Of blogs and Law Professors

The Faculty Lounge has an interesting post on blogs by Law Professors. A study on data of Law Professors who blog was done titled "Law Faculty Blogs and Disruptive Innovation : The Data". What is seen here is that though blogs by Law faculty is increasingly being quoted by law reviews as well as judgements, the proportion of Law Faculty actually involved in blogging is still very low. Is it not considered as scholarly as a law review article? I have earlier blogged about blogging here and here.

A more critical piece on Law Reviews is found here where in the growing importance of blogs and online writing was emphasized:

"Much of the intellectual groundwork for the Supreme Court's ObamaCare rulings was laid at blogs like Volokh Conspiracy (for libertarians and conservatives trying to overturn the individual mandate) and Jack Balkin's Balkinization (for liberals defending it). Elizabeth Warren became a national figure in part through her clear and hard-hitting online writing about the problems of consumer debt. Professionally edited web outlets (including The Atlantic) allow law professors to get their arguments before an intelligent audience in hours rather than weeks or months. As online law writing has taken off, readers are rewarding qualities like clarity, concision, relevance, and wit, and steering clear of pedantry and mystification. 

The doors to the hothouse have been flung open; fresh air is getting in. It's about time."

The International Economic Law and Policy blog is, I think, one of the best forums where the top international trade law faculty converge. Though all of them do not contribute as regularly as each other,the contributors list is in itself the who's who of international trade law. The blog is an excellent tribute to legal scholarship and blogging in the field of international trade law. I was surprised not to see a reference of this blog in the study mentioned above.

Blogging, to me, is a great leveler. It provides a forum that pits the greatest of law faculty with a novice student. It provides an opportunity to express without barriers and offers an avenue for dialogue. It may not be as scholarly as a law review article, but it is by no means less important!

Here is more to blogging.

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!

Law Blogs - Is scholarship a victim?

This is not about the WTO. Found this old, interesting piece titled 'Why blogs are bad for legal scholarship" in the Yale Law Journal Online on the standard of law blogs in the blogosphere. Brian Leiter is rather critical of the proliferation of law blogs and their impact on legal scholarship:

"The best legal scholarship is increasingly interdisciplinary in nature, and its successful production, evaluation, and distribution generally requires multi-disciplinary expertise at a reasonably high level. Unfortunately, the Internet in general, and blogs in particular, eviscerate and obscure expertise because the Internet’s most distinctive feature is the elimination of mediating boundaries: of distance, experience, education, and intelligence. While the elimination of the first is an advantage, the elimination of the others poses problems for serious scholarship."

Referring to the "availability casacade" he says:

"Any second-rate scholar can have an opinion, however ignorant or confused, about the merits of someone’s work, and express that opinion in an e-mail to a colleague elsewhere. Now imagine that same ignorant or confused opinion broadcast to thousands: that is what blogs make possible. Indeed, blogs do more than that: they make possible the repeated and systematic broadcast of non-expert opinions, opinions that can then be picked up and amplified by other non-expert blogs."

While agreeing with the point that the standard of legal blogs might vastly differ and have an impact o the quality of legal scholarship, there is no doubt that the internet in general and blogs in particular has been a leveller of sorts bringing together a proliferation of ideas. Distances and intermediaries have been challenged. Atleast, I have found it extremely empowering!