tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30690257.post8491231047382391337..comments2024-03-21T04:11:40.462-07:00Comments on Category D: A Film and Media Studies Blog: Gender and Academic BloggingChris Caglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11896423565458620046noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30690257.post-64649776688604197602009-06-03T20:48:46.403-07:002009-06-03T20:48:46.403-07:00Hm, I think my point there, if I actually made one...Hm, I think my point there, if I actually made one, was that any disparity within academia between men/women would, logically, be essentially identical within blogging if "professional extension" were the case. Whereas non-sanctioned or only quasi-academic media studies bloggers (perhaps people who are technically inside academia but don't do the conference circuit etc.) <i>would</i> have a potential greater voice through blogging than they would (e.g.) on the conference circuit and through peer review. Which is to say that online venues hold promise only to the extent that the wider field recognizes the promising venues as legitimate ones. (Music criticism has never really been taken up by academia, save for some dabbling in cultural studies and maybe ethnomusicology or musicology, neither of which have significantly absorbed rock/pop music criticism, so the legitimacy distinctions tend to be fairly makeshift all around -- popular message boards and online publications might effectively have as much credibility as, e.g., the Experience Music Project conferences.)Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13148394237957464053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30690257.post-8186455626051764132009-06-03T20:12:26.078-07:002009-06-03T20:12:26.078-07:00Dave,
I like your comparisons to music-crit blogs...Dave,<br /><br />I like your comparisons to music-crit blogs, though I'm going to have to look more at those to see what comparisons hold. <br /><br />You're right that academic blogs are addenda to professional careers established through traditional means (graduate education, reviewed publication).Chris Caglehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11896423565458620046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30690257.post-56460689828070522182009-06-03T17:41:10.851-07:002009-06-03T17:41:10.851-07:00One clear route for reversal might be academia-san...One clear route for reversal might be academia-sanctioned LiveJournal groups! In music criticism, I think that there's any interesting distinction between obviously gendered (the bulk of indie music blogs are male-centric in terms of writers, contributors, commenters) and more gender-neutral (pop blogs I read tend to be fairly equal in terms of gender distribution of contributors). But on LiveJournal, almost ALL major critical groups I'm aware of are fairly 50/50 gender-wise -- case in point being the excellent (full disclosure: I contribute!) <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/poptimists/" rel="nofollow">Poptimists</a> community. But it's even difficult to convince non-academic dilettante (and/or "academic hobbyist") types that LiveJournal criticism has any real critical legitimacy (which it does), and I can imagine this is even more difficult to recognize for an established academic field.<br /><br />But more <i>community</i>-oriented media studies blogging on a template that might be more "friendly" to academic consideration (a regular old dot-com) might be a good way to attempt to erase these kinds of distinctions via gender balance in moderation/main contributors, though admittedly my knowledge of media studies blogging is close to nil.<br /><br />Also, is it common in media studies for contributors who are not already recognized within academia to build any kind of credibility through blogging? My (extremely limited) experience suggests that most blogs are a consistent venue for people who already significantly contribute to academic writing/conferences to maintain some visibility, as opposed to allowing lower totem-pole figures to "break out" -- but I could be completely wrong about this. In music crit there tend to just be too many blogs to allow this kind of rags-to-riches blog-to-wider-credibility story to happen, save for people who happen to hit particular zeitgeists (preceding a major blogging wave or finding under-represented niches that allow for some publication crossover).Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13148394237957464053noreply@blogger.com