More on the academic value of blogging

I really appreciate Dan's and Doug's posts on "academic blogging."  This point of Dan's struck me as worth repeating and emphasizing:

Finally, there are some other benefits that blogging brings to one’s academic career.  Through blogging, I’ve met a number of other academics whom I wouldn’t have met otherwise.  Blogging has allowed me to think about some issues that I might not have thought about otherwise.  These were issues where I wasn’t going to write an article about anytime soon, but I had an idea about that I wanted to flesh out to a limited degree.  Blogging has enabled me, when I’m focusing heavily on the papers or books I’m working on, to avoid neglecting issues that I should be keeping up with or at least thinking about to some degree.  These benefits don’t readily fit on a resume or on a tenure application, but they are benefits that can assist in one’s development as a scholar. 

I think this is dead-on.  My work -- and, more broadly, my life as a teacher, scholar, and lawyer -- has been greatly enriched by those I've "met" and "conversed" with in the blogosphere.  To pick just one out of many possible examples:  Professor Don Herzog contributes to an interesting blog called "Left2Right."  He also wrote a really good book -- one that had a big influence on me in law school -- called "Happy Slaves:  A Critique of Consent Theory," from which I borrowed shamelessly (but with attribution!) in my first published article.  We've never met, so far as I know.  After reading one of his posts, though, I sent him a note, and mentioned "Happy Slaves," and we went back and forth a few times, sharing views.  He was wonderfully genial and generous, and I really enjoyed the exchange.  But for "academic blogging," who knows if this (or many other) such exchanges would have ever happened?

Rick