The Digital Scholar

I started Recollecting Nemasket as a local history blog for two principal reasons: as a means of personal fulfillment and as an effort to make local history more readily available to the community.

Like all scholars, digital or otherwise, I feel passionately about my subject. Writing about local history gives me a means of self-expression, and digitally publishing my scholarship in a field in which I have expertise easily allows me to share what I learn with the public.

Michael J. Maddigan

By publishing digitally, I am afforded a number of advantages that are not always available through more “traditional” publishing. For 11 years, I have written a local history newspaper column also known as “Recollecting Nemasket” for the Middleboro Gazette. However, a newspaper column can be restrictive in regards to the limitations that are placed on the subject or format of an article. Topics that require a more lengthy, more detailed, or more technical analysis are generally not best served in a newspaper column. Because digital publishing is less restrictive, it permits me to publish longer works, more technical works, works with more images, portions of longer works that I have yet to complete–essentially whatever I choose. A website may also be used as a “proving ground” where articles can be subjected to criticism and comment before they are published elsewhere.

I find that digital scholarship is also advantageous because it is more immediate, more interactive, more accessible, and less ephemeral than traditional publishing. It is also less expensive. My blog costs me nothing beyond the time that I put into it. Readers can read my posts as they are published and respond to them nearly instantaneously, providing feedback on what I write and occasionally offering a differing perspective. With traditional publishing, the process of receiving feedback is much more arduous. And unlike traditional scholarship published in books, magazines, and journals, digital scholarship does not necessarily go out of print or become unavailable when the next issue is published.

As with more traditionally published scholarship, the caliber of digital scholarship on the Web varies greatly. My intention is to maintain a high standard of scholarship for Recollecting Nemasket, partly in keeping with the goal of developing the website as a local history resource for the community. Despite the fact that its subject matter–the history of Middleborough and Lakeville, Massachusetts–is relatively esoteric with probably a limited appeal beyond these two communities, it is no less deserving of serious scholarly treatment. I believe that the best digital scholarship is that which draws upon the advantages of both digital and traditional publishing, combining the small expense, the immediacy, the interactive nature, the accessibility for readers, and the frequency that digital publishing affords with the high level of academic standards that is associated with more traditional scholarship.

Michael J. Maddigan is the author/publisher of Recollecting Nemasket, a blog devoted to the history of Middleborough and Lakeville, Massachusetts. He currently serves as Curator of the Middleborough Historical Museum, and his book Middleborough (Images of America) is due to be published in October 2009.

As the publishing world increasingly adopts new technologies, some of the common notions we have long held about publishing are being overturned. One notion that is beginning to lose its hold is the concept of the finished book.

Writers often acknowledge that their writing can always be improved. In the old publishing world, though, once a book went to press it was pretty much set in stone. Even minor changes or corrections to the text would have to wait until the next print run, that is, if the book even sold well enough to warrant another print run.

Nowadays, as print-on-demand (POD) and e-book technologies continue to proliferate within the print industry, books can more easily be corrected and improved. The “finished” manuscript can easily be tweaked or parts of the text can be re-written at any time, and these changes will go into effect when the next person orders or downloads a new copy of the book.

Publishing, in other words, is becoming more of a process than the production of a free-standing product. Writers are beginning to publish books electronically–and sometimes even in print–with the sole intention of soliciting feedback from their audience about how to improve their manuscript. They are also using different publishing mediums to distribute their work, so that they can reach as many readers as they possibly can and develop a following. All of this means that a finished book is fast fading.

The move towards publishing becoming more of a process has some real benefits. Scientific works, for example, can easily be updated to accommodate new findings and discoveries. Time-sensitive material can go to print faster, with the knowledge that any editorial errors can easily be corrected at a later time. And authors can test the waters by publishing their ideas and seeing if there is an audience for them before devoting even more time and effort to them.

But there is also a downside to this movement. The widespread circulation of different editions will make it more difficult to ensure that two people are talking about the same text, which is critical in some fields like the humanities or political science. The ease with which texts can be corrected or rewritten may also prompt authors to publish their manuscript before it is ready. The reputation of authors who publish and circulate too many texts of inferior quality can easily suffer as a result. And finally, readers may find it more difficult to find quality reading or research material if publishers rush manuscripts to print and then take a long time to go back to correct them or, worse, never do.

Writers may miss the sense of accomplishment they get when they submit their finished manuscript to their publisher. While such a sense of accomplishment may not be as concentrated in a singular moment in today’s publishing world, these kinds of moments become more frequent as the writer continues to improve the work and publishes it in various venues. These small victories can give the writer a much needed incentive to keep writing over time. I’m sure at least some writers will not miss the agony it takes to complete a finished manuscript that needs to be perfect in their eyes.

Textual editors know that even in the print world, the finished book is like an object placed between facing mirrors. The job of the textual editor is to look at various versions of a printed work and then reconcile the differences among them–which can result from printing errors, authorial changes or corrections, and subsequent editions–to produce a singular “authoritative” text. Of course, the text they produce only adds to the work of the next textual editor, who again is supposed to figure out what is the real “finished” book.

With current changes in publishing technologies, the textual editing of twenty-first century works may no longer involve facing mirrors; rather, it may well become impossible.

If you want to become a Digital Scholar, where should you start?

There are many easy ways to get the ball rolling in becoming a Digital Scholar, and you may already be doing some of them. Setting up an account with LinkedIn or Facebook to network more easily with friends and colleagues–especially those with whom you have lost touch–is one way. Setting up a Twitter account for similar reasons is another. You can go to Amazon.com and create recommendation lists to help other readers identify the seminal books in your field of expertise, or you can even start contributing articles to Wikipedia.

All of the above activities can help spread your reputation as a scholar. But if you are serious about preparing yourself for the new world of publishing, starting a blog is the best way to go.

One of the reasons why writing a blog is such a powerful tool for participating in the new world of publishing is that once it is up and running, you are perfectly positioned to utilize to the fullest the new publishing technologies for producing, distributing, and drawing attention to your scholarship.

Here are some other reasons why blogs are one of the best publishing tools for the Digital Scholar:

• Blogs are relatively easy to set up and maintain. Even though setting up a blog can be time consuming and a bit tricky at first, it is still much easier and faster to put together than designing your own website. Once you get your blog up and running, adding content to it is a breeze, so you can focus on your writing and scholarship, not website design. (See the Digital Scholar Toolkit for some links and tips to help you get started building your blog.)
• People can easily discover you and your scholarship through your blog. People turn to the web to answer questions and find information about topics that interest them all the time. Your blog can become an authoritative source on the web for providing information about your area of expertise.
• Blogs are a great showcase for you and your work. You can easily direct people to your blog, where they can gain a deeper understanding of what you and your scholarship are all about. You can include the URL for your blog in e-mail signatures, on business cards, and on your Facebook profile. If your URL is catchy enough, you can even verbally encourage friends and colleagues to check out your blog.
• You can build a regular readership with a blog. The regular-article format of a blog gives people who are interested in your area of expertise a reason to return to your site to read your next article.
• You become an instant author/publisher of your own work with a blog. As soon as you hit the “Publish” button, people from around the world can read and comment on your work. A blog is a great place to try out new ideas and see what people think about them before taking those ideas to a traditional publisher. It also lets you build or enhance your reputation in that subject area while you are still testing out those ideas.
• A blog can help you create content for other publishing formats. If you find the task of sitting down to write a book or journal article daunting, the short-article format usually associated with a blog can help you break your subject down into smaller chunks. Keep writing these small articles, and before you know it, you will have plenty of material for that article or book.
• You can use your blog to get a traditional publishing contract. If you write an active blog, you become more attractive to traditional publishers because of the attention you can generate through it.
• You can use your blog to advertise your book or other writing. Whether you publish a book independently, go through a traditional book publisher, or write an article for another venue, you can use your blog to market it. In turn, you can use these other writing opportunities to drive more traffic to your blog.

Blogs can produce big dividends for the Digital Scholar, because they are an idea and content generator, publishing mechanism, and marketing venue all rolled up into one. Blogs require some effort to get started, but once they are up and running, they can pack a powerful punch in the publishing world.

1. . . . you want to share your knowledge with the world. I just checked the statistics for my Early American Crime website. At least one person from 43 out of the 50 states in the U.S. has visited my website, and I regularly get visitors from all over the world. I have even gained the following of an early American crime fan in Sweden.
2. . . . you have an old manuscript or a bunch of research notes lying around, but don’t know what to do with them. A blog gives this hidden information a chance to see the light of day, and who knows, it all may become a book or scholarly journal article one day.
3. . . . you want to connect with other scholars and people who share similar scholarly interests. I regularly receive e-mail from people who have questions and want to share ideas about crime in early America. Some of the people who have contacted me are academics, and some are simply people who have an interest in what I write about.
4. . . . you want to add the role of “public intellectual” to your professional standing. Academics often bemoan the fact that they don’t get to interact with people outside of academia very much and worry that their profession is becoming too insular. A blog can give you a forum to reach out to lots of people and explain what you do and why it is important. Your blog’s statistics will tell you how successful you have been at reaching that wider audience.
5. . . . you have an interest that lies outside of your normal scholarly research activity and you want to explore it in a serious way. A blog gives you the freedom to explore topics and subjects that you might not ordinarily tackle because they are outside of your area of expertise. Over time, these topics may become areas of expertise, and you’ll already be recognized as an expert when that happens.
6. . . . your approach to writing lacks structure and regularity. A blog forces you to write relatively short articles on a regular basis. The time element that attaches itself to every post serves as a reminder of the last time you produced some writing. If you keep producing for your blog, before you know it you will have generated enough material to put together into a journal article or a book.
7. . . . you want to see published results faster than what a book or journal publisher can offer. Publishing on a blog is almost instantaneous. If you love the satisfaction of seeing your writing “in print,” a blog gives you that feeling every time you hit the “Publish” button.
8. . . . you need motivation to sit and write. A blog offers all kinds of opportunities for motivation, and what writer doesn’t need motivation? By writing a blog, you can take satisfaction that your writing will actually matter to someone out there. You will receive e-mail from people who respect and appreciate what you do. You will be contacted by people offering you other writing opportunities. You may even make a little bit of money from your blog if you decide to run ads or publicize books on it. All of these things can help you find reason to sit down and write.
9. . . . you need more than motivation; you need some kind of “outside force” to make you sit and write. When you first start a blog, the statistics can be pretty dismal, but as you keep writing, they start to pick up. Watching your statistics slope upwards can become an addiction, and the way to feed this addiction is to keep writing, because the more you write, the better your statistics.
10. . . . you want to give publishers a reason to publish your book. Not only does a blog help you generate content for your next book, it can serve as a means for publicizing your next book, and publishers are well aware of the latter. Your book idea becomes much more attractive to a publisher if you can prove that you have a built-in following for the topic on a blog, because the readers of your website can turn into potential customers of your book.

For tips and links to resources that can help you get a blog up and running, visit the Digital Scholar Toolkit.

Comment Question:

If you have a blog, what are some of the reasons you would use to convince someone else to start one?