There's a biblioblogging session coming up in Philadelphia at the AAR-SBL meeting, as a session of the Computer Assisted Research Group. Two papers will be given, by Jim Davila and Rick Brennan. Then follows 80 minutes of panel discussion by 5 (or is it 6?) panel members, of which I am one.
What should we talk about?
We'll introduce ourselves, I imagine, and say a few words about our blogs. We will no doubt say some things about what Rick and Jim have said. What else should we talk about? Open (source) studies? Blogging and the nature of public scholarly discourse? Peer review? Blogging and conformity? How to kill time while waiting for Blogger to upload your post? What's better, news or opinion or baby pictures? Why are there so few female bibliobloggers? What's the point of it all? Who's your favorite team?
One thing I hope we don't talk about is the term "biblioblogger." There the term is, and we're stuck with it. And I hope we don't discuss "what is a biblioblogger," or the forgery scandal, or minimalism, or the historical Jesus, or what our desks look like, or which character from the Simpsons we are, or such worthy-but-irrelevant topics.
If each of us talks for 5-10 minutes about ourselves, that'll kill a lot of time. That could be good or bad.
I don't know. Got any ideas? Suggestions welcome.
How about "what's it good fer?" (with a southern twang)
ReplyDeleteI read Jim's blog because he is like a google news alert with comments, plus an annotated bibliography.
I read yours because it is always interesting, eclectic, and often perceptive to the point of being disturbing (I assign your analysis of Newsweek's coverage of JPII's ill health vs. Hunter Thompson's suicide (here).
So, what is the point of the blogs? (Mine is, of course, is very utilitarian and dedicated to our Honors Program in exile.)
A good topic might be the use of Unicode by bibliobloggers (with an emphasis on the pros, cons, and how-to's), as well as other technology-relevant issues that bibliobloggers can and should be involved with (like what RSS reader do you use, how can we make this little community more connected, etc).
ReplyDeleteAnd I still like antiquibloggers, myself... ;)
Hi, sorry to ask, but could you define a biblioblogger for me please?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Olympiada
Something that would interest me -- and since I'll actually be physically manifest in the audience of aforementioned panel, I thought I'd throw in my two gerahs -- is the issue of "where do we go from here?"
ReplyDeleteWe all know the stereotypes of blogging -- that to blog is a matter of vanity, the typed equivalent of enjoying the sound of one's voice (... and, let us face it, at times those stereotypes are not entirely off base, at least not in my case.) But with a handful of bibliobloggers and more than a handful of readers, what hopes do we -- or in this case: you -- have for the future of the medium? I suspect that the trajectory towards online exchange of information is not about to take a nosedive, so how can -- or even: how should -- the academic/biblical studies/ANE community deliberately and choicefully develop its presence, to the benefit of one another, of students, and perhaps even of laypeople?
Perhaps those are overly broad and speculative questions -- what else is new? ;) I would guess, though, that at such a panel, the audience will take the presence of blogs for granted, and might allow for a little bit of "vision casting" (... as my old Heroes of Might and Magic games might put it. :)