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March 1998, Week 1

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From:
Ina Bertrand <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Mon, 2 Mar 1998 12:11:47 +1100
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As a journal editor, I find this exchange very disturbing. I know that
my own practice is to send articles for reviewing to people that I
expect will be interested in the topic and supportive of the approach -
I am not trying to weed out contributions by directing them to
unsympathetic readers. However, I have two problems that complicate this
scenario:
i) Although our journal is new and there has not yet been a rush of
contributions, I am already having trouble in finding enough readers.
Curtness may be as much a response to having been asked once too often,
as much as to the article itself.
ii) If I do not entirely agree with a reader's response, or consider it
too harsh, I have been known to edit it before forwarding it. But that
requires finding extra time to be tactful, and time is one thing I can
ill afford to be generous about.
 
I think part of the reason for the phenomenon described is the change in
university culture under the pressures of economic rationalism. We are
all so rushed and so stressed - and often also so insecure in tenure -
that the old `gift culture' that kept the whole intellectual enterprise
afloat is in danger of disappearing. Once, we would assess theses, or
write references for students or colleagues, or advise someone else's
students, because others had done this for us as we needed it. But in a
climate where we are required to do more and more with less and less,
and our employers measure our performance very narrowly (in terms of
students taught and papaers published in refereed journals), these more
peripheral obligations are the first to be abandoned as the pressure
increases. Ordinary courtesy is also a luxury under these circumstances.
 
Anyway, you may like to check out our journal at the URL below. We ARE
looking for contributions, they WILL be taken seriously and you will be
treated courteously even if the decision goes against you.
 
I would also like to hear from people willing to be readers: just send
your areas of interest and a brief CV to the journal's email address.
 
I am trying hard not to lose faith in academic culture, and I certainly
hope that the newer members of the academic community can ride out this
(surely temporary!!!) phenomenon.
 
Ina Bertrand
--
(Dr) Ina Bertrand
Media Studies, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia 3083
[log in to unmask]
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/screeningthepast/
 
----
Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite

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