I have to agree wholeheartedly with observations put forward by Andy Coverdale in his post about the current accepted rational approach adopted when reviewing formal texts. He identifies a set of often hidden influences:
Does the informality and transparency evident in blogging, Twitter and personal learning networks etc. give us a richer, nuanced and more authentic perspective [of researchers and their publications]? What these practices reveal may not be transferable to the formal, structural requirements of the literature review, but they may help us signpost key arguments and their proponents, and give us an ‘edge’ in understanding the social complexities of contemporary academic debate.
Not only do I agree but I also feel that the ‘nuanced and more authentic perspective’ will come to match and overtake the dry academic formal publishing of today.
