In lieu of....
07 12, 14 10:09 Filed in: About the Site
Today I launch my second effort at blogging and puts an end to the long dormant “accountabilitybloke” blog that still resides on my server. Dating from at least November 2004 when I was located at Queen’s University, Belfast as a Fulbright fellow, it provided me the opportunity to comment and vent on a variety of topics three or more times a week during my time in Northern Ireland, but slowly became “intermittent” when I returned to the US and became preoccupied with my administrative work at the University of New Hampshire. By the time my schedule returned to something resembling normal, Twitter, Facebook and other social media became the venue of choice to make comments — and so the original site became a maintenance chore rather than point for comment. Inactivity meant I lost the few followers I had developed during the active period, although the weekly “statcounter” reports indicate a dozen or so folks who seem to check in every week.
So why get back to blogging? In part, this blog will serve as a platform for my thoughts on a range of issues and events that trigger my sense of indignation — and there are many — that cannot be expressed effectively in 140 characters or even a Facebook or Google+ posts or comments.
So why get back to blogging? In part, this blog will serve as a platform for my thoughts on a range of issues and events that trigger my sense of indignation — and there are many — that cannot be expressed effectively in 140 characters or even a Facebook or Google+ posts or comments.
But the major incentive for starting the blog at this moment is the forthcoming publication of American Government: Myths & Realities (11th edition) which (we are promised) will have a more active companion website by January, 2015. I hope to use postings on this blog as an initial draft for those that might eventually make it to that website — in a sense, to “test” the ideas and views expressed on the wide range of topics we cover in that edition. My co-authors, Alan Gitelson and Robert Dudley, will be posting at the textbook website as well, and since they do not maintain their own blogs (as far as I know), I hope they will use this blog as guest contributors for “drafts” if the need arises.
Finally, there are times while reading or writing a scholarly paper — or as I mull things over in the dark just before rising — when I have the urge to scribble notes or ideas that demand some follow up for further development. The problem is that a few hours later I can hardly recall the idea or why in the world I thought it was important enough to be pursued. This blog site will (at times, and perhaps temporarily) serve as the “scratch pad” for such ideas. For those “dribs”, I hope the few friends and colleagues who chose to follow this blog will offer comments and reactions….
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