Archives for Academe

I was down in New Orleans late last month to give a talk at the Society of Biblical Literature conference. The topic: How to Talk to the Media. It was useful for me to think about the transactions between experts and journalists. I heard some eye-opening war stories from scholars who feel that they have… Continue reading »

In my latest Hot Type column, I ask whether all authors are created equal under Google–under the terms of the proposed settlement in the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers’ lawsuit against Google Book Search, that is. If you’re a professional author, by which I mean one who counts on book sales and royalties… Continue reading »

I couldn’t get that Magnetic Fields song out of my head for about a week (thanks, Mark). Turns out that San Francisco can be all that pretty, no matter what Stephin Merritt says. That may explain why I enjoyed the 2008 Modern Language Association conference, held in SF Dec. 27-30, more than the 2007 gathering… Continue reading »

Beginning tomorrow, 10,000 literature scholars, more or less, descend on San Francisco for three days to hash out the latest (?) in lit-crit and the dismal job market. I get to cover it for the Chronicle. Wish me luck. If you happen to be there, drop me a note (jhowarddc AT gmail DOT com or… Continue reading »

One of the more intriguing things about the scholarly-communication beat–my official bailiwick at the Chronicle–is the ethnographic component. In other words, schol comm covers not just what scholars communicate (i.e., research) but how they communicate, and to whom. Why does one researcher go for an online-only journal while another is bound to print? How do… Continue reading »