“What oft was thought but ne’er so well express’d”
Alexander Pope’s eighteenth century advice to writers — now known as content producers — has a new relevance for the Internet Age, although in the discussion that follows, a more exact phrasing match might be, “It’s already a meme, but (driven by FOMO) I need to re-tweet it too.”
Colleges and universities are already under attack for their cost, their student loan programs, their lack of diversity, their food services contracts, their grade inflation, their pampered clients, and their sports programs. More significantly, I believe, schools are losing an ability to matter, to influence things in the real world. If we are to change this, we academics must begin to rethink the arcane conventions that govern our way of being in this world. The traditional protocols of attribution, vetting, and credentialing have helped to preserve, protect, and maintain a closed and gated academic community. It may be safe, but it is also detached and, in many ways, infantilized and absurd.
