Academic Resource Center, February 2005

Each and every academic discipline has its own worldview, a philosophy that colors the way reality is perceived. I imagine that when a chemist observes a group of people, he or she might think of oxygen and hydrogen, water and carbon. When I observe groups of people, I think… markets! This is true even when I put on my "Editor of the Academic Resource Center" hat. My marketing bias tells me that my job as editor is to make the market between those who would create content and those who would consume it.

If an academic wanted to contribute something, where would he or she send it? To the site with the most readers, of course. And if an academic wanted to look for something to read, where would he or she start? At the site with the most contributors, of course. So the question becomes, how does one jumpstart an exchange between these two groups? I believe I have identified two distinct strategies:

The Egg Option: Persuade contributors to create content for a Web site with as yet relatively few visitors.

The Chicken Option: Persuade readers to visit a Web site with as yet relatively little content.

I am afraid that the chicken option simply will not do, which leads me to ask: Would you care to join me in making an omelet?

I do have to admit that electronic media have historically not yielded the same career rewards as traditional paper outlets. Lines must be added to resumes, and for now we are still quite early in the "product life cycle" of electronic academic outlets. But no matter how long it has been since you received your degree, the relative importance of electronic media in academia will be growing throughout the rest of your career. As such, you might wish to contemplate the concept of "pioneer advantage" and the long term benefit that it could produce in terms of your "share of mind" in our field!

And here I have some more really good news. Although committing time to the ARC may seem risky, the full weight of the AMA is behind it. Everyone that I talk to—from the Academic Council to staff in Chicago—is working to make this thing take off.

What is ultimately important in our contributor-reader market is not the physical medium, but the value that writers, reviewers or editors create. If I have managed to at least pique your interest, click here and take a look to see how you might get in on the ground floor.

—Charlie Hofacker