Thread by @raulpacheco

Microthread on a typology of work I'm trying to clarify in my own head. This applies obviously to life before, during and AFTER the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think sometimes, in our institutionally-induced anxiety to "produce more, more, more" we devalue other kinds of work we do.

In another thread, I distinguished 3 types of work:

- "runway" work (hat tips to Dr. @meredithdclark who coined this "runway work" term) - this is work we need to get done even before we start "producing" (creating slides requires runway work that involves researching/reading)

- "grunt work" - this is work that does not "appear" like it leads to getting the "most valued" work, "writing/teaching/researching", but that we need to do. Transcribing interviews and field notes (though this could be considered "runway" work). Cleaning Mendeley/Zotero fields.

- and then the "writing/researching work" - the one where we sit down and produce words on the page, edit them, produce/insert graphs, run models, etc.

As I said, I'm trying to clarify this typology in my own head too. But basically, the point I'm trying to make ist that ...

... there's a lot of invisible work involved in getting even 10 minutes of writing done.

WE SHOULD VALUE IT ALL.

And don't even get me started on care work. Writing while homeschooling 3 kids? Impossible or next to impossible (I salute you, academic parents).

In academia...

... contrary to this view from outside, we work A LOT and do a lot of stuff "behind the scenes". Stuff that is not visible to a lot of people. Work that those who have systematically devalued higher education and academia are not seeing.

We should make this work visible.

FIN.