This afternoon I’ve been drafting a marketing and comms plan for Ashridge research for 2010, and in doing so, referred back to old marketing plans. It stuck me just how much things have moved on in terms of research communications in the last couple of years. We now invite people to take part in research projects via web-pages – and all our surveys are web-based. We broadcast the keynote speakers from our recent Future of Learning Conference via the web, albeit not sychronously - though that’ll come soon! - we ask research project leaders to talk to a camera and share the findings of their research via podcasts, and although we still produce research reports in traditional formats, we’re also up for various informal ways of talking about our research – my colleague was recently contacted via Facebook about her article in Harvard Business Review, for example.
I’m not sure of the exact relative effectiveness of each of the communications channels we currently use to share the findings of our research; I suspect different combinations work best for different audiences and purposes, and this changes over time as the appetite for new technologies grows.
However, it does seem that speed over perfection is a trend, and I’ve got a keen interest in how paper-based peer review journals will adapt their lengthy review process. On the subject of academic journals, I’m noticing more invitations to submit to online journals, and for conferences, simply more invitations overall, which leads into another theme: how to select out from the mass of information bombarding my inbox just which bits are worth delving into more deeply, and which to discount at first sight!
