Found via Marginal Revolution, this quote sums up the value of (essentially) blogging for yourself in academics:

But the Harvard economist [Dani Rodrik] finds the blog — short for Web log — useful because it serves as a reference catalog for his ideas. “I now constantly Google my own blog for ideas that I knew I had at some point,” he says. “Previously, the ideas would have come and gone. The first good thing is that I have them a little more developed, and, secondly, I can actually recover them.”

Every once in a while I run across a blog that says something like “sorry I haven’t been updating for a while”, which I think entirely misses the point. This blog is meant mostly for myself, as a reference tool for things and ideas I come across. A lot of people wouldn’t consider this to be a true blog because of the sometimes lengthy delays between posting, but the point is to support research in the areas I’m interested in, which can be pretty narrow admittedly.

Trendwatching.com has an interesting article up on what they call “Status Skills“, which they define as:

“In economies that increasingly depend on (and thus value) creative thinking and acting, well-known status symbols tied to owning and consuming goods and services will find worthy competition from ‘STATUS SKILLS’: those skills that consumers are mastering to make the most of those same goods and services, bringing them status by being good at something, and the story telling that comes with it.”

Examples illustrating this idea include BMW offering advanced rider courses, Apple computer offering daily tutorials that are apparently very popular with aspiring artists, or even cooking classes at the local food co-op. The idea is that people want knowledge they can use to increase their self-esteem and/or esteem among others.

I had a usability subject last fall who talked about her experiences with Facebook, and how she would spend hours each day on the site. She also mentioned that, at football games, etc., it wasn’t uncommon to overhear a student say something along the lines of “did you see that? That was perfect Facebook material.” She was talking, of course, about the art of taking the perfect picture of yourself for your profile. Knowing how to recognize the perfect picture, and being able to take that picture (or have it taken for you) is a definite status skill. And not a ephemeral status skill either, because I have the feeling (although not from direct experience) that for this current undergraduate generation, the Facebook experience has a direct impact on quality of life.

Another status skill currently evolving is the act of academic blogging. More on that later.

I think you can argue that academic libraries are long-time players in the status skills game. One look at any library’s list of finding aids and/or subject guides will show you that. Our mission is to enable generations of scholars, and that is nothing if not a status game built on the backs of hard working academics. So the question is, are academic libraries active or passive participants in this game?