Research School Network: Reflections on the changing world of research 1996 – 2017

As Some of you may be aware I have recently been given the opportunity to study for my long awaited MSc Science. Naturally the first module I have chosen to study had to be Research based. I thought it may be interesting to offer my reflections on the changing world of research from back in 1996 when I started my BSc Biology:

The rapidly changing landscape of the research world – as experienced by Assistant Research School Director 

THEN: When I started my BSc, I was issued with an email address, which had to go through the University homepage and crashed if we all tried to do it at once, not much better at home where we relied on dial up, annoying my family somewhat as the phone was then out of action. No one really used their email, as my fellow students and staff preferred to talk directly with each other or use the phone. In addition, we were not really sure who’d be reading what was written in the emails, so we steered clear. Then as now, I was at the cutting edge and had a pager for important correspondence such as which pub we would be meeting in later. By the end of my BSc, email correspondence was the norm , with anything and everything written in an email. 

NOW: email is an integral part of my daily working life and research. I check my email accounts (work and private) throughout the day. I have them put through to my iPhone, IPad and other mobile devices, so that even when I’m out and about I can keep track of my in-box and respond as and when required to urgent requests. I’m more likely to email than phone someone, and I don’t speak to people often enough.

Emails on Personal Devices

THEN: I spent the bulk of my first year of my BSc walking back and forth to the library to browse the latest editions of journals that were physically stocked by the library and that I was most interested in. Any papers I found that were of potential interest were photocopied, but only if deemed suitably important due to our limited photocopying budget. I spent fortunes (admittedly from a generous grant…remember those?) on required texts, recommended texts and overdue fees on library books. If I was experiencing one of my more studious phases, I would check the reference list at the end of a paper and delve deeper. Quite often the newly established University of Central Lancashire did not have these, they did have a very helpful library who would submit requests for an Inter-Library loan. The excitement walking to the library on the agreed pick up day could not be matched!

Example of a 90’s Library

NOW: Rather than checking individual journals, you can carry out systematic searches using one or two of the online library databases that can search multiple journals and other resources over specified publication periods, all from the comfort of your own desk. RSS feeds and ZETOC alerts allow you to keep up to date with individual journals, research groups, relevant grey literature and forums of interest without doing a thing, once set up. Twitter is an invaluable resource both for people and information, I’m currently positioning myself on the outskirts of the research online community hoping to be welcomed in soon.

Example of a Twitter Feed

THEN:At the end of my Honours project on ​‘The effects of UVB on plant growth’ I had amassed 100 Scientific papers and other bits of information. Not being as organised as I am now, these were scribbled down on old style index cards and the backs of cigarette packets! When it came to writing up my dissertation, I had to go through and check that the information was accurate. Having exhausted myself with hours of this, (didn’t take much in those days) I outsourced the write up, binding and presentation to a company in Blackburn who did a sterling job of making the work presentable and ultimately ensure it passed!

Example of Index Cards

NOW: All you need to do is click on a button when you download a paper, and the full reference goes straight into Mendeley. Alternatively, you can simply drag a pdf version of the paper straight into Mendeley and it extracts all the bibliographic information needed for later use. If you need to change the style the reference is presented in, you can do this easily in Mendeley, by choosing from the drop down list of styles or setting up a precise style myself. Finding groups of papers based on key-words and topics is equally easy with Mendeley, as you can categorise and store files in different sub-folders. you can also allocate papers to different folders and so store them with ​‘like’ resources. 

THEN: The internet had little effect on my degree. It was available and used but nowhere near to the same level as it is now. It was looked down on by our tutors and textbooks and journals were very much the order of the day.

1996 Browser Wikipedia

NOW: I cannot imagine life without the Internet …I had 2 weeks in summer with only mobile data, I felt like I had lost an arm! My kids literally couldn’t cope, it is as much part of their lives as food and drink. These days the internet is our first port of call for everything, this will also be true of my MSc, my first module is on improving my DIL (look it up) 

Chrome 2017

So when did I start my degree? It was 1996 and every generation says this but what a time to be young…Britpop, Oasis and Blur, Euro 96 and our whole lives in front of us. Now it’s Tom Petty on the Amazon Alexa (RIP Tom, another hero gone too soon), a strong cup of tea and an M and S meal for one! 

Even though it has been over 20 years since I completed my degree, the difference in research and information literacy skills that were expected of and required by students then, compared with now is immense. In addition, the rate and extent of change in research and digital and information literacy skills continues to increase exponentially. For this reason, keeping my DIL skills up to date is an important and integral part of my research and teaching career. Now, time to ask the Executive Director about that IPad Pro, it will really improve my DIL and my output honest Stephen …

I have drawn heavily on the first module of my MSc for inspiration here, taking lots of information from the course notes. As there is no author listed on the article that inspired me I cannot reference it but I wish to thank and acknowledge MSc Science.