A Faculty Search Committee Member Explains Why They Didn’t Hire a Blogger
This Chronicle of Higher Education column explains a search committee’s choice not to hire several job candidates who blog. The committee didn’t think the material people wrote on their blogs was appropriate for the institution. They also felt once they learned more about the candidates, especially the intimate details someone shared on her weblog, they weren’t people committee members wanted to have as colleagues.
Thanks, rte, for pointing me to the article!
July 15th, 2005 at 4:52 am
From my side, I’ve got to say that I think of my blog as a substantial asset in terms of my employability in the tertiary sector. Sure, my blog posts aren’t always serious or confined to my thoughts about academia, but the majority of what I comment on is in some way related. It does help that I position myself broadly at the interesections of Media Studies, Communication Studies, Literary Studies, Digital Humanities and New/Digital Media, so there isn’t a lot that happens online or in the media more broadly that I can’t justify writing about. That said, I think it is important for all academics to have some sort of public voice in order to maintain a rich, vibrant and engaged relationship between academia and the public more generally; blogs are one of the best ways of maintaining such engagement. Moreover, on a personal note, while I have some wonderful collegues in Perth, it is the most isolated capital city in the world, and the blog is a wonderful way to build, maintain and enhance my connections with scholars (and others) across the wired world. [More...]
July 15th, 2005 at 4:53 am
From my side, I’ve got to say that I think of my blog as a substantial asset in terms of my employability in the tertiary sector. Sure, my blog posts aren’t always serious or confined to my thoughts about academia, but the majority of what I comment on is in some way related. It does help that I position myself broadly at the interesections of Media Studies, Communication Studies, Literary Studies, Digital Humanities and New/Digital Media, so there isn’t a lot that happens online or in the media more broadly that I can’t justify writing about. That said, I think it is important for all academics to have some sort of public voice in order to maintain a rich, vibrant and engaged relationship between academia and the public more generally; blogs are one of the best ways of maintaining such engagement. Moreover, on a personal note, while I have some wonderful collegues in Perth, it is the most isolated capital city in the world, and the blog is a wonderful way to build, maintain and enhance my connections with scholars (and others) across the wired world. [More...]