At the Center of Academic Innovation:

Two Examples from UCLA

9 August 2017• UCCSC 2017 @ UCSD

Betterresultswithgreaterdiversityintheinnovationdiscussion

• 2012 Presidential election. Obama re-elected in part thanks to social media-based engagement strategies. IT at the table!

• Research shows that military strategies are improved when women are at the table.

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Somecontext

• What is the Center for Digital Humanities (CDH)?

• Who is Annelie?• Academic innovation: What is CDH’s role?• Why am I talking about this topic?• So what?

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Whatisthisreallyabout?

• Changing the culture around who should be involved in academic innovations, and when.

• Driving awareness of the value of tech expertise in designing and shaping, not just executing and deploying.

• Bringing tech expertise sooner into academic innovation processes– before decisions are made!

• Doing academic innovation better.

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Challenges:WhatstopsITfrombeingatthecenterofacademicinnovation?

• Perception of IT as not “academic”• Perception of IT as not understanding academia• Perception of IT as responsive (= reactive)• Perception of IT as tool or “utility”• Perception that IT doesn’t/can’t “speak

academic”• IT is not at the table where academic ideas are

shaped and decisions are being made!

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Opportunities:It’stimeforITtoinform/shapeacademicinnovation

• UC IT leadership recognizes this is needed– UC IT Leadership Academy: be in the conversation!

• IT is everyday in most academic lives: visibility, usefulness à acceptance, familiarity

• Academic job market includes ’alt-ac’ job seekers with academic + tech creds– ‘Bilingual’ IT staff who speak academic and tech

• Pace of tech change requires thinking ahead, not designing for the now.

• Decisions are better with diverse inputs – tech needs to be one of those perspectives!

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Howtobeinvitedtotheacademicinnovationconversation?

• Strategy: Become indispensable to decision-making– Be excellent; “Pockets of Excellence”– Bring a perspective that is valued

• Let them know the value IT brings and has brought• Let them know what you see in the future that should inform today’s and

future decisions

• Tactics: Mix it up with academics– Be present in academic discussions and communities:

faculty/Chairs/dean’s meetings, academic issues forums (research, funding, pedagogy, enrollment), even lectures!

– If you’re not invited, create communities for academic discussion and invite the academics!

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TwoexamplesfromUCLA

1. Digital Humanities Infrastructure Symposium (DHIS). http://www.cdh.ucla.edu/symposium/

2. Scholarly Innovation Lab (SIL). http://www.cdh.ucla.edu/research/scholarly-innovation-lab/

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DHInfrastructureSymposium(DHIS)• A gathering of anyone involved in DH to share

how DH is done, focusing on the human and technical “infrastructure” that makes DH possible.

• In 2016: a one-day series of presentations and demos.

• In 2017: a second half-day set of workshops added to the initial day of presentations.

• In 2018: switching workshops to precede the presentations.

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DHInfrastructureSymposium(DHIS)

• Why? Fills an unmet need for both techs and academics to understand how DH research and teaching “gets done”.

• What? 1+ days. Presentations, demos by techs, academics, techs+academics.

• Who? Anyone who “does DH” and wants to do it better. Techs, librarians, data experts, faculty and grads.

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DHInfrastructureSymposium(DHIS)=Info-sharingaroundinnovation

• Community:discovery, knowledge, networking • Shared value• Shared authority• Techs and academics are talking, understanding

one another!• Not an academic conference. Not an IT

conference. It’s about doing the work!• DH is inherently collaborative, with mutual

dependency of techs and academics

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ScholarlyInnovationLab(SIL)

• A dedicated collaboration space for anyone doing or interested in doing digital research.

• A resident technologist works in the space and ensures that others can work there. – Note: Tech expertise, NOT tech support

• It’s no one’s space; it’s everyone’s space!• Discovery and collaboration happen as an

organic result of being together in the space.– Some planned, much unplanned

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ScholarlyInnovationLab(SIL)• Why? Fills an unmet need for techs and

academics. “Neutral” territory in the Library. Shared purpose is digital research.

• What? Three connected spaces for presentation, project teamwork, individual and small-group work. Variety of furniture, tech-ready, screen sharing, no permanent desks.

• Who? Technologists, librarians, faculty, grads, undergrads = The entire university cosmos!

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ScholarlyInnovationLab(SIL)=Homebase

• Community: visible, open, welcoming.• Shared value• Shared authority• Techs and academics are talking, understanding

one another!• Not an academic space. Not an IT space. It’s

about doing the work (or learning how to do it)!• Digital research is inherently collaborative, with

mutual dependency of techs and academics

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Sowhat?

• What difference has this made? Are we in the right conversations at the right time?

• Is it worth the extra effort?• Lessons learned:

– What we will continue– What we might change

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Whatdifferencehasthismade?• Community• Shared value• Techs and academics are talking, understanding one

another!• Connections: Practitioners are finding the expertise

they need more quickly• Results: The teaching, research and technical

projects are better.– Example: “Paris: Past & Present” (Prof. Meredith Cohen)

• Culture change: Academics are seeing the value of tech expertise in shaping academic innovation

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Arewe(IT)intheacademicconversations,attherighttime?

YES! In conversations about…• Digital projects: Faculty, grads are consulting

with tech staff as they propose new projects.• Library strategic planning: Technologists are

involved in work groups and the planning process.

• UCLA campus-wide planning for research needs: Academic leaders are consulting IT.

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Isitworththeeffort?

YES!• Investments: Courage, initiative, time, space,

time, a little furniture and tech, time.• Returns:

– Academic participants: Familiarity/comfort, acceptance, respect, awareness, recognition.

– Technologists: In the mix, peer relationships, demonstrated value.

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Lessonslearned:Whatwewillcontinue• Hosting spaces and events that meet mutual

needs• Focus on community: sharing time, space and

information around academic pursuits• Focus on diversity of expertise, ‘the mix’• Minimal administration• Zero organizational boundaries• Growing just enough: to meet extant need and

ability to sustain

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Lessonslearned:Whatwemightchange1. Documenting the successes

1. Project stories2. Data showing change: who, how many are

participating2. Informing academic leadership of the

successes3. Next: Figuring out how we translate our value

beyond tech-hosted communities back into academic-hosted communities?

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Fromthismorning’skeynoteClimateAccelerators:AnApproachtoChangingEnterpriseCulture,WendyCampana (UCSD)

• Elements of Leadership Team Building:– Develop trust– Mutual respect– Listen to each other– Meet face-to-face– …Maybe what we are talking about is a better (more inclusive) kind of teambuilding for innovation!

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Thoughts?

Annelie Rugg, Humanities CIOUCLA Center for Digital Humanities

annelie@humnet.ucla.eduTwitter: @annelieruggLinkedIn: annelierugg

310-903-7691

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