In its postwar institutional infancy, American mass communication research badly needed a history. Communication study in the United States, jerry-rigged from journalism schools and speech departments in the years following World War II, has from the beginning suffered from a legitimacy deficit. This paper traces Wilbur Schramm’s self-conscious a…[Read more]

Academia.edu has been called “Facebook for academics,” and the analogy is fitting: Academia.edu mimics core social-media conventions, down to follower counts, curated profiles with pics, and a scrollable “News Feed” bulletin of followers’ uploads. But its reliance on user-facing metrics exceeds anything you’ll find on mainstream social media. It…[Read more]

Academia.edu has been called “Facebook for academics,” and the analogy is fitting: Academia.edu mimics core social-media conventions, down to follower counts, curated profiles with pics, and a scrollable “News Feed” bulletin of followers’ uploads. But its reliance on user-facing metrics exceeds anything you’ll find on mainstream social media. It…[Read more]

Much of the rhetoric around the future of scholarly communication hinges on the “open” label. In light of Elsevier’s recent acquisition of bepress and the announcement that, owing to high fees, an established mathematics journal’s editorial team will split from its publisher to start an open access alternative, Jefferson Pooley argues that the sch…[Read more]

Much of the rhetoric around the future of scholarly communication hinges on the “open” label. In light of Elsevier’s recent acquisition of bepress and the announcement that, owing to high fees, an established mathematics journal’s editorial team will split from its publisher to start an open access alternative, Jefferson Pooley argues that the sch…[Read more]

This reply to “The Curious Absence of Economic Analysis at the Federal Communications Commission” (Faulhaber, Singer, & Urschel, 2017) makes three claims. First, we document the paper’s undisclosed origins as a white paper commissioned by an advocacy group with deep ties to the telecommunications industry. Second, we describe two of the authors’…[Read more]

This reply to “The Curious Absence of Economic Analysis at the Federal Communications Commission” (Faulhaber, Singer, & Urschel, 2017) makes three claims. First, we document the paper’s undisclosed origins as a white paper commissioned by an advocacy group with deep ties to the telecommunications industry. Second, we describe two of the authors’…[Read more]

Given widespread labor market precarity, contemporary workers—especially those in the media and creative industries—are increasingly called upon to brand themselves. Academics, we contend, are experiencing a parallel pressure to engage in self-promotional practices, particularly as universities become progressively more market-driven. Aca…[Read more]

Given widespread labor market precarity, contemporary workers—especially those in the media and creative industries—are increasingly called upon to brand themselves. Academics, we contend, are experiencing a parallel pressure to engage in self-promotional practices, particularly as universities become progressively more market-driven. Aca…[Read more]

Given widespread labor market precarity, contemporary workers—especially those in the media and creative industries—are increasingly called upon to brand themselves. Academics, we contend, are experiencing a parallel pressure to engage in self-promotional practices, particularly as universities become progressively more market-driven. Aca…[Read more]

The Conversation—”academic rigour, journalistic flair”—is the leading example of a new, web-enabled mode of academic popularization: the impact platform. The nonprofit site’s unpaid scholar-writers, together with professional staff editors, produce dozens of short, image-filled dispatches every week day. In a crucial twist, each piece is released…[Read more]

The Conversation—”academic rigour, journalistic flair”—is the leading example of a new, web-enabled mode of academic popularization: the impact platform. The nonprofit site’s unpaid scholar-writers, together with professional staff editors, produce dozens of short, image-filled dispatches every week day. In a crucial twist, each piece is released…[Read more]