After a conversation with one of my course mates earlier this evening about the fact that I had decided to upload some of my work into the public domain (through this blog) I’m starting to question the decision to do so.
At the time I uploaded the report because it was relevant to the news agenda of the day; The ICC had banned the three Pakistani cricketers at the centre of the ‘spot fixing' furore for spells of between five and ten years. The opportunity to express my opinion in such an academic format and ‘catch the eye’ of professionals in all industries, especially PR, seemed too good to miss.
The main rationale behind my decision to continue blogging is the hope that it makes me more employable; one of the biggest worries I currently have is that I won’t be able to find a job (other than shelf stacking in Tesco) after I leave Southampton Solent University in May / June.
But now the more I think about it (and I have thought about it, a lot) there’s huge potential for this to backfire massively. Even though I’m happy with the work - and the report plus its findings make perfect sense to me, it might not actually be that good academically; putting it online before receiving the marks is a massive personal gamble.
I’m due to receive feedback on Tuesday and I jokingly said to my friend that if the report was graded at a 2:2 standard (50-59%) or lower I would take it down in the seconds following the return of my work.
But what happens if I do get a 2:2? I will remove the post with the report embedded within, which will obviously mean a loss of face amongst anyone who reads this blog, or knows that I’ve hosted my work online.
Should I have waited to find out the marks? I understand that the internet (especially blogging) is still one of the best ways to display and promote creative work, but things are obviously different for more academic material and reports are not gifted the external subjectivity that music and the arts are.
I’d be very interested to see what others think. Students - would you ever display academic work online and what grade would you want to attain before doing so?
Paul
I'd never put work online until I'd it had been graded and it would need to get 1st before I showed it to anyone other than my close friends, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteEven then, I'd have to have a really good reason to do so, if only because blogging and academic reports are a different audience.
I might quote little bits and talk about them, or talk about how well I did / what I could imrpove, but I doubt I'd be put it all up. Certainly, I agree with your doubts - putting up anything but your absolute best is probably a bad idea.
I think that the only way I can possibly leave the report up after Tuesday is if it gets a 1st, because there isnt anything higher than that and it'll be the best of what I can do.
ReplyDeleteIf this goes well, I'll consider uploading my dissertation once its been marked, because the subject matter (music festivals) can be something that could help me get a job in music / leisure / entertainment PR after we leave, without the cost of posting a printed copy out everywhere.
But I won't be so eager to post any work online in the future, the risk just isn't worth the extra stress!
I'm sorry to have added to your stress! But I guess what I said has given you some food for thought. You said you put your work online because it was relevant to the news at the time, and you were obviously proud of your efforts which is a good thing. So I would say the risk you face is receiving a grade lower than you hoped for. However, you can still be proud of your work and since it's a topical subject then there is probably an audience to read it. Maybe if things don't go as planned on Tuesday you could re-write and summarise the report to make the key points more accessible for web. That's probably better than displaying your entire report whether it's a first or 2:2 anyway.
ReplyDelete