I've argued before for a Bloggers' Caucus at the AHA to push for more recognition of history blogging as a vital scholarly endeavor deserving of favorable consideration during the hiring and tenure processes. It seems to me the interest group setup would be ideal for such a caucus; bloggers could constitute themselves as a pressure group within the AHA while also sponsoring affiliated panels, lunches, and awards at the conference to promote blogging as scholarship.
All we'd need to get started is an organizer. I nominate Ralph Luker, Jonathan Dresner, or Claire Potter for the position.
Labels: AHA, Jeremy Young
Jonathan Dresner on 3/15/2010 3:45 PM:
Apparently Mr. Young is unaware of my history of failed leadership in history blogging projects.
Seriously, though, the AHA has set the bar fairly high: We'd need fifty petition signers, and a stable dues-paying (of which the AHA keeps a cut!) membership of 100+ within two years. I don't doubt that there are ten times that many history bloggers, probably a third to a half of whom are AHA members (pure guesswork, by the way; feel free to dispute that estimate with actual data), but attracting and sustaining membership when it costs money is a challenge.
We would also need bylaws and executive leadership -- some kind of governing council and a financial officer, to manage our dues.
The upside would be never having to wonder if there was going to be a blogger meet-up at the AHA, or a blogging panel: IGs get one panel per hundred members and meeting space (at which, I'm afraid, official business is supposed to be conducted, though the guidelines say nothing about sobriety).
Count me in. Great idea.