Don’t try to make a career out of being a so-called thought leader

I am reposting what I wrote in the about section here in attempt to encourage others not to only write when they can pretend to be making a career out of it. This message is especially to researchers who I feel should open up everything they do as Open Access. We are seeing more and more academic texts have an Open Access companion eBook. That is some progress. However, I would strongly encourage strong writers not to try to be “thought leaders” as that is meaningless. To cite the specifically unnamed guide in Star Trek: Voyager’s “Sacred Ground” (1996), everything you see here is meaningless.

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If you are going to make a definitive statement, one you are willing to double down on, please explicate. You may not realize that you have a teachable moment. Take advantage of it.  We all have corners of ideas, ideas we jot down, but never get around to expanding on – however, clarifying those ideas and getting all that information out of your head is not that hard. There is only one secret to writing, only one secret to getting out seemingly complex ideas – – – you just sit down and start writing. Writing is not dependent on emotive experiences. That is the delusion that stops so many people from writing It is not true. Just sit and start.

And please share openly. That includes scholarship. Community building starts with sharing and starting a conversation. Closed access publishing looks good on a CV, but who does it help? So few. So few. Take advantage of what is left of the open internet. Open Access is the key to building an education model that can influence future practices in a very real way. Reform comes through practice. Practice comes from you. Share your best material openly. Evolution can happen.  Don’t try to make a career out of being a “public intellectual.” Just be public. Careerism is and has always been the practice of flakes.