New syllabi: books, tests and blogspot?

Despite an audience of thousands, Linguistics professor Mark Liberman doesn't need a massive lecture hall.

All it takes is 45 minutes every morning in front of a MacBook and, voila, he has a linguistics lesson ready for the 10,000 readers of his blog, Language Log.

Along with at least 1,000 other scholars, Liberman is part of a recent trend of professors delving into a new, informal aspect of academia: the blog.

With subjects ranging from the evolution debate to library science, professors say blogs allow for a more immediate, interactive relationship with other academics, as controversial arguments can attract thousands of responses within hours. A popular comparison made by bloggers is to the 17th Century's Republic of Letters, when letters debating new ideas flowed across Europe from philosopher to philosopher.

"It has this sense of immediacy," said Political Science professor Jeff Weintraub, who regularly updates his self-titled blog on political current events. "You occasionally have this sense that you're able to influence larger debates."

Liberman said that, while his main focus is still on formal research, blogs are becoming an influential part of the academic dialogue and an important way for academics to discuss unpolished ideas.

"The most important thing for me is to get ideas out there instead of having them stagnate," he said.

In recent years, Language Log posts have generated interest for his classes at Penn and have provided reading material for linguistics classes in general. Liberman's musings have also served as inspiration for more serious research, garnering a citation in Science magazine.

Several universities have even begun to institutionalize the process. Princeton University provides technical support and hosting for anyone who wishes to blog, and many schools, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have admissions-officer blogs.

Last year, Penn started asking incoming freshmen to blog about their academic goals before meeting with their advisors for the first time.

Still, while blogging has certainly seeped into university life, many professors are leery of expressing themselves in such an informal manner.

George Washington University political-science professor Henry Farrell, who runs a political blog called Crooked Timber, said some professors worry about if their often very opinionated blogs will unduly influence students or damage their academic reputation.

But for most blogging professors, their posts can serve as fun relief from stodgy academic writing. On Language Log, recent entries have included an analysis of teens using the word 'evs' on MySpace; comments on Miss South Carolina's awkward answer to a flawed question; and, yesterday, an announcement of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Wharton senior Nat Turner said he thinks blogging can be a great teaching tool, and he wishes more professors would do it. "There are a lot of professors whose blogs I would love to read," he said.

And as professor blogs continue to grow, academics say the idea it to keep it fun.

"My rule is to never do it if it feels like work," Liberman said.

Some other professors and graduate students who run academic blogs:

Kevin Werbach, Legal Studies

Nathan Ensmenger, Science Technology and Society

Erin O'Connor, English

Fernando Pereira, Computer Science

Daniel Drucker, Graduate Student in Psychology

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