As a new member of gnovis’ New Media Team, I will be spending a good chunk of time this year engaged in “academic blogging.” I am not quite sure what that is yet, but I am thrilled to invite you to help me find out by participating in the conversations on gnovis’ blog. In case you haven’t bookmarked it, here is the address: http://www.gnovisjournal.org/blog

Bravely charting its first year, the New Media Team is comprised of Patricia Fancher, Margarita Rayzberg, and myself. This means there is a lot of passion on gnovis’ blog, and so we thought it was appropriate to each take a moment and talk about what blogging means to us.

“Why We Blog” is a four part series that considers the relationship between the academy, journals, blogs, and their authors. Can you relate to Margarita’s telenovela-blogger-lifestyle? Or is blogging more like Trish’s caffeinated conversations? You might, as Brad Weikel does, consider blogging a type of exploration, or agree with my belief that blogging can fulfill an obligation to the community:

I blog with the hope that the open dissemination of knowledge will add pliability to the nature of academia and education, much in the same way blogs are currently restructuring traditional news media. I strongly believe that the Ivory Tower has an obligation to the global community that makes its very existence possible. Blogging is just one way in which to assist the collaboration and dissemination of knowledge. In this information age, there is no reason that information should be scare or that every voice should not be heard.

Or perhaps you have a different viewpoint all together! That is what gnovis is about. Come share your thoughts, tell us what you think. With your participation we can, as Brad Weikel hopes, “propel the discourse, instead of merely chronicling it.”

Welcome to the conversation!