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Yesterday I got a phone call from a producer at @abcadelaide wanting me to do a radio interview. I outright panicked. I have no idea what she even wanted me to talk about. I said no immediately.
Small thread. 1/
Small thread. 1/
It got me thinking about the intersection between media and academic workloads. You see, I've done a lot of media recently thanks to the masks article. And prior to that a couple of years back, did a few appearances in relation to the mother-and-baby unit project. 1/
There was a marked difference in the experience of these two "media moments". The latter one was a project that I cared deeply about and one that *needed* public advocacy to garner political interest in change.
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The masks thing, on the other hand, was a zeitgeist moment. Everyone was talking about masks. It's not my special area of knowledge. It's not my key research. The media stuff took up a huge amount of time and energy.
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It got me thinking: where does 'media' sit in our academic work life? Is it a form of public service? Is it just something we do for the thrill and attention? Does it count as 'impact' if we apply for tenure or promotion?
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Anyway, I realised that I don't want to become a talking head; opining on topics I have only a basic knowledge of and/or interest in. Doing media takes time away from teaching and research - my core business.
But on the other hand...
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But on the other hand...
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It has an important role for promoting some kinds of research (like the mother and baby unit).
Not sure where the balance lies. Just wanted to put my thoughts out there and hear other viewpoints.
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Not sure where the balance lies. Just wanted to put my thoughts out there and hear other viewpoints.
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