brockett

I added a line about tourist destinations in my hometown, Norfolk, VA.

Very exciting, I know.

Looking at some of the blogs this week finally eased some of my concerns about blogging…especially in scholarship. This award-winning post exemplifies the kind of academic musings that I would think of as belonging on a blog…clearly an individual’s train of thought (one which links together some interesting ideas), but still supported with quotes and obvious background knowledge. True, it’s not exactly accessible to an uninformed public, but it’s nice to imagine some stuffy history professor sitting in front of his/her computer with a glass of wine in hand, shoes off, chuckling over this post. I guess my point is, it’s just a blog. It doesn’t have to be academic. And if it’s not your personal cup of tea, chances are there’s a blog that is. I get it now….

The article on wikipedia was quite interesting, though I am certainly not sold on the whole idea. Especially because it’s probably not clear to most people what the nature of the site is, so they are likely to assume credibility when they shouldn’t. I suppose it’s true of any other written summary of information, but you just really have to wonder with these authors what their motivation is. This is not a job, it’s not something they’re paid to do, their reputation isn’t on the line, etc. so some of the checks on, say, a published work aren’t necessarily in place here. I was glad that Rosenzwieg pointed out that there’s a type: male, internet saavy, and (i would add) people with time on their hands to devote to their often peculiar interests. Now I am picturing a very different sort of person sitting in front of the computer. Makes me a bit nervous.

That said, however, I CAN appreciate wikipedia as a bizarre mirror of the public mind (at least among internet devotees). It would be fascinating to see which topics get the most attention in history, or to compare related elements, such as a president’s administration and a conspiracy theory pertaining to that president. It would also be interesting to know what all the taboo or difficult subjects are. I looked up the kkk as an example of a controversial topic and, interestingly, it is indeed locked for editing. I don’t know about history, but, as a phenomenon, wikipedia is certainly an odd window into popular culture.