Rebekah Willson, S. Makri, Dana Mckay, Philips Ayeni
{"title":"Precarity and progression during a pandemic. Preliminary findings from a study of early career academics’ information behaviour during COVID-19","authors":"Rebekah Willson, S. Makri, Dana Mckay, Philips Ayeni","doi":"10.47989/irisic2225","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"COVID-19 has increased research, teaching and administrative pressures for all academics and, by doing so, exacerbated inequalities experienced by early career academics, who were already dealing with several sources of uncertainty in trying to establish their careers. This study sought to understand the experiences of the academics during the pandemic. We conducted semi-structured remote interviews with 18 participants (PhDs awarded in past 6 years), from a variety of countries; Canada, US, Australia, UK, New Zealand, and South Africa. Interviews were analysed using a reflexive inductive Thematic Analysis approach. Preliminary findings demonstrate that the pandemic has disrupted information acquisition and sharing among ECAs. The increasing amount of incorrect and irrelevant information disseminated by universities, alongside the de-prioritisation of information that is particularly valued by these academics (e.g., information related to professional development and career development) has led some to avoid information.The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the precarious situations faced. Universities need to acknowledge uncertainty, reduce information overload by providing relevant and useful information and provide useful information on and support for career progression.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2225","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
COVID-19 has increased research, teaching and administrative pressures for all academics and, by doing so, exacerbated inequalities experienced by early career academics, who were already dealing with several sources of uncertainty in trying to establish their careers. This study sought to understand the experiences of the academics during the pandemic. We conducted semi-structured remote interviews with 18 participants (PhDs awarded in past 6 years), from a variety of countries; Canada, US, Australia, UK, New Zealand, and South Africa. Interviews were analysed using a reflexive inductive Thematic Analysis approach. Preliminary findings demonstrate that the pandemic has disrupted information acquisition and sharing among ECAs. The increasing amount of incorrect and irrelevant information disseminated by universities, alongside the de-prioritisation of information that is particularly valued by these academics (e.g., information related to professional development and career development) has led some to avoid information.The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the precarious situations faced. Universities need to acknowledge uncertainty, reduce information overload by providing relevant and useful information and provide useful information on and support for career progression.
期刊介绍:
Information Research, is an open access, international, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, dedicated to making accessible the results of research across a wide range of information-related disciplines. It is published by the University of Borås, Sweden, with the financial support of an NOP-HS Scientific Journal Grant. It is edited by Professor T.D. Wilson, and is hosted, and given technical support, by Lund University Libraries, Sweden.