Yesterday I got to experience the thrill of the creative process conceptualizing a marketing plan for the symposium with two members of our marketing team. The goal of the meeting was to flesh out the meaning behind this year's theme, "Digital Scholarship and the Culture of Teaching and Learning." In the end we want three to five words or phrases that hit on what we're talking about to use in our promotions.
The exercise proved to be invigorating and cathartic. Invigorating because I could see the beginnings of a theme emerging; cathartic because the exercise forced me to articulate my thoughts on the subject. It's one thing to know something in one's mind and another to explain it to somebody else in a way that makes sense.
We started by defining a scholar as learned person. An individual who by intensive study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines. It's pretty much the boilerplate definition. The twist lay in the descriptive adjective preceding it. What does it mean to be a digital scholar? How is that different from being labeled a garden variety scholar?
I was able to talk around the subject for awhile with the help of some great questions and observations from the marketing folks until the moment of epiphany. A digital scholar is a global scholar. It is a person comfortable being a teacher, learner, researcher in the open and in real time.
For all it's talk of openness and the marketplace of ideas, traditionally the academy is really a very private place where folks work on their ideas in a veil of secrecy until they could be unveiled to the world. Eventually, the great majority of us become local experts in our particular area. Very few achieve national or international prominence.
Well, the ubiquitous nature of the Web changed all that. Conversations that used to take place around the water cooler now take place in blogs. Your tribe, or close circle of confidants, while still relatively small is now comprised of people primarily based on similar interest and not geography.
This raises a key differentiator and an issue that gives many scholars pause: the fact that the web is permanent. In other words, a conversation is words in the air left only to each person's memory, whereas a posting on the Web is there. Your words mark the either, they reside for others even those not in your tribe, to see.
This led us to a conversation about openness. A digital scholar works toward the idea of good openness. That is openness that fosters conversation amongst your tribe, helps to forward knowledge in your field, and helps to establish your reputation as a lead thinker in your area.
This is where being a digital scholar is advantageous. Thinking and conversing iteratively and in the open helps you establish professional relationships that traditionally did not happen until you arrived-that is published your prestigious paper, achieved a degree or some other mark of recognition.
The exercise proved to be invigorating and cathartic. Invigorating because I could see the beginnings of a theme emerging; cathartic because the exercise forced me to articulate my thoughts on the subject. It's one thing to know something in one's mind and another to explain it to somebody else in a way that makes sense.
We started by defining a scholar as learned person. An individual who by intensive study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines. It's pretty much the boilerplate definition. The twist lay in the descriptive adjective preceding it. What does it mean to be a digital scholar? How is that different from being labeled a garden variety scholar?
I was able to talk around the subject for awhile with the help of some great questions and observations from the marketing folks until the moment of epiphany. A digital scholar is a global scholar. It is a person comfortable being a teacher, learner, researcher in the open and in real time.
For all it's talk of openness and the marketplace of ideas, traditionally the academy is really a very private place where folks work on their ideas in a veil of secrecy until they could be unveiled to the world. Eventually, the great majority of us become local experts in our particular area. Very few achieve national or international prominence.
Well, the ubiquitous nature of the Web changed all that. Conversations that used to take place around the water cooler now take place in blogs. Your tribe, or close circle of confidants, while still relatively small is now comprised of people primarily based on similar interest and not geography.
This raises a key differentiator and an issue that gives many scholars pause: the fact that the web is permanent. In other words, a conversation is words in the air left only to each person's memory, whereas a posting on the Web is there. Your words mark the either, they reside for others even those not in your tribe, to see.
This led us to a conversation about openness. A digital scholar works toward the idea of good openness. That is openness that fosters conversation amongst your tribe, helps to forward knowledge in your field, and helps to establish your reputation as a lead thinker in your area.
This is where being a digital scholar is advantageous. Thinking and conversing iteratively and in the open helps you establish professional relationships that traditionally did not happen until you arrived-that is published your prestigious paper, achieved a degree or some other mark of recognition.
Interesting path to walk to come to your conclusion. I like the notions of global you are exploring ... here is my only follow up question (and I *think* I know the answer) ... are you defining "global" as an overall awareness of the space that the web has created, or are you thinking of global as the physical world? I am sure you it is the former. I find it interesting (if that is indeed how you are using global) that we continue to choose terms that reflect very physical infrastructure and space when talking about the overwhelming potential that the Internet has provided us with. I am also struck by this sentence, "A digital scholar works toward the idea of good openness." That is something I wouldn't mind exploring more with you over a cup of coffee.
Thanks for the reply. When I think of global and the web I think along two planes: one, how now your tribe can consist of people from all over the world. The Web overcomes limitations of geography. This leads into the notion of "space" and how the web really obliterates the notion as I knew it.
Good openness is something I'll be writing about more. It's been bubbling up in the back of my mind for awhile now, probably started when I began working with the TLAs on developing a professional web-presence. Coffee sounds great.