I recently read this post on academics blogging anonymously and how this act is one of cowardice. I am positively one of those cowards and I don't think that's a good thing and I also agree with the article that blogging anonymously is going to limit my impact. But I'm going to continue the that I have been. To be re-assured that I am one of many anonymous bloggers is a bitter sweet fact. How are we ever going to affect change?
I think this is a symptom of a system that relies heavily on anonymity. The number of times I would have liked to connect with a blind reviewer of my work, or say thank you to the anonymous comments left by students on teaching evaluation reports are too many to count. I have spent the last seven years receiving mostly feedback from, well, anonymous. The only face to face feedback I receive is from coordinators or researchers who are too busy to invest the time to help me improve my work. Their feedback is simply 'good' (and probably a sigh of relied that they don't have to complete that task). I only work on very short term contracts and there is little motivation for my superiors to invest in my 'career.'
Other than agreeing with this author, I don't know what else I can say about blogging anonymously - I feel I have to stick to what I'm doing.
