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My best writing space: understanding academics
self-professed writing spaces
Angela R. Dobele
1
&Ekant Veer
2
Published online: 6 December 2018
#Springer Nature B.V. 2018
Abstract
Research into academic writing has, in large part, focused on the fundamentals of how to
write, and as a result, the understanding that writers require a space in which to
concentrate on writing is not new. What is lacking, however, is detailed consideration
of what influences writing practice and, specifically, an understanding of how scholarly
writers construct their writing taskspaces. This paper explored how academic writers
organised their best writing taskspaces. The notion of what constituted best was self-
defined by informants. Informants submitted photographs of their best writing spaces, and
these were analysed using a two-part methodology. First, the artistic and structural
elements of the photographs were considered followed by analysis of the each photo-
graph’s aesthetic qualities to determine the participants’establishment and maintenance
practices. The relationship between academic writers and their best writing spaces was
categorised around construction and consumption themes. A typology of academic writers
was developed from these findings. A four-part research agenda is proposed. This
research extends understanding to include the informant’s role in creating writing spaces
which may guide building and design, renovations and reallocation plans for departments
and assist individual academics to improve writing productivity and effectiveness. The
findings may also assist managers to ensure that employer-provided working habitats are
conducive to effective writing.
Keywords Academic infrastructure analyses .Publishing .Qualitative methods .Promotion and
tenure .Higher education
Higher Education (2019) 78:345–364
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0346-y
*Angela R. Dobele
angela.dobele@rmit.edu.au
Ekant Veer
ekant.veer@canterbury.ac.nz
1
School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2
College of Business and Law, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
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