I just had a very interesting conversation with an elder relative. He was worried that perhaps, I write a bit too much on this blog about things that I should be "reserved about." His advice is well taken. I am sure different people have different views about how much they like to tell others about themselves - for example, if you are on Facebook, on one hand, you might have friends who share very little about their personal lives and a lot about their political and philosophical views, while on the other hand, some will even share pictures of their feet after a pedicure!
In the academic blogging world, there are many who write very frankly about their daily lives (both personal and professional), but take great care to hide their identity. I realised soon that anonymity was not really an option, given the kind of posts I was writing. I wanted to give an account of what I feel as a young academic here, and that means writing about new science institutes, Mathematics, balancing teaching/research with admin duties, experiences specific to women - so, given our small community, that pretty much rules out anonymity.
But, even with the real identity, I do not feel the need to be too reserved.
I know of bloggers who have had to either turn off commenting on their blogs or do not allow anonymous commenting. But, this blog does not require that kind of moderation. The Indian academic blogging community is mostly friendly and cool (or possibly does not not care that much) about the kind of things I write [1]. I have never had to think about closing down the comments due to any large scale trolling.
My only negative experience was when an idiot kept putting up comments repeatedly on a post I wrote on my two-body problem. His/her comments were more in the nature of personal attacks and added nothing of value to the post. But after getting deleted a few times, this stopped.
Perhaps, my relative was concerned that I would be judged for the things I write here, or by revealing too much about myself, I would give others a chance to attack me on perceived weaknesses. These are valid concerns from his point of view, and I have had a few negative experiences, in which I felt that personal considerations like my marital status were unnecessarily brought into professional matters. But in all these cases, the offenders were not reading this blog. Overall, this is not something I worry about. If someone wants to be judgmental or find reasons to attack someone else, they would do it anyways, blog or not. If I can just learn to stay away from such people, both professionally and personally, why worry?
The blog just gives me a chance to vent. Sometimes, writing things down can also reveal a wholly different perspective from one offered by muddled up thoughts in the mind.
Questions for readers:
1) While interacting with colleagues, is keeping your personal life away from such interactions of importance to you?
2) If you write blogs, do you have rules about what you would be uncomfortable writing about? If you retain anonymity, does it make writing more comfortable for you?
[1] There is much more intensity in discussion about politics. For example, see the comments to this post by Rahul Siddharthan. As you can see, people can get really offensive and defensive.
In the academic blogging world, there are many who write very frankly about their daily lives (both personal and professional), but take great care to hide their identity. I realised soon that anonymity was not really an option, given the kind of posts I was writing. I wanted to give an account of what I feel as a young academic here, and that means writing about new science institutes, Mathematics, balancing teaching/research with admin duties, experiences specific to women - so, given our small community, that pretty much rules out anonymity.
But, even with the real identity, I do not feel the need to be too reserved.
I know of bloggers who have had to either turn off commenting on their blogs or do not allow anonymous commenting. But, this blog does not require that kind of moderation. The Indian academic blogging community is mostly friendly and cool (or possibly does not not care that much) about the kind of things I write [1]. I have never had to think about closing down the comments due to any large scale trolling.
My only negative experience was when an idiot kept putting up comments repeatedly on a post I wrote on my two-body problem. His/her comments were more in the nature of personal attacks and added nothing of value to the post. But after getting deleted a few times, this stopped.
Perhaps, my relative was concerned that I would be judged for the things I write here, or by revealing too much about myself, I would give others a chance to attack me on perceived weaknesses. These are valid concerns from his point of view, and I have had a few negative experiences, in which I felt that personal considerations like my marital status were unnecessarily brought into professional matters. But in all these cases, the offenders were not reading this blog. Overall, this is not something I worry about. If someone wants to be judgmental or find reasons to attack someone else, they would do it anyways, blog or not. If I can just learn to stay away from such people, both professionally and personally, why worry?
The blog just gives me a chance to vent. Sometimes, writing things down can also reveal a wholly different perspective from one offered by muddled up thoughts in the mind.
Questions for readers:
1) While interacting with colleagues, is keeping your personal life away from such interactions of importance to you?
2) If you write blogs, do you have rules about what you would be uncomfortable writing about? If you retain anonymity, does it make writing more comfortable for you?
[1] There is much more intensity in discussion about politics. For example, see the comments to this post by Rahul Siddharthan. As you can see, people can get really offensive and defensive.
9 comments:
I do like to maintain a slight anonymity about my personal life while discussions with colleagues. But I think that is more of a result of my internal insecurities than something with a substantial basis. I'm a male with a two-body situation (both postdocs) and I feel that too much revelation may somehow jeopardise our career options.
Nevertheless, I must say that with the kind of posts you put up here, it makes easier for prospective new faculty like me to understand the situation in a much better way. Thanks for this :)
I agree with your assertion that anonymity isn't an option when blogging in Indian academia. I'm a reader of your blog since you started, and after 5-6 posts, it wasn't a tough job to guess your identity :)
-PS
PS :) Thanks for the feedback. By the way, I can understand why you would prefer not to discuss the two-body situation. In my case, I am not as worried about prospects as about awkwardness. For example, at an institute where I was once visiting, the director asked me how I would solve the problem, since "IISc does not hire couples". I made the mistake of not changing the topic immediately. I just said that I don't care since I already have a very good job and then got a long lecture from him about how "Indian infrastructure" does not support these kind of relationships and how it would be difficult to raise children. He then looked at another colleague sitting next to me and asked her to convince me that I should be serious about this issue - the conversation did not go well at all from there. So, if you visit institutes, be prepared to handle such conversations, although not at IISER Pune where people don't randomly start lecturing strangers :)
In general one should not be uncomfortable writing blogs or sharing links related to anything. Indian academia provides us with the kind of security that one can feel completely free while venting themselves out on the social media.
That said, there is distinct style that one should follow while commenting on potentially controversial topics, be it related to policies or politics. You have mastered the art of writing blogs and can routinely talk about "controversial" or "personal" issues, without generating any heat from the readers.
Unfortunately not everyone in the Indian blogging community is so well endowed. Rahul Siddharthan and Abi write controversial blog posts in a vicious tone, while dismissing the other side completely. No wonder they get nasty comments from the readers.
You should keep on writing in this blog. I really look forward to your posts :)
Anon @ 7.30 pm, I don't think that either of them writes viciously at all. Abi's blog usually links to different articles on the same issue expressing different opinions. But, issues related to policies and politics are often those about which people have very strong views, one way or the other. About such issues, I have noticed readers who hold contrary viewpoints making very direct attacks on the writers, but both these blogs are pretty gracious about publishing these comments (much more than me). Anyways, I am sure it would be best to restrict discussion here to this blog and not other blogs.
I am very circumspect while posting stuff on my blog. I definitely never post anything political. And I am very careful with my choice of words and expressions when I am writing about Indian academia/research. all this care is of course out of my scepticism about how secure and tolerant to criticism the powers-that-be in Indian academia are. and also the fact that I am a postdoc who will soon be fighting for a faculty position in India. so, a lot of the time I just end up writing stuff and leaving it in the drafts.
On a separate note, reading your insider accounts about life at IISERs somehow assures me that all is not lost with the academia in India and good things might after all happen. keep them coming and best wishes.
Madhavan, many of my posts also remain in the drafts :) I really enjoy reading your blog: it is like reading ground reports of our academic ecosystem from someone who can really explain it well. The name of the blog is also very cool :) By the way, was your blog also anonymous in the beginning?
oh yes, I did start off anonymous. Mostly because I did not want anyone "important" to take any of my views personally and get offended. Then one day I was like, I shouldn't have to wear a mask to say what I feel like saying. If someone is hypersensitive, it is their problem. And I came out :)
Hi Kaneenika, I don't think I commented here since you "de-anonymized." The blog has developed nicely, you write in a very nice soothing voice. A nice mix of somewhat personal and professional.
I continue to write anonymously, although the pseudonym has changed. I admire people who write under their own name. Honestly, I think the Internet is a scary place and don't want any of my musings to be connected to my real-life persona. I am also not on Facebook or Twitter. So I am a pretty conservative user of the web, I suppose.
The pseudonym enables me to write what's on my mind.
Anyway, just dropping by to say 'hi' and keep up the good work!
Hi GMP, Thanks for dropping by and for your comment. I love your blog just the way it is and many of us are really happy that you continued to blog at Xykademiqz after Academic Jungle. It is really nice to have a very frank account of your experiences with publishing, grant proposal, supervising students and work-life balance, that says it like it is. So, if you feel that it is better to write it anonymously, I am all for it.
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