necessary to convey your idea. They should include a suggested title and any citations necessary to support your claims, in the format of your choosing (parenthetical or footnoting). You may embed within the text links to other websites, links to pdf papers, videos, poll questions, etc.
Style
Most often blogs are written in a more conversational style than traditional academic papers, but they should nonetheless aim to convey scholarly ideas pertaining to wisdom. You may express informed opinions, or merely share your data or ask for thoughts on your research. Because blogs tend to take less time than formal papers, this tool allows you to share your ideas in a more timely fashion than might otherwise be possible.
Process
When you have a blog entry ready, you should send it to wisdom@uchicago.edu, who will verify that your entry follows the guidelines we have outlined for our academic blog and who will help you post your entry on the site.
Possibilities
The possibilities for your posting are nearly endless, but here we suggest a few. You can discuss your current research, a paper you’ve recently read, review some interesting literature, talk about how wisdom research pertains to current events, write about an idea you have and ask for feedback, or talk about the state of the field. The only topical requirement is that it pertain to defining the benefits and nature of wisdom.
Examples
Many people find it helpful to look at examples before they begin to write their own blog. Here we list a few academic blogs of note:
http://experimentalphilosophy.typepad.com/
For a fairly comprehensive list, see http://www.academicblogs.org
