The Academy Reveal: Reflections of an ECR on a digital platform writing workshop
Dennis Mbugua Muthama, PhD
Introduction
How do academics or researchers share their work with the outside world? They mainly do this through publications such as journal articles, book chapters, conference papers among others. These outputs require dedicated time for reading and writing, raising another question: How do you develop a reading and writing practice for publishing and contributing to key debates in your field? Additionally, as an Early Career Researcher (ECR) how do you build confidence to publish and contribute to your field? It is these and other academic publishing ‘tricks of the trade’ that the How to write about platformization from Africa? workshop addressed. The workshop was hosted by the African Centre for Cities (ACC) from 15th to 17th July 2024, at University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. The workshop sessions were held in the New UCT Graduate School of Business Academic Conference Centre. The workshop was funded by the University of Edinburgh, it brought together ECRs at various stages of their careers - PhD candidates, Postdoc fellows, Lecturers etc. My initial impression of the experience is that an academic writing practice exercise can be built through a beautiful, fun filled, and generous academic exchange workshop. The team dinners were also a plus.
The workshop aimed to seed the growth of digital platforms scholarship from Africa by “collaboratively reflecting on tricks of the trade of academic publishing” (africancentreforcities.net). This was informed by the dearth of contributions from African and Africa based scholars. For example, the organizers’ search on the Web of Science database revealed about 2410 publications since 2008 but “only 38 publications referred to Africa either in the abstract, keywords or the text, with the vast majority of these publications by authors based outside the continent”. This underscores the need for more African voices and publications on Africa’s rapidly changing digital ecosystem. Hence, the workshop. In the next section I reflect on my workshop experience.
My Workshop Reflections
Developing an academic writing process requires mastery of the writing basics. This was perfectly woven into the workshop through the various sessions that revisited and reflected on fundamentals such as elements of an abstract, the structure of an academic paragraph, writing a logical literature review, using AI platforms, and the different writing styles. My general takeaway was that writing is, and writing styles are, personal and unique, and it ought to be fun and exciting. Additionally, there are certain basic writing rules we should all pay attention to, not to straitjacket our learning experiences and writing process but to make it easier for us to communicate our stories and ideas, and ensure our colleagues better understand us. Mastering these writing basics forms the foundation upon which we can build our writing process.
ECRs can use a variety of techniques to overcome writer’s block. During the workshop we participated in several sessions that I found particularly helpful. One session involved a meditation exercise where we reflected on the emotions our writing produces in us and how this in turn informs our understanding of the writing and its situation within our writing projects. Another fantastic session was on ‘Ficto-criticism’ in which we looked at how to express our theories creatively. Underpinning this approach was the idea that an ECRs writer’s block may be due to fixation rigid theoretical frameworks, and thus, allowing ourselves to express our theories as stories may help overcome the block. We also participated in freewriting exercises which I found to be another effective method. overcoming a writer’s block. The different techniques are instructive on how ECRs can use imagination and creativity to overcome a writer’s block.
ECRs can develop a writing practice despite numerous demands on their time. Notably, all the mentors and facilitators in the workshop were busy academics involved in teaching, research, and other activities. Yet, they have carved out impressive research profiles for themselves. How? I observed remarkable intentionality in their writing and research, how they purposefully set aside time to read and write. In the workshop, we mirrored this by dedicating 1 to 2 hours to writing sessions. We tested two approaches: longer writing periods with a break at the end (45 minutes to 1 hour) and shorter periods (25 minutes plus 5-minutes of rest). These sessions helped tested ECRs to identify the best approach for them. Developing a writing practice is indeed possible even in today’s demanding digital world. The goal is to identify what works for you and persistently work at it. I would also add that what works at onetime may not work at another, flexibility and self-kindness during the adjustments are essential.
One question I had going into the workshop was how to effectively handle multiple writing projects. The wisdom shared in the sessions highlighted the importance of creating a peer writing community. Such a community enables ECRs to deliver on different projects effectively. To paraphrase this, alone you can go faster, but with a peer writing community you can go further. Some of the mentors recounted how their peer writing communities enabled them to work on many exciting writing projects and successfully apply for research grants together. These communities also blossomed into beautiful friendships. In my view, while a peer community is important in effectively managing several writing projects, as with any other relationship it has to be based on mutual respect and investment. For instance, having a WhatsApp group to check in on each other and share writing ideas.
I would be lying if I said all the sessions portrayed a rosy picture of academia. The mentors and facilitators acknowledged that the academy can also be a toxic environment with poor working environments, unnecessary competition, constant rejection among others. They emphasised that as ECRs we should expect, but not be discouraged by, journal submissions and grants applications rejections. Instead, persistence is key; it ultimately pays off. To reduce the likelihood of desk rejections due basic mistakes, mentors some of whom are journal editors shared valuable insights. They shared with us how to identify appropriates journal to submit to, handle feedback effectively, and how to determine the right time to resubmit revised papers. This behind-the-scenes look at editorial processes highlighted that academia, like any other venture has good and bad days. The goal is to handle the bad days through being kind to ourselves and understanding that rejections are not personal but opportunities to improve our work. This perspective reinforced a key message from the workshop: ‘we can effectively do academia differently’ by being kind and generous to ourselves and colleagues. In the true spirit of the workshop's goal of seeding change in digital platform scholarship, it is the little things that matter.
Conclusion
The workshop title riffed off Binyavanga Wainaina’s popular essay, in which he used satire to caricature how Africa is portrayed in literature. In my view, the organisers aimed to think collaboratively with the participants on how to build African based digital scholarship and publications without falling into ‘listen to us the writing experts as we know how to make you Africans get published’ trap. This was best exemplified by Prof. Divine Fuh’s keynote address. In his inspirational and thought-provoking talk titled ‘Sequencing Bafut Personhood: Towards an African Centred-AI’, Prof. divine posed several critical questions. Those that stuck with me are: how do you write about Africa as a scholar? What framework do you use to understand Africa’s dynamism? Do you freeze this dynamism? He argued by addressing these questions, and the others that he posed, scholars will “lose themselves, find themselves, and enrich themselves” which in turn will “give them room to play with their writing ideas”. Similarly, the ‘How to write about platformization from Africa’ workshop seeded an open space for ECRs that encouraged them to be intentional, confident and ambitious in documenting and analysing the African digital platforms ecosystem texture in all its forms to the betterment of the academy and society.
References
africancentreforcities.net How to write about platformization in Africa. Available from: https://www.africancentreforcities.net/how-to-write-about-platformization-from-africa/
Binyavanga Wainaina, 2005. How to Write About Africa. Granta 92. Available from: https://granta.com/how-to-write-about-africa/