…so say Patrick Dunleavy and Chris Gilson over at the LSE’s Impact of social sciences: Maximising the impact of academic research blog. Whether or not we want to “de-emphasise the traditional journals route” is an open question (!), but to “re-prioritise faster, real-time academic communication”, it seems to us, is a very important thing indeed.

Dunleavy and Gilson talk about “tapping academic expertise when it’s relevant, and so letting academics look forward and speculate in evidence-based ways”, and we’d invite readers to get in touch when their work – or the work of others – ‘speaks to’ contemporary matters of concern. Your analyses need not be more than notes towards an investigation, or the introduction to a discussion, but they will demonstrate the significance of the radical geographical imagination for understanding and explaining the world we find ourselves in.

We also welcome what Dunleavy and Gilson call the communication of “bottom-line results and ‘take aways’ in clear language, yet with due regard to methods issues and quality of evidence”, whether they take the form of video abstracts or something different. The value of research is underdetermined by its author – who knows how it will be used, where and when? – but if it is going to be put to work then it needs to be publicised: it cannot represent itself, it must be represented!

And don’t forget that we also encourage ideas for virtual issues of Antipode which explore the digital archive and highlight groups of papers speaking to issues both timely and ‘timeless’; critical responses to Antipode papers (and authors’ replies); calls for papers, conference announcements and news of upcoming lectures; details of recently completed PhD theses in radical geography; any resources you’d like to share such as syllabi, teaching and learning guides, etc.; and all suggestions for other kinds of content.

For more about AntipodeFoundation.org and how you can get involved see here.