by

Nieske Vergunst

The trouble with self-publishing ongoing research

When I started this open research notebook a few months ago, I was planning to publish a new entry every month or so. You may have noticed that it has taken quite a bit longer this time. So in the interest of continually sharing my research progress with you, here’s an entry that’s a bit more meta-level, with some insights about the process of writing these open research notebook entries. I’m curious if you recognise some of my experiences in your own work.

Thinking about all the things I’ve done over the past few months, I realised there are two main reasons why it has taken longer than planned to publish my notebook entry #3:

• The trouble with self-imposed deadlines and word counts: when and where to stop?
• Finding time to write.

I’ll expand a bit on both of those reasons.

When and where to stop?

Scope creep is a thing, my friends. The trouble with self-publishing ongoing research is that it’s all up to you to decide that a text is finished enough to put it online. There’s always the option to say: sure, I’ll take another week so I can tweak the text a bit more. And then a week later: I’ll just add one more paragraph with this other interesting insight I’ve encountered in the literature. And so on. My next notebook entry, about sea level rise and how the public feels about it, has been in the making for months now, and it has been difficult to decide when and where to stop.

Finding time to write

I’ve also had a lot of other work going on recently, that ate into the time I had available to write. To give some examples: I gave a few presentations about my research progress. I wrote an abstract for a special issue for the Journal of Science Communication (which, unfortunately, was rejected) and a column for Close Up magazine. There were two wonderful and busy conferences last month: Pathways to Sustainability in Utrecht and Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) in Rotterdam. As a nice bonus, I presented my insights from the PCST conference to the press officers at Utrecht University.

And last but definitely not least important: I’ve been hard at work on the actual public engagement activity that is central to my research. With Betweter Festival looming on the horizon, my research has now entered the stage where I’m mainly doing, instead of just reading, writing and thinking. After a very productive brainstorm with designers Sjors & Ruud and sea level rise researcher Tim Hermans, I’ve now got concrete plans for a sea level rise game. I’ll briefly give you a sneak preview that I’ll dive further into in one of my future notebook entries.

The sea level rise game

The plan we’ve come up with is a semi-collaborative board game about sea level rise. The players are divided into two teams that both have to make some difficult choices that impact the future. The dilemmas for Team Sea level determine the amount of sea level rise in the future, while the dilemmas for Team Solution level are about the measures we can take against rising sea levels, like strengthening flood defenses. To symbolise the uncertainty in sea level predictions, the teams cannot see each other’s answers. After going through a number of dilemmas, the teams come together to see their collectively created future.

While the designers work on the game experience and design, I’m currently busy constructing the dilemmas and the future scenarios. We’ll be testing the game in the summer, and if it all goes as planned, the game will be playable at Betweter Festival on 29 September, and on a few other occasions in October.

How about you?

Coming back to the insights at the top of this notebook entry: are my experiences relatable to you at all? I know that my brain tends to think big and see connections everywhere, so perhaps I’m more susceptible to scope creep than most other people, for example. So I’m genuinely curious to hear your own experiences with this type of work.

Also, what do you think about my plan for a sea level rise game? Any tips or ideas? Or would you like to get a sneak preview in one of the test sessions in the summer?