The Literacy in the Digital University seminar thing happened on Thursday and Friday. Some general impressions:
1) When you give people internet access at a conference they are going to use it - I was amazed or rather shall I say disgusted that so many participants (even on of the keynoters) were answering e-mails, checking Facebook, tweeting, checking the London underground maps etc...while presenters were up there trying to tell us about their worthy research. What does it really mean to be a participant at a conference?
2) I am just amazed at the opportunities I've been given to be part of really interesting debates about research methodologies - I just find here in the UK that people are so attuned to unpacking their methodologies and searching for ways to do things better. And Ethics...I don't think I even knew what this word meant in relation to research until I got here. A big issue at the seminar was the extent to which the researcher is responsible for consent issues in internet/online based research, especially when participants say they aren't really bothered about consent for example. Another issue is how traditional principles of research are being challenged within the digital environment, with traditional methodologies (especially on the issue of ethics) struggling to keep up with the pace of change. We seems to be applying traditional approaches to these digital environments with an obvious gap developing.
3) I just find it fascinating that I can sit in a room with Mary Hamilton, David Barton, Candice Satchwell, Carey Jewitt etc...and engage in a conversation about research in and with the digital. This seminar was very inclusive as they ran parallel workshop sessions that everyone got to attend and this allowed me to discuss my research inadvertently with Mary Hamilton. I didn't want to appear like a groupie and say "Oh I love your work, its so great to finally see you in person". Although I did take on 'the groupie' persona yesterday when I was asked to escort some participants to their taxi pick-up-spot and found myself walking alongside David Barton. Restoring my faith in all things human, Mary Hamilton said a personalised goodbye to me, meaning that she had actually registered me and my presence.
4) I'm not that great at doing the conference small-talk-networking thing (I've said this before). Although when I'm by myself - i.e. without colleagues I know, I tend to push myself a bit more to engage with people and strike up conversations.
ON THE PRESENTATION
I was surprised at how calm I was about the whole presentation thing on Thursday - right up until I had to do the darn thing. But it went down well - I however worried about my accent, my vocabulary, my pronunciation, about the fact that I had scripted the whole thing and so it might not sound fluid and spontaneous, and that I was marking myself as South African and therefore deserving of some special treatment or 'uniqueness' factor (ironic since my presentation was struggling over this very idea).
My presentation was a joint bill with a colleague of mine SB, who is using facebook as a research tool. I went first and she followed, with the question and answer session happening right at the end of both our presentations. So I was slightly nervous when during the Q&A session nobody asked me any questions - sure your rational mind reassures you that people only remember what they last heard and that's why they aren't asking you questions, and its not because they found your ideas completely ludicrous and cant possibly find anything intelligent to say to you - but of course life isnt all about being rational. HOWEVER after a dry 5 minutes I got some really interesting and challenging questions which I answered in a sort-of-ok way. Overall the feedback was positive - colleagues (and supervisor) saying the presentation was good, that I was coherent and clear, although TL hit the hammer on the nail by saying I was incorporating many layers of issues that weren't always clear all the time. This I know - but I was glad I was able to articulate my idea, even though they are still rather rough and in need refinement.
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