Speaking as a consumer of papers and blog posts rather than as a producer of them: in general there should be few papers that don’t also have blog posts.
Research papers, by explicit rule or unfortunate convention, are practically anti-communicative. Their goal is not to present an idea clearly and persuasively, but rather to present it authoritatively. This puts a lot of emphasis on displaying the amount of prior research, and virtually none on effectively communicating the concept, the methods, and the evidence. The only function a paper has, from my perspective, is to put the idea on the official record.
By contrast, a well-constructed blog is a superior communication instrument. The intuitions can be discussed in a way that more clearly matches the researcher’s thought process; different intuitive perspectives can be usefully compared and contrasted; media other than static images can be employed. There aren’t restrictions on the tools of analysis.
Surprisingly, that is mostly true in my experience. Good articles overcome the challenges of the medium to do both, but most articles are not good. As a beginner writer, conveying your ideas, evidence and why it is important is easier in blog form.
Speaking as a consumer of papers and blog posts rather than as a producer of them: in general there should be few papers that don’t also have blog posts.
Research papers, by explicit rule or unfortunate convention, are practically anti-communicative. Their goal is not to present an idea clearly and persuasively, but rather to present it authoritatively. This puts a lot of emphasis on displaying the amount of prior research, and virtually none on effectively communicating the concept, the methods, and the evidence. The only function a paper has, from my perspective, is to put the idea on the official record.
By contrast, a well-constructed blog is a superior communication instrument. The intuitions can be discussed in a way that more clearly matches the researcher’s thought process; different intuitive perspectives can be usefully compared and contrasted; media other than static images can be employed. There aren’t restrictions on the tools of analysis.
Surprisingly, that is mostly true in my experience. Good articles overcome the challenges of the medium to do both, but most articles are not good. As a beginner writer, conveying your ideas, evidence and why it is important is easier in blog form.
If that’s true, the field is broken.