The benefits of blogging as an academic: Starting an engaged conversation online

As an academic, I have been blogging for just over a year now (here) and have found it an immensely rewarding experience.I have written (‘blogged’) a lot about my social media journey and its benefits elsewhere, but in this post I reflect on the benefits I have experienced in participating in what has become, a fast-paced and exciting new academic moment that is embracing social media. I also provide some tips on how to join in in some of the online conversations that academics are currently engaging in. This has helped my career and could help yours!

By way of brief introduction, I am currently the Managing Editor of a site called PhD2Published, a blog site established by Charlotte Frost in 2010 that aimed to openly discuss and explore the world of academic publishing. Charlotte wanted to get her first academic book published but felt disconnected from the traditional academy so she decided to research the process and to document her experiences and her learning. She did this by gathering expertise from others who had already published and by contacting publishers. The blog posts she gained and wrote along the way were resources that not only helped her to get her book published, but also helped others. I joined as Managing Editor in 2011 for similar reasons. I wanted to learn about how to get journal articles published, about how and when I should publish and so on. This led me to PhD2Published. As Managing Editor I scouted for blog posts that would help me in my journey, written by experienced academics I contacted along the way. As well as getting published traditionally, I was introduced to a world of blogging, of non-traditional knowledge production. I was networking with those I might not come across at conferences. I was developing all of the skills I needed to become a researcher or a lecturer; I was just doing it online.

But enough about me…why blog as an academic? Well, according to Inger Mewburn aka The Thesis Whisperer, blogging is a gift economy. It is also integral to an online participative culture in which knowledge is being produced. It allows researchers to collaborate, to cross reference and link to other blogs (as I have done here) and to share the small things that may seem insignificant to you (although if you write about them publicly they have probably crossed your mind more than once!), but may resonate strongly with others. If you blog regularly, write well, and generally have something interesting to say, then you can gain credibility. Hiding away in the Ivory Tower is no longer feasible in an academic world demanding impact and accountability. Being open and accountable is becoming essential, but also has some nice career implications as well! It allows you to put into practice all those skills you require to advance as well as to learn some new ones; communicating with different audiences, networking, reflecting and so on.

So how can you become part of this collaborative, participative, gift economy? My advice is:

1. Know why you want to blog and what broad theme will connect your outputs. In my opinion, blogs that have a clear purpose and direction, like PhD2Published or The Thesis Whisperer, or are dedicated to specific research projects, are more useful. Sites like PhD2Published are dynamic and regularly updated, and include contributions from a range of academics at different career stages and in different countries. They also provide advice and (sometimes) quirky reflections on personal academic experiences that both enhance your knowledge and comfort you when you realise you are not the only one out there, experiencing the same problems.

2, Decide what your blog USP is going to be; is it for you? Is it to collate material? How will it impact your career progression? Knowing this in advance will steer you in the right direction and will ensure you make the best use of your time.

3. Once established, make full use of other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to market your blog. Get yourself known. You can then build relationships, establish credibility and really start to contribute to the gift economy. You may even get invitations to write for others. Do it (time permitting of course)!

4. Write comments on other people’s blogs and try to get others to write on yours. I have found that in writing comments on other people’s blogs, I have shown I am interested and engaged and appreciate their work. This can also develop into conversation and can encourage collaboration further on down the line. In your own blogs, ask questions at the end to encourage people to respond to you. It doesn’t always work of course. People fear criticism, abuse or just being ignored. It is worth it however when you get those conversations going.

Below is a brief list of academic blog sites that I have come across and can recommend.

• What do you think of these?
• Which is your favourite?
• Are there anymore you can recommend?
• Have I encouraged you to start blogging?

Become an engaged blogger now and post in the comments below:

• PhD2Published
• The Thesis Whisperer
• The Professor is in
• The Research Whisperer
• Patter
• The Wolfson Research Exchange

Author: Dr Anna Tarrant