Overall, I've found the 23 Things program a useful endeavour, having been exposed to many new aspects of online and digital professionalism, as well as the many online tools available to help academics. In addition, creating this blog as been a great introduction to the world of blogging - I've enjoyed making it my own and reflecting some of my interests through it. I have been especially intrigued by one the of recent topics that has been covered - crowd sourcing research - as it opens up scientific discovery to the general public which is really cool.
The hardest thing about writing this blog has been to keep on going, as can probably be seen from the time gaps between some blog posts. For the majority of the tools and subjects that we've covered, I've had no previous experience, and writing in an informal public professional manner is quite outside my comfort zone. I guess the programme wasn't really what I was expecting though. I had expected that the 'Things' we were to write about would be more scientific, perhaps linked to our research, and less high level. None the less, I'm glad it's complete.
From here on I think I will take a lengthy secondment from blogging, or perhaps retire. It has been useful to see how easy it is to set up a blog, and see it growing over time, yet I didn't massively enjoy it. This could change if I were to create a blog of my own, on a subject I were passionate about, but presently I've no plans for what that would involve.
I have enjoyed some aspects of the program though, as I'd previously had no idea they existed. This is certainly the case with crowd sourced research. It's amazing that someone with little or no scientific background can get involved in cutting edge research, like tracing spiral galaxies, or reviewing pelicams (pelican monitoring)! I would like to explore these projects further, not only to see what I can contribute to, but also what I can learn from them. It was also interesting to find out about the Altmetric donut can be used to demonstrate the sources of attention of some particular research - these seem really useful in quickly summarising impact. Finally, being introduced to Euraxess is useful, as I may consider further academic research after my EngD.
Several other online tools that I'll use in the future include LinkedIn, Upsplash (for royalty free images), the online scheduling services (such as meet-o-matic), and the online storage services (such as WeTransfer). Perhaps with the exception of LinkedIn, each of these have a use both in professional and personal projects.
As a result of writing this blog, I will try to maintain a professional online presence. It has helped to teach me that everyone can see your online profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn, Academia, Blogger ect.), and this includes friends, family or prospective employers. Consequently, I will think carefully about being as genuine as I can be in the virtual world, as I can be in real life. In addition, seeing the wealth of freely available academic research (Thing 15) has been very encouraging, and I think that I would like to contribute to this freely available content.
Well, that concludes the final Thing in this series of 23 Things (and it's only taken 18 months). Thank-you so much for visiting this blog and having a read. The picture below is arguably my favourite animal - the flying fish! (Photo by John Cobb on Unsplash)
"But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all -mankind." Job 12: 7-10
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