This is the 6 month point in the “run a research blog” experiment, so it seems like a good point to take stock and assess.
One fundamental question is: “Is it worth it?” The idea of running a research blog will never become widely popular and useful unless it actually aids research. On the negative side, composing ideas for a post and maintaining a blog takes a significant amount of time. On the positive side, the process might yield better research because there is an opportunity for better, faster feedback implying better, faster thinking.
My answer at the moment is a provisional “yes”. Running the blog has been incidentally helpful in several ways:
- It is sometimes educational. example
- More often, the process of composing thoughts well enough to post simply aids thinking. This has resulted in a couple solutions to problems of interest (and perhaps more over time). If you really want to solve a problem, letting the world know is helpful. This isn’t necessarily because the world will help you solve it, but it’s helpful nevertheless.
- In addition, posts by others have helped frame thinking about “What are important problems people care about?”, and why. In the end, working on the right problem is invaluable.