Here is a recorded talk given by the prolific Axel Bruns of QUT at the ATOM Conference 2006 (link). Like most somewhat commercially-orientated researchers, this researcher works in a very crowded field and his most potent contribution seems to be in teaching rather that definable original research. I.e. too much process orientation, and not enough context and content, and I can’t really see anything original and significant apart from Bruns changing the words to describe what is already pretty much well-known in main stream thought. And I am indifferent to his research networks; but this happens in research, even in small countries. Pockets of like-minded people appear that are hostile to alternative views, but luckily in crowded fields, they aren’t that difficult to go around (a small speed hump rather than a mountain). His recent book on blogs perhaps reveals what happens in crowded fields; researchers retreat into islands of like-minded people that lack fresh insight and the ability to explore significant other contributions beyond comfortable and predictable networks of ‘like minded’ people. I wonder if this is common in the academy and how it effects research output? Now there is a research proposal for you; a Randall Collins type enquiry into academic networks in crowded fields in Australia.
