Part if academic life for professors is to do research to advance the field of knowledge. Publication of research is important for sharing knowledge and is a big part of achieving tenure. However, another important part of sharing research is presenting one’s research at conferences.
The academic conference is a place to hear many other presentations, find out what is developing, and get to know other researchers. Networking with others is made simple and encouraged at these conferences. Networking is one of the primary purposes and benefits of academic conferences.
Now that travel is limited and social distancing is still being enforced due to the covid-19 situation, conferences are cancelled or put online. These “virtual” conferences are nice in that they allow sharing of one’s research and the opportunity to hear others’ research findings.
Virtual conferences are not good for networking.
I remember several conference situations that provided me the opportunity to meet scholars and researchers from areas and disciplines different from my own, but their ideas, approaches, methodologies and findings shed light and inspired my own professional development, but virtual conferences are not good for networking.
Networking became my primary goal and benefit for attending academic conferences. Considering this as I read through announcements of “virtual conference” announcements, I became disheartened. I also remembered the post “Going Critical” by Melting Asphalt I wrote about in an earlier post.
For years I’ve been fairly dismissive of academia. A short stint as a PhD student left a bad taste in my mouth. But now, when I step back and think about it (and abstract away all my personal issues), I have to conclude that academia is still extremely important.”
Kevin Simler, “Going Critical
I’ve attended several ‘virtual conferences’ even before this covid era. I spent time in the ‘lounges’ and ‘chat rooms’ at those conferences. I read comments from many people, but never really was able to make any connections or to glean ideas that were helpful. But there were no opportunities to meet people through common acquaintances in the lobby, at a coffee break, or during a trip to dinner. Even brief introductions or ‘run-ins’ during a face-to-face conference begins to make a connection between people. You put a name with a face – so much more effective than putting a name to an avatar or generic shape of a head and shoulder outline.
Socializing virtually is just not the same as face-to-face. The research done on mediated relationships bears this out [cite theory/research re: relational development, bandwidth, etc.]
The MIT Human Dynamics Lab reports this about face-to-face interactions:
According to researchers at MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab, as much as 80% of our ability to influence someone else, happens in these face-to-face interactions. Researchers within the lab have spent years tracking data from electronic interaction badges and correlating it to various performance drivers across industries. In one study they were able to demonstrate that face-to-face requests are 34 times more effective than those sent by email. In fact, over time, the lab has determined that up to 35% of a given team’s ability to drive performance can be explained by the number of times team members engage face-to-face.
The Power of Proximity: Influencing in the Era of Social Distancing
The article goes on to explain that trust and similar behaviors are not shared or learned as quickly through mediated channels as they are face-to-face. The author gives an example of how networking with just a few ‘energized’ members enhances the idea production of an organization, but the “problem is the natural emission of this energy erodes in a virtual environment.”
So without face-to-face interactions, we are all at a disadvantage. Not only will relationships suffer, but our academic research will also be handicapped and slowed.
As universities travel through this covid-era mine field, it is important for universities to adjust expectations for tenure-track academics. I see this as an important requirement for at least two reasons: first, the lack of networking I just mentioned (yes, it does make a difference in how one goes about their research even though a person does not need to go to a conference in order to publish their research); and second, because of the added time needed to prepare to deliver online classes (even ‘blended’ classes or some version of non-face-to-face instruction takes additional planning, preparation and assessment). If tenure-track faculty must take additional time for instruction, then that means less time for research.
As universities travel through this covid-era mine field, it is important for tenure-track academics to adjust their expectations. I’m not saying that virtual networking is impossible or that it does not happen. It does, and I have benefitted from it. However, it takes more time and it definitely takes more effort and a more conscious, planned, strategic effort. It is not as creative or serendipitous as any face-to-face conference provides.
And that is sad.
My travels throughout my professional life have enriched my research in bountiful ways, and my travel – see my Not a Tourist blog for my stories, and even the Not a Tourist Map for all the conference locations I have traveled to. I fear that is over – at least until we can actually travel to a conference again and not worry that being around others will make us deathly ill.