Digital Identity Management

Dr. Inger Mewburn
School of Graduate Research
RMIT Unviversity


Date and time: 11:30 - 12:30, Friday November 11, 2011

Venue: 10.08.03 (Building 10, Floor 8, Room 3)

Abstract:

Is scholarly publishing as an indicator of your marketability as a researcher under threat? Recently Forbes Business magazine argued that the Curriculum Vitae will disappear within the next 5 years and be replaced with your 'digital footprint'. What does this mean for us as researchers? We are all accustomed to evidence of publication in peer
reviewed journals and conferences being an indicator of quality for future employers, but will this continue to be the case?

Profile has always been important to academics; through connections come opportunities, citations and increased prestige. In this presentation I discuss the idea of 'digital branding' for researchers, raise some questions about emerging trends in publishing and think abouthow they might relate to changes in the tertiary education sector.

Traditionally academics build these networks by writing and going to conferences; today new web technologies allow academics to build communities through engagement at a distance. Social media and collaborative web spaces allow academics to carry out extended conversations and build strong peer networks over time without having to
get on and off planes. Although this type of communication has been going on for a long time in some disciplines such as computer science, it is now generalised to the whole of academia. Making yourself 'heard' in all the noise is becoming more difficult. During this workshop we will consider three key questions:

   Who are you?
   What stories have you got to tell?
   How do you want to tell these stories?

These are the kinds of questions often left out of academic career planning, which tends to be thought about as a 'numbers game'. The answers to these questions can help you plan and enact new strategies which can work to your career advantage.

About the speaker:

Inger Mewburn is a Research Fellow in the School of Graduate Research (SGR) where she co-ordinates the On Track workshop program, edits and writes for the Thesis Whisperer blog authors and moderates online courses for HDR students, coordinates the RMIT Three minute thesis competition and conducts research in the field of doctoral education (see list of publications below).

During her time in professional architectural practice, Inger worked at Styant-Browne Architects, Ashton Raggatt McDougall, Lyons and Mirvac P/L. Her interactive digital art work has appeared in magazines and exhibitions around the world including Melbourne, the UK, France, Greece, Austria, China and the USA. Inger taught in architecture programs from 1997 – 2005 in diverse areas including architectural design, theory, communications and research methods.

Inger holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne (2009), a Masters of Architecture (by research thesis) from RMIT (2005), a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) (1997) from RMIT University as well as a Certificate IV in workplace training and assessment (2001) and a Grad Cert in Spatial Information Architecture (2003), both from RMIT University.

More info here.



Seminar Organisation

Seminars are free and open to the general public. No booking is necessary. If you are interested in giving a presentation in this seminar series, or to make suggestions for speakers, please contact Sebastian Sardina, the seminar co-ordinator.