Chris MacDonald, who writes the business ethics blog, is also President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Practical Ethics. In his President’s Message [PDF link] he proclaims that reports of the death of the blog as an academic resource have been greatly exaggerated, and in fact calls for more, better blogs in ethics:
I think thoughtful ethics blogs by people with
training in ethics have the potential to be
incredibly useful. First, of course, a good blog is
a great way for readers in the business to keep
up with current events and current
controversies. Reading the AJOB blog is my
primary means of keeping in touch with events
in the world of bioethics, now that Ive shifted
most of my research to the world of business
ethics.Secondly, blogs can be useful teaching tools.
One friend tells me hes using my business
ethics blog as a source of up-to-the-minute
case-studies for discussion in one of his classes.
Of course, a blog will never provide the kind of
in-depth analysis and historical perspective that
a good case book does; but then again, case
books tend to be full of examples the Ford
Pinto, the Exxon Valdez that happened before
the current crop of undergrads was even born.Finally, I think high-quality ethics blogs make a
serious contribution to public discourse. A good
ethics blog doesnt just alert people to stories; a
good ethics blog should provide at least a little
educated insight. So, when a story pops up
about the dangers of videogames? Here are
the basics a few sentences of the ethics of
product safety. A story about accusations of
conflict of interest? Heres at least a definition of
the concept. I find I use my blog the way I use
media interviews: not as a chance to give indepth
analysis, but as an opportunity to give just
enough insight to raise the average educated
persons understanding of a given story one
notch, to show that there can be more than
knee-jerk moralizing when it comes to ethically
contentious issues.
Well no surprise that we agree, but this essay is not only worth reading, it is worth printing and giving to your luddite colleagues who still cannot figure out how an academic could possibly make responsible use of something that is also used by Wonkette.