This week’s blog relates to sessions held by Durham Research Methods Café and the Geographies of Life Cluster on collaborating and networking on line. The first event held by Durham Research Methods Café invited contributions on useful software tools and online platforms and challenges that people experience when trying to network and collaborate online, while the Geographies of Life cluster meeting focused on the social challenges around developing online networks and how to overcome them.
To kick-start discussions the Durham Research Methods Café
event asked participants to feedback on the pro’s and con’s of online
conferences and webinars based on recent experience and evaluate the extent to
which they allowed scholars to build relationships. This identified a whole
host of different methods being used including, but not limited to:
pre-recorded unspontaneous sessions, live webinars and conferences, the use of
breakout rooms or slack channels for networking, ice breaker sessions on zoom
and gaming software. While there are many advantages to online events such as
reduced cost, environmental impact, and more efficient use of time, there are
draw-backs.
Participants of both Geographies of Life and Research
Methods Café identified a common critique that while online events and
platforms can help to facilitate networking, they can’t replace the ‘close
conservations’ that happen at conferences or informal chats over coffee in a
corridor. It was clear that everyone misses these opportunities, but shared
advice on how to adapt such as setting up a weekly timeslot to just catch-up
over coffee or organising occasional virtual coffee or even lunch dates. Other
common challenges discussed included zoom fatigue and time management. There
are so many great opportunities online, but it can be mentally tiring and it’s
important to take time-out and re-energise. Making space for silence to allow
time for reading or reflection can greatly improve this.
We also talked about the different tools that we use to
collaborate and share ideas online such as mirror or mural boards, slack,
google documents, overleaf, Trello and Hackpads for markdown. These tools are
often used to facilitate idea sharing, but many of the participants felt they
are rarely used to there full potential.
The conversation transitioned to how best to facilitate
conversations about collaboration and networking that go beyond online tools.
In the Geographies of Life Cluster, participants were asked to share the issues
that they find challenging so for example, I shared that I sometimes find it
hard to connect with senior academics. Both events offered helpful advice on
strategies that can be used to help facilitate this, but here are the
highlights:
·
Preparation in advance is
key. Look at the delegate list for a conference and think about who you want to
talk to in advance. Think of a question that you can ask about the presentation
and drop the presenter a line on email to ask them if you can arrange time to
have a virtual chat over coffee.
·
Another great suggestion was
to sign-up for seminar series at other institutions. This can be a great way to
meet other scholars working on similar projects and build connections over
time. If you don’t want to take things
slowly, email presenters in advance to request a copy of their presentation and
ask questions in advance of the session. Alternatively, organise some 1:1 time
after the session.
·
If you are an early career
researcher, another way to make connections is to contact teaching staff and
offer to share some of your work for teaching purposes to build different type
of network.
·
Use opportunities that are
made available through research clusters to help facilitate building
relationships with others such as helping to organise a research cluster
meeting or reading group.
·
Write a blog and share your
work online.
·
And finally, my favourite,
don’t be afraid to be cheeky. “Write a targeted, direct message on twitter ….
It always gets a response”
Clair Cooper
19/11/20
This
blog post expresses the author's views and interpretation of comments made
during the conversation. Any errors or omissions are the author's.
Clair
Cooper is a Ph.D. candidate in Durham University's Geography Department.
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