Professors blog to explore ideas, reach wider audience

Okeke-Agulu protested, among other things, the exhibition’s inclusion of works belonging to a collector allegedly involved in conflict-diamond trading.

“I wrote about this in an art journal that was not available to the wide audience interested in global culture and politics,” Okeke-Agulu explained. “I needed a space to air my opinion about what was going on, seeing as I had taken the time to respond to the whole debate ... That’s why I started a blog.”

Okeke-Agulu has continued to maintain his blog, called “Ofodunka: Art. Life. Politics,” which focuses on topics ranging from news in the art world to the latest cultural and political debates in the United States and Nigeria, Okeke-Agulu’s home country.

Okeke-Agulu is among a growing number of faculty members who maintain or regularly post on blogs. Blogging, some professors said, allows them to explore a wider range of topics and writing styles than those normally used in academia.

Wilson school professor Stan Katz, who blogs for The Chronicle of Higher Education, said he was invited to contribute about three years ago.

Katz explained that, for him, the key to writing blog posts was “to talk, rather than write.”

“I try to think of what I would say to someone who was sitting opposite me in my office or over a cup of coffee,” he said. “In other words, I’m aiming for a very conversational tone, and so I write it much more colloquially than I would [in an academic context].”

History professor Julian Zelizer, who contributes to blogs at cnn.com, Politico and the Huffington Post, said he had been writing opinion pieces for newspapers for several years before he began blogging.

But because blog posts are shorter and target a wider audience, the writing must be more concise, direct and explanatory, Zelizer said.

“This is really going to the essence of an argument,” he explained.

Both Katz and Zelizer said they do not believe that blogging requires a significant time commitment.

Katz, who blogs two or three times a week, said it takes him around 45 minutes to write a blog post, while Zelizer noted that he does not feel compelled to update his blogs on a daily basis.

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“I don’t think of myself as a blogger, to be honest,” Zelizer said.

Despite this, faculty members must deal with a challenge faced by most bloggers: online comments that range from insightful to angry.

Okeke-Agulu said the comments he receives are usually positive, but Katz said that restricting anonymous comments and avoiding arguments with commenters improves the blogging experience.

“I was advised — and I think it was good advice — not to respond on the blog,” Katz said. “I think that’s helped, because I think some bloggers who actually respond on the blog get involved in long dialogues, and I’m not very interested in having a dialogue with commenters on the blog.”

But, Katz said, the comments he has received privately have generally been more thoughtful and positive.

“I always respond to those,” he said. “I’ve had several different conversations, and I hadn’t anticipated that ... That’s been quite interesting, and I’ve actually made friends this way, with people I don’t know who have sent me a private message.”

The professors agreed that blogging is a satisfying experience.

“I’ve enjoyed it enormously, because I really do think about the things I write about, and it’s fun to be able to talk to other people about them, and it enlarges the circle of friends who share my concerns about the welfare of higher education,” Katz said. He added that he credits blogging with making him a “more interesting and more aware teacher and scholar.”

Zelizer expressed a similar sentiment.

“For me personally — and it’s not for everyone — it’s nice to write books and articles for academics, and then go online and write op-eds and articles for a different audience,” he said.

Katz noted that blogging has also allowed him to broaden his interests.

“I read a lot more. I go to meetings to learn about the kinds of things that, frankly, I wasn’t that interested in before,” he said. “It’s been a valuable learning experience. I’d say that’s the most important thing.”