i. I think the answer lies somewhere between "If we want to we'll find a way" and "Oh noes, we can't do it without institutional support" (Xgau's comment back in WMS #4 about the late '80s lacking the socioeconomic "slack" of the '60s might be relevant here; marginal lumpen intellectuals need something to feed off of (though I don't know if Xgau's decade examples are right, and I thought it was strange that in 1988 Xgau believed the pressure to earn a living was the most severe since the Great Depression, given that early '80s and early '70s had been worse)), but I lean strongly towards "If they want to they'll find a way" ii. This is probably the crux, though... iii. ...this is of course a big problem but... iii.a. ...while some people simply lack the skill and never will get it, I think others who currently lack the skill have never seen it modeled for them, or anyway haven't connected to the model or seen intellectual exertion and interchange as potentially fun
[I'm bracketing the "all-access drama in real time" question for the time being, along with the "new media" question, though I certainly think that open-access and real-time can be tools for overcoming built-in flaws of academia. ("Open access" and "real time" are actually two independent characteristics; notice that I changed the terminology from "all access" to "open access," the latter being a better way to express the idea of, say, the Department Of Dilettante Research's existing in an open space; e.g., a discussion taking place in English can be open access but in practice it's not all access, since it will likely exclude people who don't know English.) A discussion would certainly point to successful communication, or creative miscommunication, rather than concentrating on failure, but the question would be how to extrapolate from the successes.]
Re: OH MY FUR AND WHISKERS <-- as per usual
ii. This is probably the crux, though...
iii. ...this is of course a big problem but...
iii.a. ...while some people simply lack the skill and never will get it, I think others who currently lack the skill have never seen it modeled for them, or anyway haven't connected to the model or seen intellectual exertion and interchange as potentially fun
[I'm bracketing the "all-access drama in real time" question for the time being, along with the "new media" question, though I certainly think that open-access and real-time can be tools for overcoming built-in flaws of academia. ("Open access" and "real time" are actually two independent characteristics; notice that I changed the terminology from "all access" to "open access," the latter being a better way to express the idea of, say, the Department Of Dilettante Research's existing in an open space; e.g., a discussion taking place in English can be open access but in practice it's not all access, since it will likely exclude people who don't know English.) A discussion would certainly point to successful communication, or creative miscommunication, rather than concentrating on failure, but the question would be how to extrapolate from the successes.]