Education Law

Is the blogoshpere dead?

That's what Nicholas Carr thinks. And he is no slacker.

Sorry that a few of my posts lately have not focused on ed. law, but instead on blogging generally; but, since this is a blog itself the topic has always interested me and since I was asked to speak on blogging not long ago at a professional conference as if people perceived me as some expert, I thought I would start studying it so as to better pretend to be one.

In short Nick is making the same argument I have been making lately. The blogosphere is transforming. It is not what it once was. Even the Economist agrees. The professional world has caught onto this little secret we had and they are investing heavily in it and as a result everyone else is catching on. These days when I tell people that I blog I don't get the reaction I used to get a couple years ago ... namely "what's that?" Nowadays I get "that's cool. What's the name of your blog?" Here is the reality:

Blogging has entered the mainstream, which—as with every new medium in history—looks to its pioneers suspiciously like death.

Of course, we are not looking at the death of the blogosphere. But, we are looking at its transformation into an accepted member of society. And, as with anything, when mainstream society gets ahold of something, it comes out different than when it went in. It is the different between a kid and a teenager and an adult. I suspect that blogging is in its teenage years now. I think blogging is getting more professional while much of the personal realm of blogging is going to alternative outlets like Twitter and Facebook.

As blogging gets more professional, it is going to need more rules of governance. Personally, I signed on with CASTLE because it is legitimization. It is a form of governance that I am accepting because I know it makes my blog more marketable in the new professional world of the edublogosphere. Also, I am beginning to invite in more "contributors" as another professional validation tool for my blog. And, if you need any more evidence of this professionalization, just look at what EdWeek has done. 

But recognizing that this is the period we are in is important because we can have some control over the rules that develop for this new professional realm. How do we count this type of writing? Professional? Research? Service? How much does it help the larger entity? Do we have relationships with the larger, sponsoring entity? If I get to count this in tenure at UK, should I be advertising for them in this space? How frequently do we need to post? What is a Technorati rating worth? Are comments important? How does all this translate into a professional contribution? There are lots of questions that need to be worked out and I suspect a person could build an entire research career around just this one issue.

In the end, though, we need to start looking at blogging differently. Blogging is a teenager and soon it will be an adult. The carefree and reckless years of our childhood are over and now we are beginning to face responsibilities. Who are we going to be in a few years?

Full post as published by Edjurist on November 08, 2008 (boomark / email).