Recently, I started working with Substack again after a long hiatus. Truly I got bored during the data collection period and wanted to find a way to distribute the findings of my research, but I never got around to it. However, here in 2023, I decided I needed to pick it back up and did so under the guise of researching new platforms for my students who will be diving into the digital space. Indeed a lot has changed since I started researching all of this at the height of the pandemic, dissertation doldrums, and hurried mental aerobics.
Diving back into it today, I’m truly blown away at all the present features. In the current landscape of shaky grounds, digitally and socially speaking, it was interesting to see that Substack offers a lot of digital space for its users. Its new addition in Notes, feels very much like a Twitter for adults, and the ability to have subsections of a blog is amazing for those of us that have too many thoughts to have them all placed under one banner.
Hence, my first post in a very relevant section is about the merits of new technology in guiding conversations in the waxing 21st century. All mediums will change and fall out of fashion, but it is always good to adjust writing styles and dissemination based on changes as long as they offer benefits. Blogs for a very long time felt stale, dated, and disconnected, but with the rising tide of communities that are becoming more niche and focused, Substack brings a lot to the game, particularly for those in the field of education.
Talking with a colleague the other day at a networking event, we broached the topic of finding new spaces to have academic conversations on the Internet. The old space of academic Twitter was a fun place for its time, but over the years and with the recent uncertainty with the app, it has forced people to rethink their digital home. Many teachers used Twitter as a place to engage in ideas with students, the community, and each other. It was a fantastically cheap networking tool.
In many ways, substack takes the role of several functions that academics would use in their digital home. Academics are considering different dissemination strategies, or at least this one is, and what that looks like in the realm of stretching research to larger audiences. Particularly in education, the social sciences, and the humanities, reaching the public is critical to engaging research.
What substack offers that is intriguing to me as someone who wears a lot of hats is the ability to be flexible in the space. From writing blogs, sectioning them out, starting discussions, posting Notes in a Twitter-style thread, chatting, and finally sharing podcasts, it seems that Substack offers a whole ecosystem to academics who want to collaborate and find their voice.
In many ways, these features meet the needs that my colleague and I were discussing the other day. The need to have an ecosystem where we can build a following and have meaningful discussions but not have closed-off groups that have no connection with the outside. The walls with substack are more hedges that delineate the property line, but not walled gardens that cannot be explored. The balance between community development and broader content delivery can be achieved with Substack, if there’s enough momentum.
Over the next few months, I want to start experimenting in the space by writing posts, discussions, notes, and hosting chats. I’m hoping by doing this, I can create some momentum for myself, and also find a new way to bridge the gap between academics and content creators. Also, let’s be so for real and admit it’s an excuse for me to write again.