My attendance at the Vitae conference was sponsored by SCONUL and supported by RLUK and the RIN, so that Wendy White and I could give a presentation highlighting some of the issues in the RIN Mind the Skills Gap report. As usual I promised to put our slides onto my blog, so that anyone attending could download copies, so here they are:
Some of the feedback from our presentation was gathered on post-its, answering the question “tell us one thing which has occurred to you during this talk” (yes, I’m hooked on the one thing feedback idea!)and again, I promised delegates I’d include their comments on the blog, so here they are, in no particular order and in unedited form:
– need to review university training in respect of information literacy for wide researcher base, particularly research leaders
– information about information should be made available online so that all researchers can access the material – perhaps RCUK should fund such an exercise
– as a senior researcher/trainer/postgraduate developer how do I address my huge information skills gap in order to then more effectively encourage other researchers to fill their gaps!? It’s so important and a little overwhelming.
– incentives for improving data curation skills
– I think everyone today is in danger of information overload so in order to be an efficient researcher you really need to have the skills to recognise what is useful information and what is not
– impact, impact factor, new web based developments
– how can I promote my research publications to improve my H index?
– work with library staff to devise appropriate training for research staff
– how do we get buy in from these different stages of researchers? Is the message well received?
– choosing to plagiarise or not to plagiarise – links information skills and personal effectiveness (self confidence, finding your own voice etc)
– a lot of this conference seems to be about information literacy if we take this definition, why don’t I know more about it?
– the quote says it all [ quote was “The more you know, the more you realise that you don’t know, whereas if you don’t know you don’t know, you can be quite confident that you know”]
– need to think about the idea of attitudes and behaviours in relation to information, I haven’t thought of it as more than competencies before