Jennifer,
While my personal experience of academic customs and mores is somewhat
limited, I would say that what you're reacting to is actually simply a
carrying-over of urban academic "conversational" style to the web.
During my years in a Ph.D. program one of the things which turned me off
was the confrontational, rather than conversational, way in which ideas
and people are discussed. It frequently seemed to me that in a
colloquium the goal was not so much to understand the speaker's ideas as
to get points by putting him/her down in public as effectively (and often
offensively) as possible. Same for getting published - doing original,
good work is difficult (and sometimes hard to get accepted) whereas
attacking someone else, or an established idea, as destructively as
possible is an acceptable modus operandi.
There is a very thought-provoking popular book by Tannen called "The
Argument Culture," which talks about this "knee-jerk confrontationalism"
in many aspects of American life - academia as well as law, media, etc. -
and its dampening effect on constructive communication. I read it last
year and said, "Aha!"
Evidently Montana is a kindler, gentler and more mannerly place.
Comments, anyone? (I promise not to be too argumentative. :-)
Rachel Heckert
>I appreciate your candor and the courage of a few writers past that
> have asked, demanded that we use our words with caution. We are not
> face to face and lack all the other cues for how to understand each
other
> that > we would have in face to face dialogue.
>cut<
>I wonder why we need to be told this and why respect isn't automatic.
I understand that we are creating as we go "what respect looks like" on
a list serve. Still I wonder why it seems to be so difficult to
practice and master.
>cut<
>
> Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction
> Montana State University
> 120 Reid Hall, Department of Education
> Bozeman, MT 59717
> Office: (406) 994-6457
> Fax: (406) 994-3261
>
>
>
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