The Tolkien Professor

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The Washington Post did a lovely long story this week on Professor Corey Olsen, a local medievalist and noted Tolkien scholar, who is pushing academic boundaries by using Web 2.0 tools like podcasts, Facebook and Skype to bring his scholarship to the masses:

So in spring 2007, the Washington College professor took his scholarship public, with a podcast called "How to Read Tolkien and Why" and a Web site called The Tolkien Professor.

A million downloads later, Olsen is one of the most popular medievalists in America. His unusual path to success - a smartly branded Web site and a legion of iTunes listeners - marks an alternative to the publish-or-perish tradition of scholarship on the tenure track.

"Instead of spending all my time doing scholarly publishing, which we're told to do - which most people will never read - I basically decided to put myself out to the public," Olsen said.

For eldritchhobbit, though she probably not only knows this guy, but is his friend on Profbook or whatnot. ;)