More to Blogging!

This post is not about international economic law and policy. Neither is it about the WTO.

I found two pieces on blogging that I found relevant and highly reassuring! Modeled Behaviour  carried a blog piece titled "Academic Credit for Blogging"  which seemed to suggest the positive impact of blogging to boost one's academic pursuits.

"Thus there is a complete loop between the larger world and the academic world, ensuring that the things academics work on are not only based on things people care about but circle back to influence the general state of knowledge.

Not only that but the format lends itself beautifully to intellectual history. At relatively low cost the entire academic blogosphere could be recorded and stored as a fully functional web with timestamps, links and everything else.

This in theory allows us trace the evolution of an idea almost precisely and possibly to understand better how and why certain ideas win out over others."

The Chronicle  had this piece on the "Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity" . Recognising the complexity of rating blogs for scholarly purposes it says:

"In terms of intellectual fulfillment, creativity, networking, impact, productivity, and overall benefit to my scholarly life, blogging wins hands down. I have written books, produced online courses, led research efforts, and directed a number of university projects. While these have all been fulfilling, blogging tops the list because of its room for experimentation and potential to connect to timely intelligent debate. That keeps blogging at the top of the heap."

As a novice blogger, I absolutely agree. Blogging has helped to express my views, however basic and amateurish, to the open world! It has increased my confidence in theorizing and articulating views which were, hitherto, the preserve of my mind!

Blogging is truly a leveller as well as a motivator. Sometimes you wonder as to how you could have churned out such a well thought blog piece! But the icing on the cake is when luminaries in the field acknowledge and read your blog – no substitute for this thrill! Glad to know that it is slowly being recognized in academic circles. More to blogging!