When I started my MA, I felt like an imposter. I couldn’t help but feel this way, especially when one of my professors told us we were all researchers. I chuckled, thinking that I would never be considered a researcher and it is finally starting to sink in.
I AM A RESEARCHER!
I wear a lot of hats in my life and I am proud to add researcher!
Today I took the leap being a researcher and shared my MA blog on my Twitter feed (@ClimbandGrow). I refused to do this seven weeks ago because I was too vulnerable but here I am, just going for it! Sharing it to whoever is interested in reading it! Oh the perks of being a blogger.
Regarding blogging, I read an article that stated the following, “we suspect that an average paper in a peer-reviewed journal is read completely at most by no more than 10 people” (Biswas & Kirchherr, 2015, n.p.). TEN PEOPLE!? That’s it!? To me this seems like an outrage! Research is a LOT of work and a LOT of reading and writing, and then to have minimal amounts of people read your work!? Why aren’t all academics blogging and posting their work to social forums like Facebook and Twitter, allowing more people to access their knowledge, especially through hashtags. This trend is spreading and I think it is going to catch on more! Even “professors are beginning to use blogs to establish networks, opening communications between students and the wide Internet audience” (Asselin, 2008, p. 9). The Seesaw application used at my school has a blogging function, allowing children as young as four to contribute to online forums. Knowledge should be shared and accessible to everyone I think. You never know whose looking for exactly what you’ve written…
~ Kim
References
Asselin, K. (2008). Blogging: The remediation of academic and business communications (Order No. 1452706). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304449817). Retrieved from https://ezproxy.royalroads.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304449817?accountid=8056
Biswas, A., & Kirchherr, J. (2015, April 9). Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a scholar’s presence in popular media. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/04/09/academic-promotion-scholars-popular-media/
Kimberly Forgay 
I’m with you, Kim. I also believe that knowledge should be shared widely. Unfortunately, the scarcity model has been used so that increases the value of knowledge. Thankfully, the digital age is removing that notion and blowing apart the barriers. Academia now has to join in with the rest of the world and allow their knowledge and research to be available for anyone interested. And, to take it one step forward, to allow anyone to join in the conversation around the topics presented. We have so much to learn from each other. There is so much valuable knowledge and wisdom out there, waiting to be shared as soon as the invitation is given.
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Thank you for being vulnerable Kim, Dr. Brené Brown is one of my favourite authors and speakers. She writes about vulnerability in her book Daring Greatly and in her TED Talk The Power of Vulnerability. . Brené Brown calls herself a Researcher-Storyteller and has been an inspiration for me during hard times in my life. Like you, I also suffered impostor syndrome with starting the program and even with posting a blog. I wonder who would want to read it? Well the statistics do show that not many people fully read or cite the work of others (Biswas & Kirchherr, 2015) but I think that is not a reason n to stay silent. I enjoyed your blog post and I look forward to more of your views.
Michelle
Biswas, A., & Kirchherr, J. (2015). Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a scholar’s presence in popular media. [Web log]. Retrieved from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/04/09/academic-promotion-scholars-popular-media/
Brown, B (n.d.) About Brené Brown. Retrieved from brenebrown.com/
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I think it is fantastic how open you are to sharing and to using social media in a clear and thoughtful way. It is a great way to start to get academic information out to a wider audience. One of the comments that really made sense to me from Biswas and Kirchherr (2015) was in regards to limiting the use of jargon and length in order to make academic writing more accessible to the masses. As we have seen and struggled through with our reading in residency, some academic writing is painful to ingest. It can take a considerable amount of determination to get to the key points of an article. However, posting on social media means smaller, more easily digestible and rapidly available formats of information. It is still possible to link to the heavy style articles, but hopefully those who are willing to embrace sharing may also be open to embracing an updated writing and reporting style. Making research more accessible makes all the work it take to do that much more worthwhile!
Biswas, A., & Kirchherr, J. (2015). Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a scholar’s presence in popular media. [Web log]. Retrieved from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/04/09/academic-promotion-scholars-popular-media/
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