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Outcasts on the inside: academics reinventing themselves online

Costa, Cristina

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Authors

Cristina Costa



Abstract

© 2014 Taylor & Francis. Recent developments in digital scholarship point out that academic practices supported by technologies may not only be transformed through the obvious process of digitization, but also renovated through distributed knowledge networks that digital technologies enable, and the practices of openness that such networks develop. Yet, this apparent freedom for individuals to re-invent the logic of academic practice comes at a price, as it tends to clash with the conventions of a rather conservative academic world. In other words, it may still take some time until academia and the participatory web can fully identify themselves with one another as spaces of ‘public intellectualism’, scholarly debate and engagement. Through a narrative inquiry approach, this research explores how academic researchers engaged in digital scholarship practices perceive the effects of their activity on their professional identity. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus is used as a theoretical construct and method to capture and understand the professional trajectories of the research participants and the significance of their digital practices on their perceived academic identity. The research suggests that academics engaged in digital practices experience a disjointed sense of identity. The findings presented in this article illustrate how experiences with and on the participatory web inform a new habitus which is at odds with a habitus that is traditionally expected in academia.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 11, 2014
Publication Date Jan 1, 2015
Deposit Date Mar 15, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 15, 2018
Journal International Journal of Lifelong Education
Print ISSN 0260-1370
Electronic ISSN 1464-519X
Publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 34
Issue 2
Pages 194-210
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2014.985752
Keywords habitus, digital scholarship, Pierre Bourdieu, identity
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/823821
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2014.985752
Additional Information Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Lifelong Education on 10th December 2014, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2014.985752
Contract Date Mar 15, 2018

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