As an art enthusiast, I find it somewhat discouraging that scholarly articles in such fields as philosophy, literature, film and history of art, despite the prestige and the significance usually associated with them, are scarcely received by the general public. I believe, as scholars in any field, scientific or artistic, we should find more effective platforms, other than periodic academic journals, to give vent to our insights. I wish to know if anyone has had the same feeling or concern in his/her field of study and, if so, what strategies one can use to overcome the barriers to presenting scholarly work as tuned to the general taste.
Thank you everyone.
A key issue is that most academic journals are pay-walled and not accessible by the general public unless they pay a ridiculous amount. There is an open access movement which is trying to address this. There are other spaces, such as Medium, which enables individuals to publish. Or you could try hosted blogs such as wordpress.com, or even host a blog yourself. Of course there's a matter of what audience academic works seeks to address. I suspect a lot of this work would not be appealing as it employs specialist language and concepts.
An additional problem is one of language. In order to engage a more general public, you have to be understood. And much of accademia tends to tie itself up in knots by using very field specif words, expressions or phrase. Worse, at times they will use words with a different meaning from that which is understood byt the general readr, thus creating confusions.
finally, it becomes necessary to find how cutting edge research blends into the genral cultural landscape. Using a blog or, more generic platforms and venues is very useful if it forces researchers outwards.
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