Digital humanities and the future of universities

Are we really going to let accountants
decide the future of universities?

It's been an eventful few weeks in Australian higher education. The Conversation launched a series of articles exploring the future of higher education, culminating in a symposium on Tuesday 22 October in collaboration with the Office for Learning and Teaching.

The same day, the federal government announced a midyear budget that included cuts of around $1 billion dollars to the university sector.

On Wednesday 23 October, an apocalyptic Ernst & Young report investigating the University of the Future decreed that "over the next 10-15 years, the current public university model in Australia will prove unviable in all but a few cases".

The report was immediately critiqued by academics and policy makers, many of whom argued the conclusions were not based on robust evidence - noting the lack of depth and omission of several previous studies - and questioned the motivations, bias and vested interests of a large accounting firm. Australian senator and higher education spokesperson, Lee Rhiannon, slated the report as a "gloom and doom picture designed to grease the way for the private sector to profit from universities" insisting that the "the challenges facing public university education in Australia can be best met by increased government funding to restore decade long cuts".

There is no doubt that Australian higher education is in dire need of new business models. A real commitment to change and innovation is required to meet the challenges facing the  sector.  But are we really prepared to let a large accountancy firm dictate this future?

The new digital economy requires new ways of thinking and the creation of new spaces within universities to facilitate this at all levels. In the midst of this I came across a new article in DH quarterly that outlined the small but important contribution that digital humanities departments can play in creating spaces within which to generate debate and discussion from the ground up. 

"Over the last couple of years, it has become increasingly clear that the digital humanities is associated with a visionary and forward-looking sentiment, and that the field has come to constitute a site for far-reaching discussions about the future of the field itself as well as the humanities at large. Based on a rich set of materials closely associated with the formation of the digital humanities, this article explores the visions and expectations associated with the digital humanities and how the digital humanities often becomes a laboratory and means for thinking about the state and future of the humanities. It is argued that this forward-looking sentiment comes both from inside and outside the field, and is arguably an important reason for the attraction and importance of the field."

Patrik Svensson, "Envisioning the Digital Humanities", Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 6, No. 1, 2012.

While I would never suggest that digital humanities departments should lead change within the sector, the article eloquently articulated the kind of culture that is being nurtured in these departments -  one that I think needs to develop within all faculties and schools. A culture of openness, innovation and dialogue - rather than fear, silence and nostalgia for a long gone status quo.

"Tell your story": Blogging & social media strategy for academics

There is nothing that gets me more excited than empowering creative thinkers to spread good ideas. The complex global challenges of our time necessitate new ways to harness academic innovation and connect critical thinkers with public audiences - and technology offers new opportunities for digital storytelling. Luckily for me, I happen to work at a university where I am continually surrounded by incredible talent.

I always enjoyed working in advertising and marketing and the decision to pursue a PhD in Australian history was not an easy one. But here I am, 6 months into my PhD, and I am constantly surprised at how my previous career impacts upon my thinking and practice. Indeed, I can hardly call it my previous career at all - such is the way that it informs my approach to scholarship every single day.

This year, I have been thinking a lot about communication strategies to help academics articulate their research to communities that matter and I was thrilled to be able to present some of these ideas to a group of UWA postgraduate students this week. You can view the presentation on slideshare. It was a fantastic experience - we had some thought-provoking conversations and I think I learned just as much as the students did. I'd love your thoughts on the pilot session!

A few additional resources (added on 1 October, 2012):

1. Fantastic video: Noam Chomsky on "concision" (From "Chomsky and the Media", 1992).
2. Ideas have value. They are not 'free'. We spoke a little about the ways in which technology has acted to devalue creative outputs. If you're interested in different perspectives on "freeconomics" check out this Wired Magazine article by Chris Anderson 'Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business'. You can also check out Anderson's book Free: The Future of a Radical Price.
3. UWA does have a social media policy and you can read it here. You can also read UWA's web policy (draft) here.

The Employable PhD: How to prepare for your future career before you submit

Postgraduate students are intellectual entrepreneurs: creative, highly motivated freethinkers who are expert at solving problems. So, why is it that they often feel least prepared to enter the workforce?

I'm really excited to be speaking at short seminar series, presented by the wonderful University of Western Australia Postgraduate Students Association - "The Employable PhD".

The aim of the seminars? To explore strategies that can help postgraduate students prepare for their post-PhD career before they submit their thesis.

We’re all aware it’s getting more challenging to secure academic roles. What other options are available and how can students better prepare for these opportunities?

The seminar series will feature business coach & educator, Arjun Murthy, and topics include: how to identify key strengths, market academic skill-sets to non-academic employers, navigate hidden job markets, network effectively and optimise your online presence.

Here's an overview of the three sessions...

Tuesday, 25 September - “Know thy self": Identify your strengths and skills

The essential first step in career management is to understand the strengths and  skills that you can offer employers. This seminar will be presented by coach and trainer Arjun Murthy, who will assist you to better understand your personality preferences and transferable skills.
+ RSVP on Facebook

Wednesday, 26 September - "Tell your story" Promoting yourself and your research online

With more and more employers using Google to screen job candidates, establishing a strong online presence is now one of the most powerful ways to gain a competitive advantage in job markets. This interactive session, presented by myself, will address common concerns that prevent academics from promoting their research online and outline how to develop a communications strategy that will allow you to tell your story to a global audience, build a community around your research, and become an influencer in your discipline area.

Please bring an ipad or laptop to this session if you can as we will take a tour of the interwebs at some point. However,  if I see you on Facebook I will cut off your hands. Kidding*!

+ RSVP on Facebook

Thursday, 27 September - “Don’t just sit there!”: Strategies to proactively seek out career opportunities

Discover a toolbox of strategies to help you seek out opportunities in your chosen job market - or even create new ones. Arjun Murthy and myself will explore career management and goal setting, tips for effective networking, and how to identify hidden job markets.
+ RSVP on Facebook

I'm looking forward to sharing the results and will report back in a few weeks!

*I'm not really kidding.

Promoting yourself & your research: Creating a personal website

image courtesy of Threadless

I meet a lot of PhD students and early career researchers who are interested in establishing an online presence. Many are aware that communicating research online can give them a competitive advantage but are not sure where to start.

Essentially, creating an online communications strategy for your research involves two activities: creating a space online that tells a story about yourself and your research, and driving traffic to this location.

This blog post will provide a guide to choosing a content platform that will bring your research to life in the limited time you have available. My next blog post will outline how to drive traffic to this content platform.

Step 1. What’s your strategy?

Starting a blog without a strategy is like commencing a research project without a proposal. A great way to waste your valuable time.  What outcomes do you want to achieve as a result of this activity? What specific audience are you writing for?  Do you want to build an academic community around your work, engage practitioners who will apply your research, or communicate with public audiences? Focus is essential. These audiences have very different concerns.  How will you measure success?  Blogs and social media are not low cost communication channels. While they may cost very little to set up, the opportunity costs are enormous. In fact - thinking strategically about online reputation building is so important I have written an entire blog post about it: read this first.

Step 2.  Choose a domain name.

Think carefully about your website domain name because changing it later is not easy. Blogging involves spending years and months growing an active, engaged community around a specific topic. Changing your blog name, target audience or topic area should be avoided.

Confession time! Guilty as charged. I initially started Historypunk in 2010 as a public facing blog to share stories about Australian history. Two years later, I made the decision to change direction and build an academic community around my research interests instead. I was lucky to be able to keep my blog name the same, but I (initially) lost some readers.

Tips for choosing a domain name

• Your blog name should be unique, easy to remember, and easy to spell (avoid hyphens).  
• Aim for consistency. Your blog title and domain name (URL) should match. If possible, your social media accounts should match too.
• Do you want to include key words in the domain name?  These can help communicate the topic clearly and also boost search engine rankings. Academic blogs that use topic key words in their titles include the brilliant Early Modern John blog by historian John Gallagher, Feminist Frequency by pop culture critic Anita Sakeesan and Georgian London by the wonderful Lucy Inglis.
• Do you want to invent something new? You might wish to invent a unique domain name that you can define in your own way (a bit like a brand name). This is the approach I chose. Being less specific can also allow you more flexibility when it comes to content. For example, Ryan Hunt’s digital humanities blog IvryTwr, Tim Sheratts’ Discontents, and medical history blog - Wonders and Marvels.
• Think carefully about the future. How quickly will you outgrow your blog name? What would happen if you changed your field of research? To avoid these kind of issues, many scholars choose to blog under their own name. This includes digital humanist Dan Cohen and urban historian Katrina Gulliver.  Historian Fred Gibbs recently wrote a wonderful post on this subject - outlining the reasons why he changed his blog name from Historyproef to Fredgibs.net.

 

"I’ve got a couple of ideas for a domain name. What should I do next?"

1. Google them! Before you decide on a name you should explore the search landscape. Eventually you want your blog to appear at the top of Google search rankings. Are there any major competitors that will prevent this?  For example, if you share your name with a well known celebrity. When I first googled ‘Jo Hawkins’ and ‘Historypunk’ I discovered a search landscape dominated by ‘Betty Jo Hawkins’, a female wrestler who toured the USA in the 1950s*, and several websites that explored the history of punk music. After a few years blogging my site now appears above these topics in search rankings.
2.  Check if the URL is available
3. Are corresponding Twitter and Facebook accounts available?

*I know! I was utterly thrilled.

Step 3. Purchase your domain name.

If you have come up with a good domain name, purchase it as soon as you can. You can set up the website later. They are fairly cheap so if you have a few potential names, perhaps secure a couple of them.

I purchased both www.historypunk.com and www.historypunk.com.au. In Australia, you need to have an ABN to purchase a .com.au domain name but can register for a sole trader ABN for free online in a couple of minutes. I also own www.johawkins.com.au  but don't use it right now (www.johawkins.com had already been purchased by someone else).

A word of caution. If there is any chance  - any chance at all - that you will use these domain names in the future, do not let them lapse. Make sure you renew them each year. The web is full of pirates who will buy a recently lapsed domain name and try to sell it back to you at a hefty profit.

Step 4. Choose a content platform.

Traditional blogs

Wordpress and Blogger are both open source blogging platforms that are easy to use and come with plenty of design options. Most academics who blog use one of these platforms. Think carefully about which blogging platform you choose as it is complicated to change it later. I created my blog using ‘Blogger’ but, in hindsight, I think Wordpress has a larger range of design options. It is too much work to change it so it is staying like it is!

Social blogs

You've probably heard of Tumblr. This content platform is based on the insight that people don't just want to create new content - they want to share existing content. Tumblr makes it easy to do just that. You can choose to write an original blog post - or 're-blog' a post from another Tumblr blog on your own platform. The design has been optimised for those who share lots of images and multimedia. Due its visual nature and the ease of creating and sharing content I think Tumbr is a particularly good platform for blogs aimed at bridging academic and public audiences. Popular Tumblr blogs include scientist Joe Hanson's It’s Ok to Be Smart, the interdisciplinary Explore blog and Today’s Document  - a fascinating blog updated daily by the US national archives

Don’t have time to blog?

If you don’t have time to author a blog you have a few options. You could choose to create a static website to bring your research to life - a strategy employed to great effect by historian Peter Stanley and UWA digital humanist Brett Hirsch.  However, static sites are updated less frequently and thus likely to receive less traffic - especially if you are not building upon an already established reputation. Blogging is powerful because Google will rank your site  higher in search results if (1) they see you update it regularly, (2) people visit it often and, (3) they notice other sites linking to it.

Another option is to direct traffic to your Linked In or Academia.edu account. Just remember, while these sites are strongly optimised for search rankings, you don’t ‘own’ these platforms. You are essentially creating a community on someone else’s site  - one which they can change or monetise as they see fit. The same goes for directing traffic to the staff profile on your university website. If you leave this workplace, you can't take this with you.

"Hang on, how do I redirect my blog to the domain name/s I have purchased?"

Website hosting describes the service of storing the text, images and design of your blog. When you create a website using Wordpress or Blogger they automatically host it for you. For example, when I first created this site using Blogger it was hosted under the name www.historypunksociety.blogspot.com. It didn't really matter what I called the site on Blogger as I knew I wanted to redirect the site to my own URL - www.historypunk.com. You just need to contact a third party provider to arrange this. My site is hosted by Crazy Domains for under $20 per year. I simply called them and they talked me through the process - it took about 20 minutes.

Step 5. Design your site.

Don’t get too hung up on design at the start. Keep it simple. It is not practical for me to build a bespoke site so I use (free) templates provided by my blogging platform. My blog uses the ‘Simple’ template from Blogger which I customised it using fonts and colours.  Nothing fancy! Just clean, classic design.

Step 6: Write your first post.

The fun begins! A few tips for creating powerful content:

The title

• Make the title of each blog post work hard
• The headline should be descriptive and catchy. Check out some great advice here on how to write eye-catching blog headlines.
• Include topic keywords where possible as they will assist SEO

Body copy

• Avoid jargon. Embrace plain English.
• You need to catch a reader's attention so a journalistic style works well. Get to the point quickly. State your findings early, rather than stripping away layers of meaning and concluding with the findings.
• Use headings and subheadings to make your posts easy to scan.
• Use multimedia and images where possible to bring content to life.
• Remember that people have different ways of learning and decision-making so experiment with different communication styles.
• Check out Problogger for lots of useful advice to help you write engaging blog content.

My thesis in three minutes (using Qwiki)

As a self-confessed digital storytelling geek, I’m always interested in new formats and technologies. Inspired by the digital humanities manta “more hack, less yack” it occurred to me that I should take a more hands on approach. This week I thought I’d try out Qwiki – a new platform that combines online interactivity with video and allows people to create dynamic visual web content in minutes.

For me, the most interesting thing about Qwiki is its built-in production values.  It allows you to create slick, professional looking video without the need for complex editing software. Online video shouldn’t be too polished. Keeping it real and being authentic is important – you don’t need to pretend to be a professional broadcaster. Yet, production is probably a major barrier to those considering video content and I like the potential of this product to democratise visual storytelling.


I’m writing my PhD proposal at the moment so it made sense to base a project around this. I wrote the script in around an hour, did one take of video (using the built in webcam on my laptop) and created my Qwiki in about 20 minutes.

Play the Qwiki: My thesis in three minutes.

If you are creating online content, video is a great addition to the mix. It’s a powerful way to bring content to life and engage people for whom visual communications is a preferred communication method. The golden rule? Don’t use video to replicate – use it to animate. It is a complimentary format rather than a replacement for written content. Before you commence, ask yourself why this particular story should be told visually.

At just over 3 minutes, my Qwiki actually feels much too long. I think this format would work better at half this length. If I used it again, I would keep it really simple. I think a short, stand-alone Qwiki could work well within the context of a longer blog post to express part of the story visually. I was a little frustrated about the lack of flexibility but I realise that the simplicity of this product is also its strength.  I would also take advantage of the ability of this medium to integrate other forms of online content to enrich the story; including Google maps, tweets and links.

Help! I don’t have time to blog or tweet.

Productivity guru? Don't make me laugh.

My friend Andrew joked the other day that every time I see him I have another productivity tip. The thought of coming across as some kind of time management guru made me smile as I am pretty sure my fascination stems from a lack of willpower, rather than a surfeit!

Developing the ability to focus on a problem for several hours at a time has been the most formidable challenge of research study. It’s also been the most rewarding. As an advertising executive, constant interruption was a normal part of my job and I rarely had to focus on a single task for more than an hour at a time. Days were full of meetings, emails, phone calls, negotiations and conversations in corridors. Actually, it occurs to me that there are growing similarities between this existence and academic life...

I recently wrote about how important it was for time-poor academics to have a clear strategy and objectives for online activity. In this post, I thought I’d share a few insights into how I try to balance my PhD research, blogging and social media.

1. Keep blog posts short. At around 1,000 words, mine tend to be too long. They generally take between 2-4 hours to write (except this one  – I am trying to take my own advice!). I genuinely love writing them but I know if I made them half this length, not only would they be easier to read, I could post more regularly and reap some major Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) benefits. 
2. Make blogging an extension of work you are already doing. You can adapt presentations, speeches, book reviews or even lecture notes or research you have been undertaking for teaching purposes. You could even adapt an email you have written and are rather proud of, for example, one that explains a concept, includes instructions or advice (‘How To’ posts are often really popular) or argues an opinion.
3. When you blog about something new - make it count. I often use the blog as an excuse to research and learn about a research interest that is not related to my actual PhD thesis. 
4. Create a ‘content calendar’ so you always have ideas on hand. Mine is a word document. Whenever I have an idea for a blog post I jot it down along with a few notes. It doesn’t take long before you have more ideas for posts than you have time to write them! It also means that you will rarely need to start writing from a (scary) blank page.
5. Collaborate with others. Get together with a group of your peers and create a multi-author blog for your discipline or research group. You can create an editorial calendar and set out deadlines for contributions.  This takes the pressure off one person and keeps the blog fresh, dynamic and chock full of new content.
6. Enforce a technology embargo at certain times of the day. My PhD comes first so I work on my research 9-5 and blog before or after this time. I block out several chunks of the day for research and try to stay offline during this time. Since I don’t need to be instantly available during the day at the moment (I know, lucky me), my phone is generally on silent to ward off interruptions.
7. Don’t be ruled by technology - make technology work for you. When my mind is wandering, the temptation to go online can be overpowering (if I'm reading the newspaper, that counts as 'work', right?). I use a firefox plugin called Leechblock to restrict access to certain time wasting sites during the day.
8. Try a Pomodoro. I write in 25 minute bursts using the Pomodoro technique, a frighteningly simple productivity trick that helps me stay focused for longer. It also allows me to quantify the amount of time I spend working on my PhD each day - which is marvellous on days when the wordcount really doesn’t reflect the amount of effort you have put in. For example, when the day's ‘work’ consists of revising (or discarding) things you have already written.  
9. Read a lot of blogs? Feed them into one place. Bloggers tend to read a hell of a lot of blogs! It’s how they find fresh, new, inspiring content to share. I am following about 30 academic blogs at the moment (plus another 20 digital media blogs) and feed all of them into Bloglovin so they are in one location. I check them quickly each morning (while having a  cup of tea and toast) to see if anything new catches my eye.
10. You don’t actually need to be online to tweet.  Each morning, I use Tweetdeck to schedule a few tweets to appear at different times over the course of the day. This allows me to share content at specific times (when I think people might be around to see it) without actually having to stop work and go online, ie: 9am (lunchtime in Eastern states of Australia and evening in USA/Europe), 1pm (Perth lunchtime) or 9pm (morning in USA/Europe). That being said, Twitter is all about conversation so it is vital to check in a couple of times during the day.

I’m hoping you’ll find a few of these suggestions helpful! Please feel free to share your own in the comments section below.

Developing your personal digital marketing strategy: A guide for academics

Image via the Keep Calm Gallery

I’ve heard more and more people talking about the importance of establishing an online presence and the ways in which this kind of activity can give academics a competitive advantage.

Yet, while everyone is telling you to “get online!”, few offer any guidance on where on earth to start.

Building an online platform to promote yourself and your work involves a considerable investment of time. Academics are notoriously time-poor. How can you be sure your efforts are being focused most effectively?

You need to develop a strategy.

If you are serious about establishing an online presence you need to do more than share content. You need to create it. The most straightforward method involves creating compelling content (generally, using a blog) and building an audience (using social media). 

Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest... The sheer number of options can feel daunting. It's important to remember that blogs and social media platforms are just tools. Don't let technology lead your strategy. You can choose your weapon/s later based on your specific needs. Your first step should be to think deeply about what you really want to achieve.

How to create your own digital marketing strategy in 5 simple steps.

 

Step 1: What are your objectives?

What do you want to achieve? Would you like to establish yourself as a thought leader and innovator in a particular space? Raise awareness of your professional skill set? Get speaking engagements or writing gigs? Network with other researchers? Become a public authority on a specific topic? Or perhaps explore an issue that is often ignored by mainstream media? Write a list of objectives and prioritise them.

Step 2:  What is it that you have to offer?

What gets you excited? Successful bloggers genuinely love what they do – and it’s infectious. Many of my favourite history blogs originate from a scholars fascination with a particular topic. I defy you to read Georgian London,  The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice or The Tudor Tutor without being affected by their inescapable enthusiasm. Your blog topic will stem from a personal intellectual interest or from an insight into what a specific audience needs. Ideally it should come from both.

When I used to write creative briefs for advertising campaigns I would always include a 'single-minded proposition’ - a short sentence that expressed the idea I was trying to communicate. I based it on two things; the characteristics of the product and insights into the audience I wanted to engage.  When I first launched Historypunk it was based on a single idea - Australian history isn’t boring. I was convinced that if people were introduced to a diverse range of untold stories and hidden histories they would fall in love with Australian history. These four words guided me when designing the blog and writing blogs posts. I chose the name of the blog to reflect this vision -  irreverent, fun and provocative. Write a sentence that describes your blog in a few short words.

Step 3: Who is your audience?

Do you want to blog for a public audience or an academic audience? It is extremely difficult to cater for both using the same platform as they have such different needs, interests and concerns.  Can you get more even more specific? The better you know your audience, the more effectively you can generate content that will get them excited.

Step 4: What kind of content does your audience want?

To build an audience you need to create compelling content. What type of information would they find interesting or useful?  What might they like to share with others? Perhaps search for other blogs that concern your particular topic and get a feel for where you fit in. Decide what your blog is about and stick to it. It’s ok to write some posts outside of this. I’d say about 20% of my posts lie outside of history and digital media. But know that a tight focus is the most effective way to build an audience.

That being said. Things can change! I launched Historypunk two years ago as a public facing blog but starting my PhD led me to re-think my content strategy. I was becoming increasingly interested digital humanities and knew a blog would be a powerful platform to learn about this emerging discipline and connect with other academics. I also knew I didn’t have time to write two blogs! After considering the benefits and trade-offs of each approach I decided to change direction. I essentially had to start again. Terribly confusing and alienating for my original readers (apologies guys if you are still here!) but it was the right decision for me. Blogging is a learning process. It’s ok to re-evaluate your strategy as you go along. Just be aware of the consequences.

Step 5: How are you going to manage your time?

Blogging is a long-term commitment and it will take time to build an audience. Be very clear about the short-term opportunity costs of this kind of activity and the long term benefits.  The key to blogging success is consistency. Have you ever heard that old business adage that states ‘it takes more effort to get a new customer than retain an old one’? Well, it works online too. If you don’t post regularly, your established audience will stop coming back and you will have to woo them all over again. In addition, Google loves regular blog posts. Consistent blogging will help you rank higher in search results.

Make a commitment to write a certain number of posts per month and block time in your diary to write them. Don’t feel too bad if this is the first rule you break. When I originally launched this blog I aimed to post every week. I failed every week. These days I try to post twice a month. It gets easier.

A final word

Maybe this is all feeling a bit contrived. Isn’t a blog supposed to be a creative space? Absolutely! There is no doubt that many wildly popular blogs evolved organically, with the creator stumbling on a great idea that rapidly developed a large audience (for example, the consistently hilarious Feminist Ryan Gosling and Medieval History Ryan Gosling Tumblr blogs). But this is the exception, not the rule. Thinking strategically about what you want to achieve and how you are investing your time does not make your blog any less authentic. It’s got to be led by your passion. Even if my blog had no readers (and I know I have at least one - Hi Mum!) I would continue to write as it reflects my own philosophy of learning and sharing.

My next post will outline the practicalities of setting up a content platform including tips for naming your website, the pros & cons of various platforms, design and content ideas.