I've been told that I should learn to blog. I'm told that "blogging" will soon be, if it isn't already, a major form of dissemination of academic thought and commentary. The message, stripped of its polite disguise, is that I should "get with it, or get left behind."
I respond to this, first, by saying that I applaud the initiative, the motivation, the insights and the technological skills of those who have started and contributed to this, and other, law blogs. Indeed, I have, on another occasion, submitted a brief case comment by way of blog. I won't deny that I find it useful to have access to quick commentary from academic colleagues from across the country on legal issues of the day.
But, I have concerns about the notion that blogging will soon become the choice method of academic communication, or, worse yet, the notion that blogging ought to replace traditional forms of academic publishing. One of the major advantages of current technology–whether we are talking about emails, cell phones or blogs–is the ability for instant communication. But, this advantage also is the greatest danger of modern technology. (Who among us hasn't sent out an email which, upon sober second thought, we wished we could retract?) If blogging replaces more traditional forms of academic discourse, we lose the ‘sober second thought' and in depth analysis that comes with researching and writing a peer reviewed paper. There is certainly a role for blogging to play in academic discourse, but it is a role that is separate and apart from more traditional forms of academic communication. The fact that we now "can" blog, does not mean that we always ought to.
