This thought is interesting to me. The traditional definitions and ideas of scholarship are rather limiting, from a time when they limitations were created by the constructs of the society in which they were created. In our highly specialized and digitally-connected world, new ideas for scholarship are critical. The idea from Ramsay/Rockwell that building things (stemming from the idea of creation/creating) can be scholarship is necessary in a world where the digital can accomplish so much, yet so little has been done (little in regards to its potential). Before the “traditional” scholarship can be done, we need the tools to do this advanced study, and it requires the best minds of today to create these theory-based tools. For this reason, academia should open up to these new forms of scholarship.
Additionally, Dr. Schocket, you mention in the post above about whether or not hosting a conference is scholarship. I think it certainly is, for two reasons.
1) By hosting a conference, you are bringing together the best in a field to share their scholarship – which breeds new ideas and triggers more investigation – a necessary step for future scholarship. The amount of time required to host such an event is all-consuming, and limits one’s own abilities to do “traditional” scholarship.
2)In hosting a conference, you have a say in what shape/direction the theme of that conference goes. A successful conference requires a scholarly visionary.
Just some thoughts to get the dialog rolling.
-Matt