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[spork]

I'm posting this topic here because it relates to travel, though not to conferences.

I like to visit college and university campuses when I travel.  If I find myself in a city or town that I've never been to before, I'll often stroll around a campus, duck into the library, look at artwork on display, chat with hot undergrads or librarians, etc.  Then I'll wander around the area next to campus that has the shops and the restaurants.  I find that I can get a fairly good sense of a place in a very short period of time.

In contrast, academics that I have worked with are quite ignorant of the specific location and qualities of the vast majority of higher ed institutions, even the ones that are only a short distance away (in some cases, even in the same town).  They might say "University X is a good school" but they know nothing about it beyond its general reputation.  It's like they're hermit crabs, occasionally peeking out of their shells when they meet someone at a conference but otherwise content to live a dark, isolated existence.

Does anyone else find this to be true?

[magistra]

Yes -- it's amazing how little we know about the goings-on of a neighboring school (or even other departments of our own).  I suspect that we sometimes get a better sense of schools in other towns, especially if you're there for a conference, seeing a museum or play on campus, or in some other way using that resource.  I do like to skim through the library catalog to get a picture of institutions, though. 

I think this article on CCs is a good example of what you're talking about: http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/03/2008030601c/careers.html
 and the thread on it: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,47769.0.html

[spork]

Yes, the author of that article is quite clueless.  I've visited CC campuses that are more active than a lot of R1s.  The campus where I got my doctorate would empty at around 3:00 pm every weekday because the vast majority of undergrads were commuter students.  Some grad students were present at night, holed up in their labs, but the campus was not tied into the local community very well.