“Academia 2.0” on Bundlr
Archive for July 2012
Privacy? What is that?
This article is a nice reminder of exactly how much we all share about ourselves through our mobile phones. It is very hard, if not impossible, to not leave a trace in this digital age; and these data remain recorded forever…. Read More ›
Tips for writing deadlines
This is a post not restricted to sociology and not even related to imagination… Instead, it offers a few crunch time tips for those of our readers who are struggling with deadlines and are here to procrastinate! Do check them… Read More ›
Call for Contributions: what does the Sociological Imagination mean today?
It has been over 50 years since C. Wright Mills wrote the Sociological Imagination. In that time the world has changed beyond recognition: the Cold War ended, the Keynesian consensus broke down, a globalizing neoliberalism rose to the ascendancy and… Read More ›
7 – 27 / 455 (Overpunctuated Autobiographical Sketch in 455 Words)
Happy birthday, Idle Ethnographer! 27 July 2012: 13 again 2008: TWENTY-SEVEN. Grown up… Not quite. PhD… Someday. Research. Teaching. Library. Doubts. Fallibility. Rise-ability. Responsibility. Conferences. Articles. Academic matrix. Tired, bored, fed up. Escapism. Creative writing workshops. Photography. Colours, angles,… Read More ›
Kill The REF in Complex Circumstances
If you read one polemic about higher education this year, make sure it is this one: KILL THE REF IN COMPLEX CIRCUMSTANCES.
Wanted: Ph.D. student to put Harriet Martineau back in the sociological canon
Harriet Martineau () was one of the most remarkable women of letters – perhaps ever. Her body of work ranged across the social and biological sciences and even theology. Wikipedia gives a good introduction to the breadth of her writing…. Read More ›
The 2011 UK Census: five fascinating facts
1> Why are there so many more women than men recorded in the Census? Are there really more women – or are other factors also in play, such as who fills in the Census forms? 2> Did you know that… Read More ›
Visualising the pizza supply chain…
I must confess a certain ambivalence about posting something which is basically an advert for (crap) pizza. Nonetheless, here’s a visual mapping of the Domino’s pizza supply chain. Does the visual representation of the scale of it all convey the internal complexity… Read More ›
Third Culture Kids
Did you know what a Third culture kid (TCK, 3CK) is? There are more and more of them about! Perhaps you are one? Send us your story (Email Mark or Milena)! See also Pollock and van Reken’s 2001 book, Third culture kids: the experience… Read More ›
What Oprah’s Research Staff Failed To Inform Her About India
Note: This list was written as a quick response to Oprah Winfrey’s visit to and report on South Asia in the Summer of 2012. 1) Yes, it is customary in (most parts) of South Asia for people to eat with… Read More ›
Can the “impact of research” be measured?
Those working in academic institutions are by now all familiar with the new power-acronym: the REF (research excellence framework 2014). Even though its aim is commendable – to assess how good is the research done by universities, faculties, and departments… Read More ›
Towards a Comtean Revival in Sociology
I have been closely associated with the field of science and technology studies (STS) since my graduate student days, nearly thirty years ago. In 1984, as a PhD student in history and philosophy of science, I published the first piece… Read More ›
BSA TEACHING GROUP Inaugural Conference
28th – 30th September 2012 Menzies Strathallan Hotel, Birmingham Programme now online at: http://www.atss.org.uk/uploaded/BSA_Teaching_Group_Program_270612.pdf Speakers: Professor John Holmwood (University of Nottingham), Former Chair of the Council of UK Heads & Professors of Sociology, Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences & the incoming President of the British Sociological Association Professor Corrine Squire (University of East London), Humanities… Read More ›
Follow SI on Facebook and Twitter
This is a reminder that the Sociological Imagination has a presence on facebook. Please do add us as a friend and feel free to get in contact. We’re always open to ideas and suggestions so please don’t hesitate if there’s… Read More ›
‘Academic spring’ or media hype? The open acccess debate and what it means for researchers
This session will explore the profound changes currently taking place within academic publishing and address their implications for researchers. Debates around ‘open access’ have recently entered mainstream debate, with the Guardian talking of an ‘academic spring’ building around the world…. Read More ›
What does the government’s open access announcement mean for researchers? A round up of coverage and reaction…
The BIS announcement The Finch report Finch report: the question of costs Why the UK Should Not Heed the Finch Report Predictable Problems — The UK’s Move to Open Access Free access to British scientific research within two years Government and… Read More ›
Best and worst place to be a woman
The annual State of the World’s Mothers report by Save the Children has some interesting (or depressing, depending on the viewpoint) new statistics on five key indicators of gender equality from women’s perspective in 165 countries. Here is a neat infographic thanks… Read More ›
Generation Y doctoral students
JISC have recently released the findings from the Researchers of Tomorrow study they conducted in association with the British Library. This three year longitudinal study explored the research behaviour of Generation Y doctoral students (those born between 1982 and 1994) and has… Read More ›
Sociology@Warwick
A quick flag up to any interested readers that the Sociology Department at the University of Warwick now has a blog and twitter feed. Although Sociological Imagination has no formal connection to the department, a number of people involved in… Read More ›
Why Academic Sociology Does Not Deserve The Hatchet
Note: This list was written as a quick response to this post on Freakonomics, “Sociology and Political Science Deserve The Hatchet.” The photograph above is of one of the very first American sociologists, Anna Julia Cooper, who received her doctorate from… Read More ›
Call for Contributions: what does the Sociological Imagination mean today?
It has been over 50 years since C. Wright Mills wrote the Sociological Imagination. In that time the world has changed beyond recognition: the Cold War ended, the Keynesian consensus broke down, a globalizing neoliberalism rose to the ascendancy and… Read More ›
Experiencing sociology’s midlife crisis?
Is it possible for an academic discipline to experience a midlife crisis? The recent exchange in the British Journal of Sociology on ‘sociology’s misfortune’ (Holmwood, 2010; Savage, 2010a; Rosenfeld, 2010) was just the most recent of a raft of work… Read More ›
A very brief critique of happiness studies
The NYTimes recently published yet another intriguing article, one of many, on the topic of happiness and the links between happiness and money: (you can read the article here), by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton. However, as a researcher of… Read More ›
Public Scholarship and Private Commitments
<a href=”http://bundlr.com/b/best-of-si-public-scholarship-and-private-commitments” target=”_blank”>”Best of SI – Public Scholarship and Private Commitments” on Bundlr</a>
What’s ‘honorary’ about an Honorary Research Assistant?
Last week the University of Birmingham advertised for an Honorary Research Assistant to work in its School of Psychology. It looks to be quite interesting work – two or more days a week clinically assessing adolescents who are seeking… Read More ›
Online Communities and Digital Research Methods: a cautionary note
One of the most exciting things about the internet from a sociological perspective is the impact it has on the formation of communities – groups who might otherwise be too geographically dispersed are able to come together, often elaborating some degree of… Read More ›