how to: academic blogging
DESCRIPTION
Breakout session looking at academic blogging at the LSE's Future of Impact conference, delivered by Chris Gilson and Stuart Brown.TRANSCRIPT
How to: Academic blogging
Chris Gilson and Stuart Brown
LSE EUROPP blog editors
#LSEImpact
• May 2010 - British Politics and Policy at LSE
• January 2011 - Impact of Social Sciences
• February 2012 – EUROPP – European Politics and
Policy
• April 2012 – LSE Review of Books
LSE PPG Blogs
BLOGS VS. WEBSITES?
Blog Website
Regularly updated Static
Interactive, community building One-way
More informal Often formal
Very easy to publish new content Dedicated program needed, e.g. Dreamweaver
Easy to do at low cost Quality=Cost
• Shorter articles: 300 – 1,200 words therefore good
for external audiences
• Easy to share via social media and email
• Searchable and available on open web
• Whole person style – where content may be
personal as well as academic
Why should academics blog?
BLOG ARTICLES VS JOURNAL ARTICLES
Journal Article Blog article
Length 8,000 words 800-1000 words
Timing Yearly Weekly
Multimedia Black and white charts?
Colour, audio, video
Audience Tens or hundreds Potentially thousands
Availability Paywall Open Access
WHY SHOULD ACADEMICS BLOG?
• Easy to start, with software such as Wordpress
takes 10 minutes to set up
• A valuable job finding tool as employers can see
more than just your CV
• Dissemination is immediate so too is comment and
feedback
• Link to academic papers (also via other blogs)
ACADEMIC BLOGGING: SINGLE AUTHOR BLOGS
You could start your own, single author blog. Here though:
• Content is king, unless you post regularly traffic
will die off
• Some SABs are successful where the name is well
known (Paul Krugman) but most SABs are now
either shutting down or joining with other bloggers
If you’re keen to strike out with your own blog, here are some ways that you can keep content fresh:
• Updates on research progress
• Commentary on current events
• Reports from conferences, seminars and other
events (liveblogging?)
• Thematic posts with other blogger(s)
• Reposts from other blogs
What should I blog(write) about?
So instead a good choice for academics is to contribute to a multi-authored blog. The advantages are:
• Multiple contributors covering many topics or subjects,
posting regularly and reliably, so that readers know
when to return
• Your blog is disseminated out to a wider network of
interest than you could create on your own
• Comments and social media can help build a
community
• You can get feedback on reader numbers and retweets
via blog staff using Google Analytics
Academic blogging: multi-author blogs
•
• LSE’s blogs • OpenDemocracy - http://www.opendemocracy.net/
• Politics In Spires (Oxford/Cambridge) - http://politicsinspires.org/
• Sociology at Warwick - http://sociologyatwarwick.wordpress.com/
• Ballots and Bullets (Nottingham) - http://nottspolitics.org/
• Blogactiv.eu
• Guardian Comment is Free • Huffington Post
Examples of multi-author blogs
•
• Students
• Other academics
• Policymakers
• Politicians
• General public?
Who are you blogging for?
• Academic writing
o Formal
o Long articles, long sentences and words
o References and footnotes
o Arguments at the end
• Writing for blogs
o More informal, but not too informal!
o Shorter articles (800 - 1,000 words or so)
o Hyperlinks
o Arguments at the start
Blog editing - general
• Your blog does not look like what you think it looks like o PC
o Smartphone
o iPad
• Newspaper style ‘split’ after two paragraphs to bring readers in, then full article
Blog editing - presentation
• Narrative is best
• Summarises the blog quickly, so
Greece cannot afford to ignore the challenge of controlling
inflation.
is better than
The Stylized Facts of Greek Inflation: New Wine in Old Bottles
Blog editing - Titles
• Also summarise the most important parts of the post
• Provide background
• Introduce author(s)
The Spanish labour market is infamously rigid. In response to Spain’s economic crisis, the recently elected right-wing Popular Party, has undertaken major labour market reforms. Vicente Cuñat argues that the government’s attempts at reform are a missed opportunity because they will fail to resolve Spain’s job market duality of temporary and permanent contracts and they will not reduce the red tape associated with
employment law.
Blog editing - Introductions
•
• Linking
• Google visibility
• Timescales – 1,3,6, 12 months
Blog often!
• Twitter – short messages to many (eventually
thousands)
• Facebook – more content, events
• Pinterest – photos, displaying your multimedia
‘wares’
Social media tools sessions – 12:00 & 16:15
Holden Room
Remember that without social media engagement…
Blogging and social media
Chris Gilson
@chrishjgilson
@lseeuroppblog
Stuart Brown
@lseeuroppblog
Thank you!