I write these pieces every 6 months. This one will be my ‘about my research’ contribution to the Applied Informatics research community gathering on Wednesday 11 February. (At previous Centre for Social Informatics all-centre gatherings I’ve been incapable of speech by the time it’s my turn to report.[1] But this is mostly because I hate public speaking.) Click this link to see all the pieces in this series.

Academic/Napier

en route	Platform to Platform, investigating changes in reactions to a historical diary as it moves from a textual platform to an audio platform (podcasts). By the end of July I had written a full project report as a basis for public outputs. Since then, we’ve presented about the project at the Archives and Records Association conference and a round-table at the BBC at 100 Symposium, and at the Creative Informatics showcase event. We’re due to start work on a full academic paper soon. I’m PI; Hazel Hall and Iain McGregor are Co-Is. Podcast production and website work were undertaken by 3rd-year students Alex Gencs, David Graham, James McLachlan, Andras Peter, and Michael Suttie.
en route	Heritage organisations and podcasts: scoping study, investigating the research landscape on the role of podcasts in the work of heritage organisations. This is the flip-side of Platform to Platform, which is investigating the impact of heritage podcasts on listeners. We completed the project report, presenting the literature review, empirical data and analysis (interviews with cultural heritage podcasters) and research questions that this work leads to. We’ve just submitted an abstract to the organisers of the ‘Shaking the Archive’ conference. I’m PI; Hazel Hall and Iain McGregor are Co-Is; Marianne Wilson is researcher.
en route	Information Literacy Impact Framework, reviewing relevant literature to create a framework of information literacy impact. We completed the project report, and blogged about it on the Media and Information Literacy Alliance’s website https://mila.org.uk/news/il-impact-framework. I’m due to present about the project, and work towards IL practitioners’ validation of our findings, at the CILIP Scotland Information Literacy Community of Practice meeting on 17 January. Then we will work up an academic paper and hopefully a guide for practitioners. I’m Co-I; Peter Cruickshank is PI; Marina Milosheva is researcher.
en route	Community Councils online 2022, surveying community councils’ online presences. This follows up on the 2012 and 2014 surveys. Data has been gathered; cleansing, analysis and output writing are in progress. I’m Co-I; Peter Cruickshank is PI; two MSc students gathered data.
en route	Funding bids In summer 2022, I led a bid for a big contract research project. We won the contract but we’ve not been able to start the work due to factors beyond our control.I led the writing of two public engagement funding bids, and contributed to another. The signs are that all three were successful. If so, I’ll lead one of the projects, co-lead another and co-ordinate a work-thread on the third.At the time of writing this post, I have just finished leading the writing of another bid for some contract research.
en route	Information avoidance and diabetes. Despite a lot of help from Hazel and very helpful anonymous internal reviews, my first attempt at a paper was not accepted for ISIC (Berlin, September), so we are now aiming for publication in Health Information and Libraries Journal. Gemma Webster is PI; I’m researcher.
en route	MSc supervision. I’m now supervising two Business School students’ MSc dissertation work. They live in very sunny climes, and I’m jealous!
success	Marking Professional Practice 2 reports. I enjoy this sort of marking, where I’m able to add comments that (I hope) help students enhance their analysis and writing skills.

Non-academic

Success	Minutes secretary and web-weaver for 3 Edinburgh community councils: Leith Central, Leith Harbour and Newhaven, New Town & Broughton
Success	£eithChooses participatory budgeting: publishing, IT, web, admin, working with Edinburgh Council to enable online voting. This year we are adding postal voting, to support people who can’t use or are uncomfortable with online voting while we still can’t hold in-person voting days.
Success	Community Councils Together on Trams: taking minutes and asking important impertinent questions
en route	Still trying to get through probate for my late mother. Dealing with the part of her estate that she received from my father is seems to be making progress; the part that she left in trust for my sister is arse-grindingly slow and complex.
Success	My wife and I have still not had our cycling holiday to a hobbit-house in the Netherlands. (It was planned for April 2020!) However, covid, Brexit and my legs didn’t stop us cycling most of the way from IJMuiden to Kiel, taking a ferry to Oslo, spending a couple of days with a friend, taking the ferry back to Kiel, taking a series of long train journeys back to Amsterdam, then spending a final couple of days in Zaandam.
Not yet started	In September 2020, it became possible to ‘re-acquire’ the Austrian citizenship I would have inherited from my mother if she kept her own. (She was born Jewish in in Vienna in 1930, and only just escaped in 1938.) I’ve just not had (made?) the time to apply yet. However, I am getting lessons in Austrian-accented spoken German from Kerstin Steiner.

The main barrier to all of the above is ongoing can’t-be-arsed-itis.

[1] by Dorothy Parker

I wish I could drink like a lady
I can take one or two at the most
Three and I’m under the table
Four and I’m under the host.