In commenting on Dan Drezner’s unfortuante news, Ann hits on one of the pitfalls of blogging–and that is, people know you do it and therefore can use against you, at least after a fashion:
Anytime a blogger falls short in any other aspect of life, it is possible to say it was because of the blogging.If you didn’t blog so much, you would have [used all that time to do whatever I think you ought to have done].
Time spent on a blog is visible in a way that time spent watching movies or talking with friends or reading mystery novels or engaging in physical exercise or playing with your kids or daydreaming is not. Those who worry about blogging or feel jealous of bloggers have that blog always there, so visible, planting tiny negative impulses in their heads day by day. Then some day, when they must make a decision about you, who knows what role the blog played?
Indeed, I have had students gripe at me because they knew that I hadn’t done X that they wanted done, but knew that I had been blogging.
Futher, every time I have given a talk about blogging with faculty present, one of the questions I always get (and I can always tell that it is from someone who does’t quite “get” it) from faculty members is how much time I spend blogging daily.
There is little doubt that one does create the potential for someone looking at you and deciding that you are “spending too much time” blogging. Of course, I find it offensive that someone else presumes to know how I spend my time just bcause they see blog posts, or, worse, that they have any right to state how I should spend my time.
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October 9th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
Drezner Denial Discussion
The University of Chicago’s decision to deny tenure to Dan Drezner has predictably led to quite a bit of discussion; the highlights (as far as I’ve seen): Steven Taylor expresses confidence that Dan will land on his feet and considers the question,…
October 10th, 2005 at 7:27 am
Blogging, the academy, and Harriet Miers
October 10th, 2005 at 11:31 am
Denied Tenure
I regret that he did not get tenure, but the Blogosphere has been a better place because of his contributions.
June 18th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
[...] mething “useful” (i.e., publishable). I commented on this as well at the time here. As if channeling that critique as aimed at academic bloggers, the outgoing President of the Southern Ba [...]