Blogs in Engineering Research
There are many sage reasons why the graduate student should avoid writing blogs. This advice is doubly applicable to graduate students in the sciences and engineering--that is if we consider the prevalent political and personal blog format to be the model under consideration. In this regard, I would certainly agree with Drezner (in thought if not in deed). That said there are a number of strong reasons why academics should actively promote the blog format in the engineering sciences.We in engineering are empiricists by nature. While all engineering fields require greater and greater theoretical backgrounds to make progress, we draw the line between ourselves and applied mathematicians and other scientists over the issue of where we prefer to acquire newfound knowledge. Our criterion of merit is whether or not an idea works in practice. Ergo, the most direct source of discovery is from trial and error. The downside of this method is that we often repeat the very same experiments that others have performed--hopefully with the same results. Wouldn't it be more efficient if we could capture this information while at the same time allowing others to inform us if they have already done something similar? Unfortunately, a failed experiment (or a new one) can rarely be found through a search of archival publications nor can we often afford to wait for the next conference or symposium.
Another problem for the engineer is that he is prone to lose information in the process of research. Once the whiteboard is erased, it is erased. We spend an inordinate amount of time preparing weekly meeting reports, proposals, project reports, etc. that are soon lost to the dustbin or a maze of directories once the immediate purpose of the work is completed. There was a time when researchers kept notebooks to record their daily progress. The time-ordering of the work was important to overcome the tendency of the researcher to lose track of how he arrived at a particular solution and what problems he faced in the process. This is useful information that ought to be preserved in an accessible format.
Finally, ( it may be treason to let this secret out), engineers create useful products not just for the betterment of mankind, but principally to satisfy their egos. We are not too different from the hunters that drag back the largest game to the prehistoric campfire (which might also be a reason why engineering tends to be male-dominated). We compete against each other for public acclaim.
The blog format satisfies all of the issues I have outlined: community, discovery, and competition. For these reasons I would recommend that the innovative professor give some serious consideration to this unique capacity for research efficiency.
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Linked to: Basil's Blog: Supper 7/27/2005
posted by deignan @ 4:39 PM
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