When I say that researchers and other professionals in the Humanities should blog, I mean that they should not only write blogs, but also make a habit of reading them. In fact, I’d say that this is an essential first step to becoming a blogger, before you even make the decision between WordPress and Blogger and spend an hour thinking up a witty and original blog title and tinkering with the colour scheme.
In workshops on blogging, I try to ask how many participants actually read academic or professional blogs themselves. It’s interesting how many of those who expressed an interest in setting up their own blog do not themselves read academic blogs, or in many cases, even non-academic blogs. They’re missing out on a wealth of useful information. And I’m not thinking primarily about their research field, although if there are good blogs on their topic, these will give a much quicker and more up-to-date idea of new directions in the field than journal articles, or even conference attendance. Some of the blogs I have found most helpful are actually about the process and practice of being a researcher, rather than the research findings. For peer guidance and mentoring, blogs like the ResearchWhisperer, ThesisWhisperer, Patter, and NetworkedResearcher are incredibly useful professional development resources. And blogs on quirky applications of research, like constructing a medieval astrolabe, are fun!
For a new blogger, though, reading blogs is also the best education in how to blog effectively. When many academic bloggers first set up a blog, they’re thinking primarily about what they want to say, rather than what their intended readers might want to read. Such a blog runs the risk of becoming just another ‘broadcast’ medium, a one-sided conversation, a website rather than a genuine blog. There are no author guidelines for a blog, as there are in journal articles and books, rigidly set by the publisher and conventions of academic writing. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any genre conventions for the blog; get it wrong and you’re unlikely to be read. You can’t transfer the conventions of academic writing to blogging, you’ll end up with lengthy, stodgy posts which no one, not even specialists in your field, let alone the general public, want to read.
The only way to learn this stuff is to read blogs yourself and become familiar with the style and layout and mode of reading. How do you find blog posts? Many people will stumble across a single post, perhaps recommended through social media or found via a search engine. So if you’re writing a blog as if it’s a series, you may be alienating readers who want the single, standalone post that is of interest to them. Do you ‘follow’ blogs, and if so, do you always read each update? Or, as is more likely, do you skim the title and first paragraph before deciding to read properly? Do short paragraphs and embedded media engage you further? At what point does your attention start to drift, and you click away or close the window? Probably after about 500 words of densely packed prose. So if you’re regularly writing posts of 2,000 words or more with few breaks or other features, you’re probably producing the type of blog post that you yourself wouldn’t actually read….
Helen Webster is a research associate in Digital Transferable Skills in the Digital Humanities Network in CRASSH, and is one of the editors of CamHumBlog
Questions? Comments? Leave a comment below!
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent the position of CRASSH, The Digital Humanities Network or Cambridge University.
CamHumBlog 