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October 11, 2005
BEST. IHE. EV0R
As you might gather from previous entries, it's rare that I offer unqualified praise for sites like the Chronicle. In fact, I'm a little behind in the sense that I haven't yet thanked CHE for publishing something sensible about weblogs (and by someone who actually knows about weblogs).
But leave it to Inside Higher Ed to publish something so brilliant and timely on the topic of technology. In their Views section today is a piece called Mirror, Mirror on the Web, and it's specifically about the relationship between print journals and the websites that mirror them. I don't want to ruin your experience of reading this modern masterpiece for the first time, but here was one of my favorite parts:
Although the quantity and quality of writing that I read online almost certainly differs from the scholarly reading I do, I would argue that the biggest change is that I practice reading differently. And this is a truth that, traditionally, disciplines in the humanities have been slow to accept. We are still prone to thinking of technology as something added to what are already substantial professional duties, instead of conceiving of it as a way of approaching those duties differently.
Oh. My. God. The amazing thing about this is that I was just thinking this very thing not more than a couple of weeks ago. This writer has absolutely nailed it. And in what is perhaps the most impressive part of the piece, he goes on to explain how he's trying to make this insight concrete in the form of the journal website he's editing.
All I can say is Wow. But don't take my word for it. Go read it yourself, and take its insights to heart. This could be the opening gesture for a radical transformation of the academy as we know it.
Really. It's just brilliant. Brrrr-illiant. That is all.
Posted by cgbrooke at October 11, 2005 11:12 AM
Comments
My god. I've been blinded by all that brilliance.
:) Seriously -- good show.
Posted by: KF at October 11, 2005 03:01 PM
I was about to put the IHE shout-out on my blog. Way to go, Collin!
Posted by: Donna at October 11, 2005 03:08 PM
I didn't write that! Yes I did!
Posted by: Collin's Evil Twin at October 11, 2005 09:14 PM
Hot Damn!
Posted by: Marcia at October 11, 2005 11:54 PM
Now I have a question: who was I talking to yesterday--Collin, or his Evil Twin?
Posted by: senioritis at October 12, 2005 12:26 PM
Huzzah! But then there's this piece, which kind of tempers the exuberance I felt upon reading your article.
Posted by: Clancy at October 12, 2005 03:52 PM
Congrats on the IHE article. Nice work.
Posted by: Chuck at October 13, 2005 10:49 AM