Wri$ngthatcountsorwri$ngthatiscounted?

SharonMcCulloch,LancasterUniversity,UK

AcceleratedAcademy,30Nov-2Dec2016,Leiden

TheDynamicsofKnowledgeCreaFon:Academics’wriFngpracFcesinthecontemporaryuniversityworkplace

LiteracyResearchCentre,LancasterUniversityDepartmentsofLinguisFcsandofEducaFonalResearchFundedbytheEconomicandSocialResearchCouncil,UK

80genres

Teaching

•  Lectureslides•  Lecturenotes•  Handouts•  Course

proposal•  Course

handbook•  Module

descriptor•  Feedbackon

assignments

Research•  Grant

applicaFons•  Ethicsforms•  Fieldnotes•  Journal

arFcle•  Monograph•  Chapter•  Conference

paper•  Report•  Whitepaper

Admin

•  Agenda•  Minutes•  Budget•  Comments

onstudentapplicaFons

•  Jobannouncement

•  REFdocuments

•  Expensesclaim

Service

•  Bookreview•  Reviewfora

journal•  Forum

discussion•  Guestspeaker

request•  External

examiningreport

•  ReferenceleXer

NaFonalresearchexcellenceframework(REF)

InsFtuFonalstrategy

Individualanddisciplinary

wriFngpracFces

InterviewsMaths Marke$ng History TOTAL

interviews

UniversityA 12 11 8 31

UniversityB 9 6 9 24

UniversityC 6 5 10 21

TOTALno.ofinterviews 27 22 27 76

Plus16pilotinterviewsinourowndisciplines,andauto-ethnographicwork

RESULTS

I'monprobaFonatthemoment,afouryearprobaFonaryperiod.DuringthatFmeIhavetopublishtwopapersatthreestar.Emma:LecturerinMarke0ng

…theminimumthatwouldberequiredisonegoodpublicaFonayear[…]ifsomebodyhadonegoodpublicaFonayear,theywouldbeokayfortheREF[…]TheywouldprobablybeokayforpromoFonandeverythingelse.Stephanie:HeadofDepartment

Wehaveaninternalsystem…forrewardingqualityofpublicaFonsinthedepartment.It’sdoneprimarilyonthebasisofvenueofpublicaFonStephanie:HeadofDepartment

Idon'tgetanyhoursforwriFng.Idon'tgetanyhoursforresearchwhatsoever.Sobasically,unlessyourworkisatleastthree-star,four-star,thenyoudon'tgetanyhoursforitbecausealthoughit'stwo-starmaterialanditisREF-able,they'reonlyinterestedinthreeandfour-starfitin-Mark:LecturerinMarke0ng

LancasterUniversityLibraryhXp://libguides.du.edu/c.php?g=204307&p=1348066

Impact

“…aneffect,changeorbenefitbeyondacademia,inareassuchastheeconomy,environment,policy,culture,health,orsocietyatlarge.”TheHigherEduca0onFundingCouncilh@p://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/REFimpact/

AlotoftheworkisgreyliteraturewherepeoplehavewriXenblogpieces.Ithinkthat'sopenedmyeyestowhat'spossibleinthatareabutyes,ifthere'sFme–Ithinkit'salwaysaquesFonofFme.Again,thatworkisnotvaluedbytheuniversityasfarasIcansee.David:ProfessorinMathema0cs

TheuniversityiscommiXedtosomethingcalledsocialresponsibility.Well,Iamveryhappytosignuptothat…It'sjustthatitisextraandit'squitedemanding,andIwouldn'tlikeittotakeovermywriFnglife.Colin:ProfessorinHistory

“Arewedoingthisbecauseitisimportant,becausewebelieveinit,becauseitisworthwhile?OrisitulFmatelybeingdonebecauseitwillbemeasuredandcompared?”StephenJ.Ball(2003,p.220)

CounFngtheuncountable

“ItwouldbeniceifallofthedatawhichsociologistsrequirecouldbeenumeratedbecausethenwecouldrunthemthroughIBMmachinesanddrawchartsastheeconomistsdo.”“However,noteverythingthatcanbecountedcounts,andnoteverythingthatcountscanbecounted.”WilliamBruceCameron(1963).

Academics’wriFng:

TheDynamicsofKnowledgeCreaFonhXp://wp.lancs.ac.uk/acadswriFng/

SharonMcCulloch,LancasterUniversity,UK

s.mcculloch@lancaster.ac.uk@samcculloch1