Reflections on Technology

Originally published in the Scotsman.

Sometimes I wonder how anybody managed to do academic work before computers and the internet. I am in awe of scholars a generation ago, who carried out their intellectual tasks with the aid of only typewriters, manual filing systems, and their own photographic memories. If I had to mimic their endeavours, I would be completely lost.

For almost every element of my PhD, I am utterly dependent on technology. Whether casting about for a place to begin or seeking small but crucial details in finishing a project, the internet provides a 24-hour resource. I keep track of my reading with special software that automatically formats my bibliography and organises my notes. I spend more time e-mailing my supervisors than I spend speaking with them, and we’re considering creating an online quiz for part of my fieldwork.

All the government documents I need for my research are publicly accessible to anyone with an internet connection, and through my university’s membership, I have instant access to thousands of online journal articles. I can search for specific phrases, download any article I want, and read it on my computer. I can also follow links to related articles, wandering the mysterious pathways of citations and references. In pre-internet days, scholars would have to painstakingly follow bibliographies through the physical archives of libraries.

The same is true for books. I search library catalogues from home to check if certain books are in stock, and to find their location. I can avoid late fees by renewing books online, and sometimes I can avoid the library entirely. There are web tools that allow me to search for specific words or phrases in books, and to read a limited number of scanned pages. This is particularly useful if I need access to a book when the library is closed, or if I need something that’s been checked out. A generation ago, students were forced to set their study schedules by the library’s opening hours, and wait their turn for popular books. Technology is making life much easier for students like me, who have a hard time keeping “normal” hours.

Of course, technology must always be balanced by good judgement. Knowing the difference between reliable and dubious internet sources is part experience, part intuition, and mostly common sense. Plagiarism is easy in the age of copy-paste, and Google has recently banned adverts for essay-writing services. The cynical part of me wonders if cheating is not the natural extension of handling university degrees like expensive commodities. When students are treated like anonymous numbers, it’s no wonder some try to get around the system.

Still, there are low-tech solutions for problems wrought by technology – computers will never replace the intellectual abilities that students seek in university. For instance, increasing the required number of writing assignments would give students the opportunity to develop their skills, rather than feeling pressured to copy or buy an essay online. At the same time, lecturers would get to know their students’ styles and spot inconsistencies. The biggest difference I’ve noticed between Scottish and American universities is the amount of writing expected from undergrads – when I went to university in California, it was not unusual for each lecturer to assign short essays every week, with a longer essay or exam at the end of the year. In Scotland, undergrads seem to write only once or twice a semester for each course.

Either way, some problems are to be expected. With technology to ease the practical demands of academic work, it seems inevitable that some students will overstep the limits and seek to ease the intellectual demands as well.