{"id":5233,"date":"2024-05-17T11:07:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T09:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/?p=5233"},"modified":"2024-05-24T23:05:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T21:05:36","slug":"academic-blogs-q-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/academic-blogs-q-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Academic blogs | Q &#038; A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><sub>On Thursday, 16 May 2024, I ran a webinar about Academic Blogging for early career researchers. <a href=\"https:\/\/entlemodise.wordpress.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/entlemodise.wordpress.com\/\">Prof Mpho-Entle Modise<\/a> (from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saera.co.za\/empowering-south-africas-young-education-researchers\/\">SAERA<\/a>) arranged the event. These are my post-webinar thoughts.<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dear academic bloggers, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am very grateful for your time and attention in this academic blogging webinar. Thanks so much for allowing me to both confuse and enlighten. My apologies for the former. I didn&#8217;t want to follow the same webinar formula. <a href=\"https:\/\/theconvivialsociety.substack.com\/p\/a-theory-of-zoom-fatigue\">Zoom fatigue<\/a> is real.  I don&#8217;t like dull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;What matters is the creation of a thoughtful architecture to support inquiry, reflection, conversation, and so on. The ratio of brick to click \u2014as education is increasingly hybrid now in any case\u2014is not the deciding factor<\/p>\n<cite><a href=\"https:\/\/doi-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org\/10.7551\/mitpress\/15228.001.0001\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/doi-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org\/10.7551\/mitpress\/15228.001.0001\">Chris Higgins in Undeclared<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I do hope what I showed you might catalyse  further discussions about making your <strong>thinking visible<\/strong> via a blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think that blogging is both a way to break out of our <a href=\"https:\/\/educationalist.substack.com\/p\/lets-burst-some-bubbles-again\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/educationalist.substack.com\/p\/lets-burst-some-bubbles-again\">academic bubbles<\/a> and connect to those who can&#8217;t read paywalled journals. It also offers an alternate route to find other academics, who share your interest. Or even other jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve started to realise that not many people in Higher Education in SA have an academic blog. Most of my examples of academic blogs come from overseas. Here in South Africa, off the top of my head, I can think of <a href=\"https:\/\/opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.com\/\">Paul Prinsloo<\/a>,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrowe.co.za\/blog\/\">Michael Rowe<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/czernie.weebly.com\/\">Laura Czerniwicz <\/a>. To help me judge immediate familiarity with the format, I conducted a survey beforehand about participants&#8217; knowledge and experience with making thoughts visible. The results from the study about blogging were fascinating (summary generated with the assistance of ChatGPT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"117\" src=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/f5ac6653-838b-4133-b9d7-2f9f6d24834a-542-00000041c6f6862d_file-300x117.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/f5ac6653-838b-4133-b9d7-2f9f6d24834a-542-00000041c6f6862d_file-300x117.jpg 300w, https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/f5ac6653-838b-4133-b9d7-2f9f6d24834a-542-00000041c6f6862d_file-768x300.jpg 768w, https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/f5ac6653-838b-4133-b9d7-2f9f6d24834a-542-00000041c6f6862d_file.jpg 882w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">40% of academics never consult blogs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>76% of participants do not have a blog but some expressed an interest in starting one soon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A few had blogs but were not consistent with updates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Participants seemed curious about the benefits and implications of academic blogging, especially in relation to publishing and career development.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They also were unsure about the differences between blogging, social media accounts and professional networking site such as LinkedIn.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many thought that blogging was a good way to share research and ideas with a broader audience and make their academic work more visible to the broader public. .<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some are interested in finding strategies to be more consistent and to manage the content focused on their academic interests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the presentation (to be added after clean up), I left time for Questions and Answers where I tried to share some of the lessons I had learned from my blog<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ufffd| Q and A <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: What would the benefit be for a teacher  \/ educator to blog?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Teachers and educators are at the coal face of education. They do incredible work with very little public acknowledgement for their efforts. Many do share their stories on social media because that&#8217;s where the clicks and likes lie. Blogs, however, are a better place for teachers (and their students) to tell their stories in their own words without being gamed by an algorithm or captured by big tech. Blogging also forces you to learn new media skills.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Q: Academics need to reach out. Dedicate time to op-eds about essential topics that align with our work<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Agreed. This is especially hard when you are stretched, and the question is where to begin. My response is that I want to own my own digital infrastructure, where I post my thoughts. Then, I cross-post thoughts to other public engagement platforms. I license my work as Creative Commons, allowing another publisher to use my work.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: I would like to know what this involves and the value of it. I would like to understand the implications of academic blogging with publishing and how it could help create an online presence and if it can in any way enhance developing an academic career.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Creating a digital footprint for yourself does require effort and a bit of shameless self-promotion. I sometimes feel pretty uncomfortable with the SSP part of my work. We usually only see value in economic terms, but value can also be seen as social capital. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>You tell your colleague about the new restaurant nearby the office (and she takes you for lunch) .<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Your colleague keeps the department journal running, this work builds a small community of academics who look out for each other in other ways, and credibility for the person running the site<\/em> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>In distance education, the psychological and communication space between teachers and students is called the transactional distance (see Michael G. Moore). This space needs to be crossed, as this is often a space of potential misunderstanding between the academic and student. There are many ways to bridge this transactional distance. Blogging is one of them.<br>So yes, the value of putting your thoughts out outweighs the embarrassment of spelling mistakes or incoherence (which you can correct later).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>.    <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: I would also like to understand the difference \/ pros and cons of this online presence vs posting on LinkedIn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Blogging and LinkedIn are not exclusive, and both can be used. I&#8217;ll give you the cons. There are too many pros in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The <strong>cons of blogs<\/strong> are that they initially attract much lower traffic, the audience who reads them is usually narrow, there is a technical learning curve to having a blog site, and the challenge of finding a voice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The <strong>cons to Linkedin<\/strong>: According to the T &amp; C, you have granted Linked In a non-exclusive right to use the information and content you share on their services. LinkedIn gives you exposure and is an excellent networking tool. However, your own identity is ultimately subsumed by the LinkedIn brand.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> Q: Just like any platforms whether it social media, or anything similar, what are some of the dangers that could be associated with academic blogging?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Much has been written about the dangers of social media. There is a war of ideas on the net. This is a very underregulated environment, and certain voices are much louder than others.. I like the <a href=\"https:\/\/oer.pressbooks.pub\/collegeresearch\/chapter\/the-sift-method\/\">SIFT method<\/a> to determining what I can trust or not. This heuristic has been useful to me when addressing possible dangers<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q Where can you choose and buy a domain name for a blog?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/\">https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reclaimhosting.com\/\">https:\/\/www.reclaimhosting.com\/<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.godaddy.com\/en-ph\">https:\/\/www.godaddy.com\/en-ph<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: In terms of funding, since hosting a website or blog has some expenses attached to it, would one be able to include academic blogging (and the maintenance of the site) as a Science Engagement expense when making grant funding applications?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Yes, hosting a blog involves some expenses. If you are at an academic institution with access to multiple servers, I suggest that academics be given server space to host their educational services and platforms.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Public funded institutions should commit to supporting&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/openfuture.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/231024DPS_primer.pdf\">a Digital Public Space<\/a>. These are the spaces for connection and exchange. The physical doors to learning and culture shut down years ago. Higher education could still offer this digitally. Such a space is possible on campus. This would address the problems that crop up when domains expire. When that expiry happens, someone can buy the domain. Click on the supplied URL to see what happened to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/unbundledhe\">The UnbundledHE project<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: Would you advise having one&#8217;s blog link shown on their twitter account<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Yes. My Blog is the hub. Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn Tiktok et are the spokes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/wordcloud.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/wordcloud.png 1024w, https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/wordcloud-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/wordcloud-768x225.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Wordcloud from the question: What do you hope to gain from this webinar?<\/strong>   <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Final thoughts <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am very interested to see that 40% of academics in the survey indicated that they never read blogs. This is a big surprise to me. Yes, blogs are not peer-reviewed. However, peers do read them. I have found blogs to be one of the better primary information sources from researchers who are usually at the cutting edge. Academic knowledge would be better if they combined blog reading and scholarly publications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are not an academic blogger. What can you do? Here are 10 steps you can take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Choose and buy a domain name<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Find a web hosting service (I can help with that)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Find good open-source software to help you host your blog (I use WordPress)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn how to optimise files and how to transfer them (so that they don\u2019t take too long to download. Especially for students on mobile pay-as-you-go data)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get rudimentary HTML, CSS or markdown right. (I suggest a cheat sheet. Meta (now on WhatsApp can be a surprising assist)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn how to do basic image editing or image sourcing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you use Creative Commons resources, cite your sources correctly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check for errors. There are many opportunities for them to creep in. I am a prime example here.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use social media to share what you have created.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Update the blog regularly. Join me on FolioFriday<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;d like me to help, I do also have a workshop where I cover all of the above called Digital Footprints &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/workshops\/footprints\/\">https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/workshops\/footprints\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, 16 May 2024, I ran a webinar about Academic Blogging for early career researchers. Prof Mpho-Entle Modise (from SAERA) arranged the event. These are my post-webinar thoughts. Dear academic bloggers, I am very grateful for your time and attention in this academic blogging webinar. Thanks so much for allowing me to both confuse &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/academic-blogs-q-a\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Academic blogs | Q &#038; A&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discover","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5233"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5270,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5233\/revisions\/5270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}