*This post is shared from one of our graduate students (Ken Chitwood, PhD ’14), who recently led a seminar on “blogging like an academic” as part of our Digital Humanities 2015-2016 Seminars.
When I started blogging I had two readers: my mom and some random dude in Sweden. To say the least, I was a HUGE hit (with that said, my mom did read my posts multiple times, thus amplifying my stats. Thanks mom!). Several years, and multiple blog platforms, later my reach has expanded to include readership across the world and provided opportunities to speak regularly on real-world issues and impact opinions, discourse, and action concerning global Islam, Islam in the U.S., religion and popular culture, and religious literacy in general. It’s been humbling, to say the least.
As an academic — that is, someone who is actively engaged in the academic pursuit of religious studies — I feel that my role as a blogger has never been so important. I also believe that it has never been more pressing for more academics to be engaged with blogging.
**READ THE REST OF THE WHY, WHAT, AND HOW OF ACADEMIC BLOGGING HERE**