Osler's Razor

Way back in the 1980's, my own law professors were a brilliant bunch, and many of them were advocates for important causes.

When a political development would arise, they would begin to research a scholarly paper. Several months later, that paper would be completed and submitted to journals, which would then print it another several months hence. It would be read in hard copy form by a few hundred people, maybe a thousand, and then would ripple across the academy for years-- through academic conferences, say, or in the class discussions of law students, or even in legislative bodies.

That process still exists, of course, and I participate in it. Just a week ago, I gave a scholarly (more or less) talk at an academic conference at Valparaiso, for example, and currently have no less than six scholarly articles and book chapters forthcoming. It is still an important and engaging form of discourse.

A parallel track has also developed, though-- we academics have a variety of outlets in new media, and many of us use it. For example, the talk I gave at Valparaiso was the root of the article I wrote for CNN that appeared on Tuesday. That piece got 10,000 facebook recommendations and 3500 comments in just 24 hours-- meaning hundreds of thousands of people read it. It's a big audience, but a different audience than the one I addressed at Valpo, where I was speaking largely to experts and could explain things in a way that assumed that expertise.

How do we get to them? The same way everyone else does-- by writing in an available format, then networking it through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. Should we, though? I think so, for the simple reason that if we are saying something should change, we should put that message before the public. It's important, too, that sometimes we speak to people other than our fellow academics-- find a way to make a compelling presentation that will hold the attention of people who are not specialists, at least if we hope to create change.

One is not replacing the other; rather, they work well together. It's a brave new world, and I like it.