Thursday, June 28, 2007

How's That "Informally Posting Preliminary Thoughts About Ongoing Research On Your Blog" Thing Working Out?

Unfortunately, not so well.

3 comments:

Kevin Prentiss said...

I'm not sure. I can't decide if we should blame danah for not being *more* clear it was not research or the media for not being *more* clear that it was not research.

Certainly she's getting flamed, and boy is she getting known.

The topic is being discussed like crazy.

Blogs are confusing with standards and danah is firmly on the crack, but I think it's put her out as a leader.

Would her problem have been solved if she had moderated comments like you do and just taken out the really nasty ones?

Tom Hoffman said...

I'm not blaming anyone for anything, but I think in this particular case it is more of a hassle than an opportunity for danah. Particularly since it isn't so much the negative comments as the BBC misrepresenting her piece. She's already the leader in this field, and to me this piece doesn't seem controversial at all. It is just kind of weak, with an obvious thesis, but nothing unusual for a blog entry.

The message I take from this is that once you achieve a certain level of prominence in academia, even if it is due in part to your blogging, you have to be more and more circumspect about what you blog, because anything you say, no matter how you qualify it, is potentially news. This is not an epic tragedy, but it is unfortunate.

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