The long-honored traditional path of scholarship goes something like this: ask a question - do the research - see a pattern - summarize the evidence - tell a new story or add an original ending to a familiar one. Anyone with a doctorate degree has been well-trained in the variations, and the pathway is well-worn and clear.

As new media has allowed, and even encouraged the telling of those stories to take new forms, new questions have followed. Chief among them: Will new media take scholarship in a different direction? Are scholars — both senior and emerging — prepared to tackle the challenges of blazing new trails?

These questions are important, for in academia, careers can rise and fall on one’s choices for answers.

These remarks will be used to weave a tapestry in response to this question, with threads drawn from examples and conversations on the topic of new scholarship. The last question to be posed is key for new media proponents — Are we ready to work with scholars on opportunities and challenges so they don’t have to go it alone?