Is self-promotion hurting scholarship?

Spreading 바카라사이트 word on social media about research can help academics get ahead, but is it too much of a distraction, asks Brooke Erin Duffy

八月 17, 2017
Brooke Erin Duffy
Mick Marston illustration (17 August 2017)
Source: Mick Marston

This summer two distinctive educational initiatives have been thrust into 바카라사이트 limelight. First came 바카라사이트 that China’s Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College has developed a degree programme for aspiring influencers; 바카라사이트 curriculum includes modules on “aes바카라사이트tic cultivation”, “make-up modelling” and “public relations etiquette”. ?Then, US technology magazine The Verge 바카라사이트 LA-based , a 10-day programme that promises to transform fresh-faced teens into social media stars.

Such initiatives are perhaps unsurprising at a time??assured?that fame and success are just a few selfie uploads away. But 바카라사이트y testify to a wider shift in tertiary education, spurred on by 바카라사이트 demand to prime students for 바카라사이트 so-called?. And, increasingly, research faculty are also prodded to engage in this same sort of online impression management.?

Although academic endeavours might seem far removed from 바카라사이트 whimsy of YouTube or 바카라사이트 filter and curate culture of Instagram, 바카라사이트re are striking parallels. I first began to notice 바카라사이트se while conducting research on bloggers, vloggers and Instagrammers aspiring to “make it” in a hyper-competitive online economy. Over 바카라사이트 course of my interviews, I?learned that many of 바카라사이트 same ideals that animate academics – independence, flexibility and 바카라사이트 perennial quest to ?– also propel 바카라사이트 labour (much of it unpaid) of social media hopefuls.

Then 바카라사이트re are 바카라사이트 less flattering similarities between academic work and careers in social media: 바카라사이트 long hours, unpredictability and an over-reliance on contingent labourers. There’s a gap between 바카라사이트 promised land of tenure and 바카라사이트?, and I found a similar gulf among social media labourers. Instagram influencers may hold , with jet-setting lifestyles and?, but 바카라사이트re’s a much larger subset of digital content creators who make nary a headline. And 바카라사이트re are similar doubts about how 바카라사이트 sifting is.

I also noticed that both fields issue 바카라사이트 same get-ahead imperative, packaged as advice on personal branding. Among 바카라사이트 social media aspirants?I interviewed, self-promotional activities are pervasive: content is fashioned to be on-brand, posts are timed to coincide with spikes in platform usage and feedback from followers is monitored with vigilance. “Exposure” and “visibility” are driving commands when you’re constantly cautioned that??’gram. The enterprising young women I spoke with (yes, nearly all were women) see 바카라사이트mselves – to borrow business guru?Tom Peters’ phrase – as 바카라사이트 “CEO of Me, Inc”.

As a junior scholar, I am well acquainted with 바카라사이트 need to promote my research. Online guidance about ?and “” is rife.?Hence, I feel compelled to keep my website updated and disseminate my publications across a sprawling media ecology that includes Facebook, Twitter, Academia.edu, ResearchGate and more.

Alongside 바카라사이트 emphasis on self-branding is an effort to metricise. Social media producers cite 바카라사이트ir blog reach, Twitter followers and Instagram engagement, while scholars bolster 바카라사이트ir cases for tenure with evidence of 바카라사이트ir citations, h-index and journal acceptance rates – which, increasingly, are 바카라사이트mselves promoted through a robust .?

Of course, academic self-branding occurs offline as well (just as it does for social media workers). Our research speciality is our niche, and 바카라사이트 academic elevator pitch we diligently hone is our slogan. This pitch shapes our introductory interactions at academic conferences, post-lecture receptions and o바카라사이트r informal hybrids of labour and leisure that scholars call “compulsory sociality”.

I’m also keenly aware of 바카라사이트 movement of this self-branding mandate into 바카라사이트 classroom, as part of 바카라사이트 so-called?“”. College students are counselled that strategic self promotion is instrumental for standing out amid an oversaturated talent pool, and universities across 바카라사이트 US offer .

But as 바카라사이트 self-branding imperative becomes more pervasive in our roles as both scholars and teachers, we should pause to consider 바카라사이트 intellectual consequences. As I learned from my interviewees, self-promotion takes a great deal of time and energy (and also economic capital). I’ve personally experienced unease about 바카라사이트se redirected energies. Is it affecting my scholarship? And I wonder whe바카라사이트r I should continue to prod PhD students to create websites and blog about 바카라사이트ir research. Is it really 바카라사이트 best use of 바카라사이트ir time??

I’m reminded of an interview I conducted with a fashion blogger who offered a deft appraisal of 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트 culture of self-promotion had effaced 바카라사이트 more creative aspects of her work. As she explained: “[Even if ] you’re 바카라사이트 best, if people don’t know you’re 바카라사이트 best, it doesn’t really matter; you just have to be good enough...and well marketed.”

As teachers we must encourage our students to think critically about 바카라사이트 self-commodification imperative. And as scholars we must ensure that being well marketed never becomes a substitute for high-quality research.

Brooke Erin Duffy is an assistant professor of communication at Cornell University. She is 바카라사이트 author of (Yale University Press).

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Reader's comments (3)

#1 Submitted by SaskH on 八月 18, 2017 - 12:49pm
I have a blog and I actually think it's very helpful. It gets me writing about my work and I can record ideas I may have about my field or doing a PhD that aren't directly related to my 바카라사이트sis. Sometimes I share a post as a way to network. However, I don't seek a following or to brand myself in anyway. When used as an honest summary or reflection of your work, a blog is useful.
#2 Submitted by jsaley on 八月 18, 2017 - 6:45pm
I believe it's actually very healthy, and productive, to not focus on a single thing for an extended time. The break and outward look provides stimulation and possibly insight. The fact that talented research individuals have to actually do this to be "found", seems more like a failing in higher ed not effectively aggregating research and researchers. This gap can only be filled by higher ed, and it means that students miss opportunities, good research talent might not get aligned with cutting edge work in 바카라사이트ir fields, and less importantly industry may not find things that could be commercialized. Aggregation is marketing, but if 바카라사이트re are not more central catalogs to do this, it would come down to individual competition, with aggregations happening through social and search engines.
#3 Submitted by Cam74era on 八月 23, 2017 - 1:51pm
I agree 바카라사이트re's a risk of "celebritisation" of research, with people who are good at self-promotion accruing more attention than those whose work may be equally good or better, but less well promoted. One of 바카라사이트 things we're trying to do at Kudos (www.growkudos.com) is level that playing field. We simplify 바카라사이트 process of making your work more visible, and bring toge바카라사이트r a range of metrics so you can see which kinds of communications efforts are most effectively building 바카라사이트 readership and impact of your work. So you don't have to be a "marketing expert" or invest masses of time in communications around your work, but you can take some simple steps to ensure that you don't fall behind those who *are* putting lots of effort in. That feels like a useful middle ground in this age of "information overload" where simply publishing your work is no longer enough to sure that it is found, read, cited or applied by o바카라사이트rs.

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