What I'm Worth

Phew. I've spent the best part of the weekend, and half of today, working on my application for promotion to the level of Lecturer at QUT. While pretty much everyone I talk to tells me that I shouldn't have any problem getting there, that's not necessarily very helpful - I can't afford any complacency in preparing the application documents. And at any rate, the work required to complete the application itself (4 pages of a succinct case for promotion, 20 pages of a detailed case, and 20 pages of evidence in support of the application) is still the same.

I'm not necessarily opposed to talking about myself, but spending this much space listing my achievements does get pretty exhausting. Sure, it's kinda nice taking stock of what I've achieved these past few years, but I could well do without needing to prove their impact... I think I have everything under control now, though, and I've secured the support of a great group of referees - John Hartley, Jude Smith, and Paul Makeham from QUT, and my good friend Donna Lee Brien who is now at the University of New England in Armidale. I've worked closely with all of them and I'm sure they'll help me jump through this hoop.

I'm also preparing another application - for travel funding to the U.S. and Canada in the northern autumn. In addition to attending the Association of Internet Researchers conference (5-9 Oct., Chicago) and Creative Places + Spaces (30 Sep./1 Oct., Toronto) and possibly the International Symposium on Wikis (17/18 Oct.) I may also be spending some time in New York State, by the looks of it - Trebor Scholz at the Institute for Distributed Creativity at SUNY has offered me a brief research residency (a few days in Buffalo, and a week in New York). Still got to work out the details, but hopefully I can make it work!