I bet the time you spend promoting your research every week is close to zero. Once the paper is published and the presentation done (if any), you just move on to the next one. You just assume that the people in need of the solution you created in that paper will find it. At most, you’ll make sure your colleagues cite it, reminding them the paper’s existence every time you discuss about that topic (or review a paper on that topic that does not already mention you 🙂 ).
Kind of the same strategy we all had when starting with open source software. “Build it and they will come (to help)”, we thought. And now, we have dedicated events to see how we can make open source sustainable.
I think this is a huge mistake. Practitioners do not read scientific publications so there is no hope they will stumble upon your paper (and pay to read it, but this is a different discussion) in case this is something you care about.
I do. That’s why in my team we devote so much time writing on my various blogs (e.g. modeling-languages.com, almost 10 years old now, the more recent livablesoftware.com and the Spanish site ingenieriadesoftware.es). The ROI of the blogs is great. Numerous opportunities and contacts came through them even if, for sure, in the short term you may end up publishing less papers (let’s be clear, empty/dead blogs have the worst possible ROI and give a bad impression, i.e. you look like somebody that cannot even succeed in keeping a blog alive, so either you have one and invest time on it, or better forget about it).
But I don’t think blogging is enough. This year, we’ll be trying to participate in local meetups as a different way to promote what we do (and to get feedback and better understand whether what we do is useful). This is not that easy (it’s not like there is a UML or modeling meetup in Barcelona, so to begin with, we need to look for meetups on topics where we can apply our modeling arsenal or, in general, our expertise).
If I were you, I’d put “promote my own research” as one of your new year resolutions. I’m sure that by now you’ve already failed in a few of the new year resolutions you were hoping to accomplish this year so you’ve room for a new one Just remember “all-things-research” are a marathon not a sprint.
And yes, congrast if you’re the exception. Feel free to share how you promote your research so we can all try those as well!
