Anthropology blogs more interesting than journals?

Thanks for the coverage Lorenz! And thanks for putting the time in to read through a class assignment

And while the people I spoke with didn’t identify journal names individually, they did use Anthrosource and Jstor - so it really shows how material gets filtered. I’m moving forward with this research idea by trying to develop a better understanding from the perspective of journals. Ie: do journals have trouble getting readers? Do they have trouble being incorporated into larger indexes and databases? Are journals ever meant to be read cover to cover? I played with the “blog vs journal” idea to create some drama in the interviews, to hopefully make it a little bit engaging.

Another interesting point - the interviews I held were way more interesting than the final assignment I wrote. I may need to incorporate some journalism into this degree I’m working on. (or just keep on blogging)

Sincerely,
Owen Wiltshire

The “journal vs. blog” issue works well to stimulate discussion, it seems. But, as far as I can tell, people tend to situate themselves at specific points on a continuum going from “pro-journal” to “pro-blog,” often without discussing much of the issues which go beyond the journal/blog divide.
This tendency isn’t specific to anthropology or even to academia. When talking with journalists about blogs and other online forms of publishing or communication, there is usually a lot of pro-journalism positioning but relatively little discussion of things such as critical thinking, the actual goals of communication, and ways to integrate blogging and journalism.
One issue with blogging, in my sense, is that it’s a bit too close to what people know. Comparisons with other forms of publishing suffer in part because people try to extend analogies too much. “Blogging is like writing an opinion piece for a newspaper except that it’s not as reliable. Blogging is like a letter to the editor of a peer-reviewed journal but it isn’t vetted.”
To a certain extent, the same thing happens with podcasting and radio or television. People still talk about things like production value and business models.
If we think about not only blogging and podcasting but also mailing-lists, nanoblogging, social networking systems, Web forums, and instant messaging, we can eventually recontextualize the old media/journal concepts of “publishing"/"broadcasting” into a broader notion of managing and transmitting ideas, information, and knowledge.
No?

100%! I limited myself to blogging to try and create a sense of “order” in my research, but you are right that it should be examined within the broader scope of communication technologies. I am now considering broadening my thesis proposal to include a more comprehensive framework, but I don’t want to bite off too much (i’m planning to devote a large section of the research to understanding journals).

Theres also the trap of looking at blogging as a style or form of writing - ie: most conceptions of blogging seem to expect a certain blog style - as opposed to looking at it as a very flexible and capable publishing medium that gets ideas out there far easier, but perhaps to a less targeted audience.

Thanks for all the feedback! I’m still digesting it all, err disintegrating it with coffee, while I revise my proposal.

Owen.

Its very nice to go through your blogs. My engagement with anthropology is enlarged with this reading.
Because i am engaged with this discipline, since 12 years, i am happy to aware about the latest tool of Blogging.
It will help the researchers and students to deepen their knowledge while continuing the traditional tools of anthropologcal tools.

I must congratulate you for this nice piece of work.
Dr. Kasi Eswarappa,
Department of Anthropology,
University of Hyderabad
INDIA
www.uohyd.ernet.in

Thanks for your comment, Dr. KASI ESWARAPPA