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Agreed, very nicely put, Simon. Though it could still do with a direct answer to D Wood. Perhaps part of that answer would be about mapping social networks, rather than using the tree metaphor, and that a webmap might be dynamic in both its structure and representation. The potential utility could extend well beyond the hierarchy of people at places, to a tool that helps form collaborative networks. Of course the web as social network is both a means of contact and of surveillance, so it also has the potential to reify particular structures, or exclude those not suited to this sort of mapping. Incidentally, it's also interesting also that the discussion quickly sets out ego-centricity as a spatial quality. David Pamela Shurmer-Smith wrote: > Well said Simon. Universities without egocentrism, there's something > achievable for us to strive for. > > Pam > > Pamela Shurmer-Smith > Visiting Senior Fellow > National University of Singapore > > --- On *Sun, 28/9/08, Simon P J Batterbury /<[log in to unmask]>/* > wrote: > > From: Simon P J Batterbury <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: Academia.edu: 'tree' of academics launches > To: [log in to unmask] > Date: Sunday, 28 September, 2008, 1:15 AM > > > The more subtle point here is that we exist in social networks, and > Departments and Universities form part of that. > > It is my view that 'history of ideas' scholarship has focussed too > much on the productions of ideas, and not enough on the social > conditions of its production. > > Many of us, me included, don't learn as much from sitting reading > texts, blue-skies thinking, or lone fieldwork, as we do from talking > to others and forming research projects and ideas out of the latter. > This requires cooperative effort to then see them through. > > The history of geography, too, is often written as a series of > clever writers (from Hartshorne to David Harvey) who think up clever > ideas, and presented as their as personal work, emphasising its > 'difference' and 'distinctiveness' from other ideas. Yet the origins > of major developments in geography have been through sustained > group effort rather than lone researchers, often working in > Departmental networks. > Think of Clark or the Open University, both of which work as > cooperative Departments and in whch places many cooperative > endeavors have been started. > > Of course, the tenure and promotion system privileges individual > achievement (through numbers of 'sole authored papers' produced, > etc.) and this is particularly pronounced in the social sciences > (ironically). > > Conclusion: we are a diverse bunch, and a very important 'geography > of social networks' exists. It is fragile, and can also be > exclusionary of course. > In particular, it is worth pondering on why it is that some > Departments would rather have communally minded souls on staff, > capable of contributing to an entity - usually a Department - rather > than brilliant iconoclasts thinking of their next book, paper, or > promotion in relative isolation. It is partly about the social > sustainability of the shared enterprise. Yet we don't teach our PhD > students enough about networking and making contributions, rather > than how to stand out, and we continue to praise individual > brilliance in scholarship. > > > Dr. Simon Batterbury, Director, Graduate Environmental Program > Office of Environmental Programs, Building 143 (Natural Philosophy) > University of Melbourne, 3010 VIC Australia. > ** **+61 (03) 8344 5073 Fax: +61 (03) 8344 5650 > http://www.environment.unimelb.edu.au > <https://owa.unimelb.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.environment.unimelb.edu.au> > & > Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Resource Management and Geography, > (rm L2.33, 221 Bouverie St) +61 (0)3 8344 9319 Fax +61 (0)3 9349 4218 > > simonpjb@ unimelb.edu.au http://www.simonbatterbury.net > <https://owa.unimelb.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.simonbatterbury.net/> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* D F J Wood [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > *Sent:* Sat 9/27/2008 11:16 PM > *Subject:* Re: Academia.edu: 'tree' of academics launches > > Why? > > Is this some kind of egotistical device for personal branding / > marketing, or to 'place' yourself against other academics? A form of > consensual surveillance and subjectification? > > "My hope is that it will list every academic in the world"!!! > > -- 65D Oxford Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9ES 0121 242 1845