The Past Discussed Quarterly

The Ancient World Bloggers Group has announced the publication of a new journal. The Past Discussed Quarterly (PDQ) is a serious answer to those who have been uncomfortable recognizing digital scholarship in the absence of peer review. The quarterly will “provide a bridge between bloggers in the broadest sense and non-blogging academics.” The publication does not seek to replace traditional academic journals; instead it will provide both a peer reviewed publication of record for such scholarship and a reference point for citing blog discussions in other scholarship. The resulting journal issues will be freely available as a .PDF under a Creative Commons license. The Past Discussed Quarterly will also address the question of archiving these blog essays.

Although the parameters have not been fully developed, The Past Discussed Quarterly will focus on ancient history. Salt proposes, “anything pre-Renaissance world-wide would be a reasonable range, plus the effects of the ancient world on the modern, like Classical reception.”

The Past Discussed Quarterly will recognize those who blog as an alternative or supplement to traditional articles because they are committed to public access, collaboration, and open discussion. Blog carnivals, like the History Carnival have met some of this need in the past by bringing together and highlighting some of the best of the Web in a given field. The Cliopatria Awards also recognize excellent commentaries by historians. “Blogs are fast, eclectic and interactive. That last point in particular is important . . . What matters is the writing interesting. The blogs I read take the same view; it’s not the status of the individual, but the argument that matters. That critical approach should be the spirit of academic inquiry.” Shawn Graham of Electronic Archaeology: Digital Media for Learning and Research writes, “I believe that academic blogs should be regarded by the rest of the academy as a legitimate scholarly pursuit, and there is potential here for a new kind of publishing that bridges blogs and journals.”

Bill Caraher, The Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, raises a potential issue in regards to blending the blog and professional publications: “My only concern, and it’s a vague one at present, is that as we push blogs toward more recognizable forms of scholarly output — books, peer reviewed works, even the various forms of copyrighting — is that we slowly eat away at the things that make blogs distinct as a medium and a genre.”

Lulu.com provides a low-cost print version for those who are more comfortable with print scholarship. Given debates about whether peer reviewed, print scholarship about history education is in fact a “publication,” The Past Discussed Quarterly probably won’t make much difference for some academics.