Models for Academic Communities of Dissertators, Part Two

Like the early modern period (see previous post), our own era has one or two helpful models of community that could be applied to dissertators as well. Here they are:

• Twitter. I love Twitter. It forces me to think in small units (i.e., units smaller than dissertation chapters). And then it lets me share those small units with other people, who actually--improbable as it may sound--are also interested in Ben Jonson's birthday. There are two benefits here: 1) the forging of a larger scholarly community, through direct interpersonal interaction, and 2) the production of a  record of these interactions. So I can go back through my tweets and remember when Ben Jonson's birthday was, and who else is interested. Twitter is great.
• Facebook. Also useful, but less professionalizable than Twitter. It still produces a record of interaction, though, and provides almost instant access to my local team of Latin language experts. (Salve, guys!) For that alone, Facebook is invaluable. But slightly less cool than...

• The Borg. Wouldn't that be fabulous? Borg-ness would be particularly helpful while teaching. Instead of saying "Well, Billy, I'll have to look that up and get back to you by e-mail," you could say "Fabulous question, Willliam. According to my colleague in the history of science, that happened in 1625. On a Tuesday."

So there we have it. Early modern and modern models of community, for folks who stare at laptops most of the time.