The instructions to assessment panels are that they must judge on the basis of quality, quality, quality – not location, location, location. So individual researchers can submit pieces of work that have appeared outside the conventional hierarchy of journals, and I am assured by the people running the REF that they will not be penalised for this.
So where are you going to publish from now on? And why?
just curious…and this would help me with my research. Thanks in advance.
For the past 3 1/2 years I have been looking at the impact the web has had on the practices of Academics who are highly engaged in virtual environments. This inevitably takes me to explore the social side of their professional enterprise as the web has become a place of active participation. Engagement is the glue that brings people together online. For it to work, there are some (invisible) rules that need to be observed. These include exchange, mutability, transparency, and trust through socialisation. They make us bond.
As a form of understanding the wider picture, I have also – even if informally – been taking a look at how businesses and services operate online, and how institutions and members of the public represent themselves in the same space. The misunderstandings are common to those in Academia. Some people do get participatory media. The majority does not.
Hence, I must say that I am far from being impressed with what I have observed! With the exception of well conceived strategic examples – A shout out to AVAST! and its Head of communication @Jas who truly understand modern forms of communication – I come to think that we are still a long way from getting the social component of the web.
To start with – online hierarchy is structured differently. It would be naive to say that there are no power relations on the web , or that participation is not driven by personal and commercial interests. In many cases it is! Yet, there is scope for collective participation. The individual is also entitled to a voice. You would think we would be capitalising on that. In most cases, we are not!
With the possibility of mass participation new forms of communication and access are enabled. Twitter is a great example of it. Only in my wild dreams did I ever think I would be able to access celebrities with a tweet, let alone a Professor! Now it is possible, although only rarely!
I especially liked the exchange between James’ Singer and a fan who points out he doesn’t really get twitter. This is the same as to say you don’t really get social media. You are still in broadcast mode! Would it hurt to follow some fans? It’s a form of reciprocating appreciation; being open to engagement. After all, they help pay your bills! The same applies to some intellectuals and their publics. This instance represents a misunderstanding of the medium. It also conveys the preconception that it suffices to transfer past practices into a new channel. Participatory Media is not about transferring practice to a new platform; it is about engaging with our audiences differently. There is a need to combat the legacy of the past when information was transmitted, not co-created.
However, the use of social media doesn’t only get confused with this idea of feeding individual Egos. It goes beyond it. Some people, and organisations, see it as a form of exploiting and benefiting from other people’s work. Again – practicing one way communication, with one audience as beneficiaries: them! For instance, it happened when Academics wrote for magazines and journals. In an attempt to pass on knowledge and raise their profile, they gave away copyright of their own work in exchange of it being published. Today, we have the possibility to keep both. Different forms of publication permit not only wider access to the information we produce; it also allows for more inclusive licenses. Creative commons come to mind. Yet, we still comply with old standards. Tradition dies hard!
This happens, for instance, when people ask you to contribute to their website and in exchange keep copyright of your work. Notice the irony?! You give your time and work away for free to suit the commercial purposes of others. It seems a bit hard to believe we do that. But we do. What makes people think they are so great other will come? But most importantly, what makes contributors think they are not good enough that they submit themselves to such rules?
Every individual is a potential contributor to knowledge in an environment that requires less formalities. So why give our work away when we get nothing in return? Everyone is asking themselves What’s in it for me? – and they often don’t find an immediate answer. Yet, what we should all be really asking is: what’s in it for us?
Participation is about exchange. And that is what many of us often forgets. When we give our copyright away, we are not only separating ourselves from our work, we are also denying others the right to re-use it.
I could go on and on with this, but I’ll stop here. For once, I wanted to provide a less positive and vibrant image of the web and its forms of participation. Tension and selfish interests are a significant part of this environment. They model practices; they shape beliefs, and above all they stall genuine innovation and initiative.
We need to consciously decide on which side of the game we want to be. Since Willets came to announce that it does not matter where researchers publish their research, as long as they publish quality work, I think this is a great opportunity to take a chance to publish wherever it is right for us (according to our ideology and what we think our mission in academia is). It my case it will be in Journals and sites that observe the Open Access philosophy and allow me to choose which licenses I can use to share my work.
[apologies for random thoughts - they might not connect from beginning to end - but they have been populating my mind as I plough through my Literature Review sections]
..honestly – I have no idea! I don’t think I was ever meant to get here! Above all – when I think about it – it feels weird. But it also feels good.
I was the first member of my family to go to University. In fact, I still am. I knew I wanted to go to University from a very young age, because it meant I would go and live in Lisbon. That was my goal back then! I was always fascinated by that city. I just didn’t know what I wanted to study, let alone who I wanted to become. But I knew I wanted to be there.
For a short period of time I fancied the world of flight attendants – mainly because of all the travelling involved. I soon abandoned that idea when at the age of 16 I experienced flying for the first time. Their job seemed a bit boring! I also knew I was too clumsy to be serving coffee to passengers.
In middle school I learnt to dislike maths. I guess it was a kids’ trend back then… not to like maths. It was also kind of complex to mix letters with numbers… I thought! I got disinterested. I shifted my attention to foreign languages! I ended up going for humanities in high school, and did my national exams – similar to A levels – in English, German, Portuguese, Latin, and Sociology. I really liked sociology. I had good grades too. In my imagination, however, this would lead me to unemployment, so I ended up doing a 4 year BA in Modern languages and literatures (English and German). In practice, it was not much better. I left University with some knowledge of the languages and writers I had studied, but not with any practical knowledge that would get me a job. I did not know where to start, so I applied for an ERASMUS scholarship and went to Germany to pursue a postgraduate certificate in Translation. I thought I was still not ready for a Masters. Such degrees were reserved to much cleverer people. But the desire to travel was still there. I wanted to experience a new country, to live there and absorb its culture. A postgraduate certificate seemed the right move. A natural, tiny step in the academic ladder after an undergraduate course. (I had no one to tell me I could have ventured into a Masters. It never crossed my mind I could have done so either!)
I arrived in Heidelberg days before the 9/11. I took language courses until the University term started. I experienced the fear and anticipation of a possible new war… through the eyes of those who had already experienced two previous ones. It scared me at first. But the fascination for a different culture was greater. I was determined to stay the whole year, and even more if possible.
I enjoyed meeting people from different countries and debating the current topics. While doing so, I tried to master the language to the point that it got better than my English (that was back then…). I got bored to death translating technical texts. I loved the cultural and social life though! I managed to do an internship at the Portuguese Consulate in Stuttgart during the Easter break. Basically I had no money to go back to Portugal. I didn’t think I wanted to either. There I learnt the Portuguese Navy had opened a vacancy for languages. I decided to take my chances. I needed a job after all. The Navy seemed a new world I could see myself in. Against all odds, I got it. I guess I went to serve the military on behalf of most of the men in my family who managed to escape compulsory military service. I enjoyed it. A. LOT!
I had no idea what my role was going to be when I arrived there. Neither did they! During basic training, my company commandant kept saying I might go into the NATO section given my language skills. The day after I swore to die for the country I was born in I was sent to the School of Naval Technologies. I was to teach! Me… a teacher?! Throughout my University days I had always avoid going into educational field. I thought that was not for me. But that was where I ended up!
I was lucky though. My line manager sent me on a training course – a kind of PGCert. I came back a couple of months later and I had this wonderful class to teach: Seamen who were being promoted to Petty Officers. They had to pass the English exam to be able to qualify for the promotion. I had 7 weeks to achieve that and work on their Portglish! After that I got the Seamen apprentice. Having escaped the traditional education route, they had come to the Navy to launch torpedoes… so they thought (in their dreams!). They got to put up with me for another 7 week period instead! As I experienced this new territory, I realised I could not teach them the way I had been taught. I needed to get them engaged. I also wanted them to be able to network, and share their experiences, which are, by the way, fascinating. That’s when I took to technologies.
I took part in short courses online and face to face. I then enrolled for another postgraduate certificate in Coimbra on elearning techniques and context. You see: in my mind I was still not ready for a Masters! That gave me a good background and put me in touch with people who believed in me. That gave me the motivation and courage to apply for an academic Masters (an MPhil). There I went to experience research and practice as one. That was also the time I experienced learning in a community of practice. That would eventually be my research and dissertation topic too. While doing that, I also had the opportunity to do another postgraduate certificate with the Institute of Education of London online. It gave me an idea of how things worked in the UK.
I was coming to the end of my 4th year in the Navy when I started writing up my dissertation. I had one more year to go before my contract expired. Navy jobs for graduates are just to get you started – (in most cases) you are not supposed to make a career out of it. So I thought it was time I started looking for another job before they told me to leave. I got an Interview at a University in the south of the UK but I did not get the job.
Shortly after I got offered an interview for a job at the University of Salford. I must confess I had no idea where the university was geographically located! After locating it on the map I landed in Manchester and did my interview in a rush as I had a plane to catch. (I was still teaching in the Navy!). I got the job and shortly after I moved here. I was marvelled with the opportunity to work at a University. I never really thought this place was for me! But I took the chance. Shortly after I arrived, I decided I should venture into a PhD. I am still not sure if this is the right thing for me – am I really cut to be a researcher? I told my line manager (at the time) about my idea of pursuing a PhD. He sounded so much more enthusiastic and positive about it than me that, without realising it, he convinced me!!!
So here I am, trying to finish it while still working at the University. I love it here. There’s so much potential. So many things we can/could do and help other achieve. This is also where I want to stay. I would like to be able to encourage and support people who, like me, think this is not for them. It can be, if you want to!
My research focuses on the use of participatory media by academic researchers in the current changing environment.
In this post I will try to deconstruct this title into something more intelligible to those who do not work in this area.
For the past 3 ½ years I have been studying the influence and implications the use of web technologies ( online tools and applications such as twitter, facebook, blogs, wikis, skype, other social network sites, etc.) have on the practice of academics, i.e, individuals who work in an Higher Education institution as educators and/or researchers.
I am not so much interested in which tools each individual uses, how often, or what they use them for, as I am in learning how participating online has shaped and innovated their professional practices. My research participants are highly online networked individuals who collaborate and communicate in online environments, represent their work and present themselves through the digital medium. By doing so, they are inevitably also faced with the advantages and implications of being digitally active. Hence, I am also interested in teasing out how their forward thinking and innovative practice might encounter some barriers regarding implicit and explicit rules stipulated by their institution and external regulating bodies.
In a nutshell, I am looking into the practices of a cohort of highly online networked scholars to try to understand how activities and philosophies practised online are transferred to their workplace, and what impact academics feel these practices have on their academic venture. – 263 words
I know it’s been a while since I have last posted here. I could blame it on not having time, but I always think that is a very lame excuse. Just thinking of time makes us not having time! The truth is that I have not been finding the inspiration to write in blog style. I hope the blogging voice comes back soon though as I have loads to share with you: PG Futures, The PRISM Conference, the ECE Conference, PLE Unkeynote, participation on the Digital Transformation School, the Live Online Radio Shows we did, the new developments on the PhD…
Hopefully soon! Meanwhile, I have been asked to submit an abstract to run a workshop on online research methods ‘with an emphasis on web 2.0′. This is what I came up with. Still a bit vague… Would love your input before I need to submit it…which is kind of soon. Tonight!!! :-S
Thank you so much for your suggestions in advance!
Participatory Media as a research tool: new ways of gathering data and engaging with research participants
This is a two-session workshop which will seek to engage participants in relevant debates and activities regarding the use of the participatory media (social web) as a research tool. The session will start with a short presentation on the use of participatory media for the development of new research methods. It will be followed by participant-led discussions and related activities.
The goals of the workshop are to:
Outline the advantages and implications of using participatory media as a research tool
Explore examples of the use of participatory media for gathering of research data and engagement with research participants (crowdsourcing of data and generation of information through networks and communities, blogs and wikis, videos and podcasts; polling; online interviews; etc)
Discuss research ethical issues in online environments (open/closed; consent; ownership of information; use of publicly available data, etc)
Provide participants with relevant literature and resources
Last week my Colleagues Tahira Majothi and Fiona Christie organised a very interesting, and may I say, important event for Graduate Students. The event focused on the digital society and the impact it has, or better, should have, on one’s career. As such, I would even go as far as to say this debate does interest us all, independently of being students or staff, graduates or not.
A thorough description and reflection of the event can be found on the career’s blog. Hence, it is not the purpose of this post to go into descriptive mode, but rather share some ideas about the importance of social media for knowledge workers, and also practitioners.
The first thing that I would start to point out is that only talking about the benefits of being online, of engaging in networks, sharing knowledge, etc is not enough. We have to try it for ourselves to perceive its value and also understand the pitfalls. Yes!… because there are some. Yet, it is nothing we can’t overcome. What’s important is to understand and be aware of the implications of being online, so we are able to cope with them. In the end, it is almost like learning to cross a very busy road. Cars are useful, but they can sometimes put us in vulnerable situations. As long as we know how traffic works, we will be able to figure out how to walk to the other side of the road Safely!! We know that the road is not going to go away, so we might as well learn how to cope with it.
So, having this in mind, there are a couple of thoughts I would like to share. They are probably more related to one’s personality than social media, as it’s probably our attitudes towards the world and environment we live in that determines our interests and interaction with these new technologies.
Be the change – act now!
One of the things that I have come to realise – also in connection with my own research – is that although technology starts to determine the way we do things around here, and academia is no exception, using technology to manage one’s career is actually down to personal choice. It is also about how we perceive the world and see us contributing to it. When it comes to work performance, I, very bluntly, divide people into 2 different categories: those who do what they are told or what is stated in their job description, and those who excitedly engage in different activities in search of fulfilling their goals, exceeding themselves, gathering different experiences, and making a contribution that attempts to make a difference. That’s passion! That’s wanting to make a contribution. We can relate this to social media in the sense that for most cases job appraisals still do not contemplate one’s activity online. The same may be said of research exercises and frameworks! (Hello REF – maybe it’s high time we explored the connection of online participation and research impact…?!). This inevitably prevents innovation, forward thinking, and specially new forms of practice. However, there is an indirect impact and benefit to one’s use of these technologies and active presence in given networks: there is:
recognition of one’s work
profile raising
sharing
collaboration
engagement.
Etc
The same may be said to other activities that go around the university and in which people can take part in. Writing one’s dissertation or thesis is an important part of one’s academic achievement, but there is more to academic experience than this.
In the current economic climate, with more people looking for jobs than jobs available, I truly think that is it important to engage in our area of knowledge in different ways. In a job interview, most candidates will be at the same level, simply because the competition is fiercer than ever and that is reflected in the selection process. So, employees will be looking for that ‘extra’… what the candidate can offer beyond their standard CV. That is where social media can come handy – not because you can tweet and blog, but rather because of the knowledge and experiences that can be attained for doing so. Participating in these networks is synonym of engaging with a wider range of perspectives, of having access to an eclectic group of people, of learning different stuff, of forming new ideas, and of establishing new contacts. All of this is beneficial. Furthermore, it helps others to be more aware of your work.
So this takes me to another topic:
Passion
Sharing your passion is what distinguish you from other people! Online you can exercise this on a daily basis, and also in a more visible way. Sharing your passion, attempting to do what you believe in is extremely important. Social Media can also be a catalyst for engagement and participation in activities in which you are interested in. I don’t think there is better person to talk about this than Randy Pausch.
Engagement
One last thought about engagement. It is never too late to engage with the wider and non-specialised community about your research topic and area of expertise. This is actually a good exercise because it challenges us to articulate our thoughts in rather simple ways, explore new ideas, and extend our experience beyond the walls of the institution. It is also a form of reality check with the society around us. What’s our contribution to the wider picture? How can we help? Can we help?
There are numerous examples of how this can be achieved online: academics contributing to wikipedia and specialised sites so the rest of us have access to “more accurate” information, communities such as the webheads in action which do teacher training on a volunteer basis, people who provide advise and support to their peers – check #PhDChat on twitter, etc
In short, social media is about communication – and so is learning – how we work and learn with people, and how our experiences in such environments shape our own practice. It also helps us and others realise our potential. It is also fun!
Do you have any examples, insights, experiences, and why not questions about social media and career management? Please post them here. Thanks
Looks like the event season is open again. Until the end of July I am involved in the organisation and participation (as a speaker and/or a chair) of quite a few events (8 at least!). Although I really cherish the opportunity to be involved in such interesting events and provide my humble contribution, I am start getting a bit tired of listening to my own voice! So I thought I’d ask a little help from my friends. I hope you don’t mind.
Next week I will be participating in the Postgraduate Futures 2011: Spotlight on…Career management in the digital age. This event is being organised by my colleagues Tahira Majothi and Fiona Christie and I am really looking forward to the discussions and conversations it will generate. As this year’s title suggests the event has a social media flavour. I have been asked to co-organise a workshop on the Use of new technologies for teaching and research.I thought the best way to approach this is to start by bringing the opinion of the crowd into the workshop. What a better way of talking and engaging with good and innovative practices than having access to the practitioners themselves. So, this is where I would like your help. I have put a voice thread together and would love to hear from you on the following topics/questions:
what your approach to teaching is?
how we learn best?
how can technology help? can it really help?
any stories/anecdotes about teaching/learning/research with the support of new media you might be willing to share with us
I look forward to the discussion. I will also add more of my own input on to there, but thought it was better to let you start the discussion as not to influence others’ opinions.
Last week I took part in a JISC event where participants were asked to have an active role and share their thoughts about “how institutions can and should respond to the opportunities and challenges presented by the fast-changing pace of technology”?.
This exercise turned out to be quite a challenge to come up with just one answer. So much of this is context bound. It was equally an opportunity to focus on and discuss the issue of making effective use of technology with several prominent thinkers in the area. Furthermore, it provided a great opportunity for learning. I always cherish such opportunities to discuss such important and interesting topics with such a great group of people!
Below are the slides I prepared, although I did not use them all. As it often happens, I also ended up not saying everything I wanted to say, the way I wanted to say it…so here is another attempt to share some of my ideas.
– how we work and learn with people, and how our experiences in such environments shape our own practice. It also helps us and others realise our potential. It is also fun!
I hope you don’t mind.
