> Treating academia as one homogeneous group isn't helpful
I disagree. Academia by and large has a lot of common traits. I've been a programmer for a loooong time, and the majority of academic CS papers are opaque and inaccessible like most other academic papers I've read. I'll grant you that CS papers are generally easier to read (and not just because I'm a programmer), but that doesn't excuse the usual academic lack of clarity.
> Scientific writing is not usually meant to be consumed by readers outside a certain community.
That is a big problem tho, because it means journalists can't understand the papers. It means people can't easily verify information themselves without hours of effort. It means that papers with good information go largely unread and not understood for decades until someone resurrects it.
Clarity in writing is really important, especially when the information is precise and nuanced. Academia as a whole has done a pretty poor job of teaching people how to write papers that convey information well. I don't think its unfair to paint academia that way as a whole. And I think it is helpful for people to bring this up and make people (especially people in academia) realize that this is a bigger problem than they think.
I disagree. Academia by and large has a lot of common traits. I've been a programmer for a loooong time, and the majority of academic CS papers are opaque and inaccessible like most other academic papers I've read. I'll grant you that CS papers are generally easier to read (and not just because I'm a programmer), but that doesn't excuse the usual academic lack of clarity.
> Scientific writing is not usually meant to be consumed by readers outside a certain community.
That is a big problem tho, because it means journalists can't understand the papers. It means people can't easily verify information themselves without hours of effort. It means that papers with good information go largely unread and not understood for decades until someone resurrects it.
Clarity in writing is really important, especially when the information is precise and nuanced. Academia as a whole has done a pretty poor job of teaching people how to write papers that convey information well. I don't think its unfair to paint academia that way as a whole. And I think it is helpful for people to bring this up and make people (especially people in academia) realize that this is a bigger problem than they think.