The google-tap

Today I have developed a new found respect for the 'old school' among us. This is because I have spent the evening cutting and pasting until my fingernails were sweating. In revising a research proposal one realises that there are elements that can be borrowed from previous work and there are the notes that are stored on a hard drive somewhere and the 3rd version of a literature review that got sidetracked. All of these bits and pieces can be amalgamated and tweaked, in places entirely rewritten, but they can be laid out on a page and digested. How did one do this with pens and paper and without the use of a computer, especially with notes or half finished things where the references are often incomplete? 


Now we are but a google tap away from polished footnotes and complete page references for any quotation I find myself thinking that this evening's work would have taken me days in the past. The actual physical act of writing would possibly not have varied that much but I would certainly have needed at least one trip to a library and a heck of a lot more patience. Tonight I have rewritten paragraphs - had a cup of tea - and then revised them. Once I am happy with them I get that feeling of completion, even if it is just with a sentence or paragraph. If I knew that I had to handwrite it again in some format once the whole project was complete I think the tea would have rapidly become gin.


My other observation was on-line communities. Whilst I have been working I have also been able to tweet, email and check the book of face. This is great. In the past, when working, I would dread the phone ringing because of the interruption but a little part of me would long for it so I had contact with someone, even if it was to tell them to sod off. Social networking means I can work and then email my supervisor - who is also up working - to ask them a question - and they get back to me. I can tweet a friend for some banal quick interaction which leaves me satiated and also able to focus. The windows don't look dirty because I am not looking for distractions, I have them on another tab if I need them.


This all leads me to conclude tonight that academics, scholars and researchers of the past - pre-computers, pre-internet and google and social networking must have laboured over their work. They must have been beaten down by the time it would take to get an answer to a simple question and they must have lived in MASSIVE houses with room upon room stuffed full of papers and notes and scribbles and letters and sweat and tears. So tonight I raise my glass to all researchers of the past. Well done you.