Like many bloggers, I keep my eyes open for new flare-ups in the ongoing struggle between pro-blogging and anti-blogging academics. I'm sure we all remember the Ivan Tribble essay, "Bloggers Need Not Apply" (paid subscription required) and it's aftermath in the Chronicle. While opponents of academic blogging probably aren't going to go away in the near future, it's always nice to read authors who promote blogging as a tool for scholarship.

On one of the newer sites on the Research and Academia blogroll, the weblog repository, Genevieve posts Academic Blogging Time is Now, says McConville, a response to a well-reasoned article about blogging as potential for, rather than a distraction from, scholarship.

I think we're already seeing realization of some of that potential by people like Laura at blogical construction, whose latest post, Pockets of Disciplinarity, discusses the lack of understanding that exists between disciplines.

These misunderstandings and gaps and deliberate ignorance of other disciplines seem to be a direct call for multidisciplinary work. True multidisciplinary work. I think I'm attempting to accomplish that somewhat, except that I'm aware that comp/rhet is the lens through which I'm viewing educational technology and network theory, etc. Or is it the other way around! It's far more interesting to be thinking in these ways, though I'm finding myself having to be constantly vigilant for those missteps that might cause someone from the other side of the fence to dismiss my work.

My interdisciplinary background certainly biases me in favor of Laura's position, but it's hard to argue against a little understanding between disparate disciplines.

On a related note, Ms. PhD of YoungFemaleScientist
offers an an interesting comparison between graduate studies in the humanities and sciences. A lot of what I read about this difference comes from the humanities camp, so it's great to see how somebody in the sciences sees the disciplines and their cultures. Don't skip the comments on this post; they're thoughtful and have some additional info.

Kaijsa Calkins blogs about life and librarianship at Jag saker job.