Should blogging be rewarded?

Brad DeLong writes about academic blogging in the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Are our deans impressed? Not so far, but they should be.

Brad is surely right that most deans are not impressed. In fact, some may be put off by it: "Why is he wasting his time on that activity?"

I have long thought that academia rewards too narrow a range of activities. At research universities, even teaching is given inadequate weight. I will fight for the good teachers before I fight for the bloggers.

My prediction: Brad will have to wait a long time before blogging is going to earn him a raise.