[Air-L] Credentials

[Bradley, Robert]

this is indeed a valuable part of this listserv, this vertically horizontal exchange: I would have it any other way.

i have always read this resource, have used it a few times, but have always very much appreciated the community from afar.

i hope there are many others like me and i doff the chapeau to those. 

when i have used my credentials, as i am now, it has been a conscious attempt to establish context with those who cleave to credentials-mind.

while i don't ascribe to that, i acknowledge it to be a part of the context of this area of interest.

from henceforth, i will remove my credentials from any subsequent correspondence, which will be more frequent in the future with the announced of DMSC Governor's Challenge 4.0 Fall 2010.

the dmsc govchal 4.0 uses this same kind of openness to extend resources for capacity building to non- and for-profit stakeholders.

Winners from 3.0 can be accessed at www.tnsandbox.com

we are working with the UGA listserv s work on Project Managment as platform for the Challenge 4.0, which moves from the follow guided system design:

1. research/production/publication
2. assessment
3. analytics
4. report/marketing/recruitment

if interested, please contact me at below.

All best in the best of all possible worlds,

bob

Robert R. Bradley
Director of Technology Integration
Communication and Information Technologies
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Parkway
Nashville, TN 37209
cell: 615.579.7446
fax: 615.963.1371
rbradley at tnstate.edu

Think. Work. Serve.

www.tnsandbox.com
________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Alex Halavais [alex at halavais.net]
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:53 AM
To: air-l at aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Credentials

I am sympathetic to the idea that we should be "named" in our posting
to AIR-L. In fact, it's part of the expectations of the list:
http://aoir.org/?page_id=3 .

And for those who wish to self-identify ("Hello, I'm Alex, and I have
a doctorate..."), I see no harm in that. I choose not to for a few
reasons.

First, I'm not sure precisely what the credential means in my own
case, let alone others' cases. Surely, not all Ph.D. granting
institutions are of similar stature--should we also be saying where we
graduated from, and in what field? Do Sociology Ph.D.s hold more sway
than humble Communication Ph.D.s? What were our field exams, and how
did we do? Does the fact that I hold no high school degree diminish my
credibility?

I'm reminded of Bernays on Letterman (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6hH3roMe4w ). My hope is that I can be
convincing enough without those three letters.

Second, I consider all of you--approaching 2,000--colleagues. I was
lucky enough to be considered the same by some of the eminent members
of this list before I completed my doctorate, and so I want to do the
same for those who are starting out in their own studies. For me, the
use of titles in this context creates an unnecessary social distance.

Again, to each their own, and if you choose to put your affiliations
and credentials in your .sig, more power to you. But I wouldn't want
it to become an expectation.

Alex Halavais
Person of Interest, Man About Town, Perpetual Student, Neophyte Baker,
and Sometime Bamboo Fancier
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