The Grey Lit Café: Recent Episodes
Anthony Haynes
Grey (or gray) literature – 'grey lit' for short – includes such forms of communication as reports, white papers, dissertations, newsletters, slide decks, blogs, and podcasts. The Grey Lit Café explores the opportunities and benefits that grey lit provides for professionals and researchers. The podcast is directed by Anthony Haynes, produced by Dr Bart Hallmark, and published by Frontinus Ltd (frontinus.org.uk), a communications agency focused on engineering, infrastructure, sustainability, and research. .
Anthony Haynes writes: On The Grey Lit Café we frequently focus on specific genres.* In this episode, we focus on the genre of essays. In particular, we discuss the use of essays in examinations.
Engy Moussa (University of Cambridge) and I debate:
- the strengths and weaknesses of essays as an assessment tool
- multiple ways to help students improve the quality of their essays
*Examples include abstracts, blogs, book proposals, dissertations, emails, funding proposals, letters, online lectures, newsletters, pitches, preprints, podcasts, posters, reports, and white papers.
Further listening
We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
- Dissertations and books: how are they related?
- On line lectures: Bart Hallmark on pitfalls and good practice
Reference
Stella Cottrell, The study skills handbook (Palgrave)
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark (who on this episode struggled nobly with poor recording quality!)
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Policy Commons is on a mission to make grey literature - especially in the form of reports, more discoverable and accessible. Its content platform, Coherent Digital, hosts over 12 million documents - and the number is growing rapidly.
Who better to discuss this massive initiative than Toby Green, Founder and Publisher of Policy Commons? In this episode, Toby explains what Policy Commons is, what it exists for, where it's going next, and, crucially, the benefits that it provides to stakeholders - notably publishers, librarians, and readers.
In the process, Toby provides an expert perspective on several themes concerning grey literature in general. They include the definition and characterisation of grey literature, questions of scope and scale, and the need to make digital publications sustainable (notably through persistent identifiers).
Links
- Policy Commons website: https://policycommons.net/
- Our episode with John Barbrook: Decolonising the library and grey literature
Further listening
We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
- David Baxter on effective grey literature: the case of reports on gambling
- Sponsored reports: David Baxter on the interface between research and policy
- Innovation in grey literature dissemination: Cora Cole on GreyLit
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the Show.
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes is the author and publisher of an extensive series of Writing Protocols. In this episode, Engy Moussa interviews Anthony on how to produce protocols in order to get things done - and get them done well.
In the process, they discuss such questions as:
- What is a protocol?
- How to compose protocols
- How are they used and what is their rationale?
- What is the relationship between protocols and learning?
Further listening
We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
- How to write abstracts (I): structure and tone
- How to write abstracts (II): processes
- The case of case studies, with Dr Farrah Arif
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the Show.
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: In this, our latest genre-based, episode, Engy Moussa and I explore newsletters = primarily from the perspective of the reader.
We range widely, exploring questions concerning quantity, spatial design, schedules, the reading journey, distinction, and offputting features.
And we review our favorite examples, asking what can be learned from them about the art of the newsletter.
And, finally, we consider the benefits to writers of contributing to newsletters.
Links
- Our episode on managing emails: Managing emails
- Our episode on Robin Williams' book: The non-designer's design book
- The Royal Mint: www.royalmint.com
- Buzzsprout Weekly: www.buzzsprout.com/2366845/share
- Jenni Field: From chaos to calm
- British Ecological Society: newsletter
- James Clear: 3-2-1
Further listening
We hope you've found this episode a rewarding listen. If so, you might enjoy the following genre-based episodes:
- White papers: what are they? what are they for? how do they add value?
- How to get blogging and stay blogging
Support the Show.
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: It was a treat for this episode to be able to interview Rob Johnson, founder and Managing Director of Research Consulting Ltd. RC is a long-established organisation dedicated to improving the effectiveness and impact of research and scholarly communication.
Rob and his colleagues have worked on a vast range of projects with a variety of stakeholders, including funding agencies, universities, learned societies, and, increasingly, publishers. This wide-ranging interview provides a multitude of insights into all things grey - including the changing landscape (including open access), genres ((including reports and alternatives to them), and the process of co-creation.
In particular, Rob provides guidance on such topics as metadata and infrastructure, sustainability of publications, the marketing and promotion of research comms, and the crucial role in communication behaviours of incentives.
Link
Research Consulting's website is here: https://www.research-consulting.com/
Frontinus's white paper, Research Communication and Grey Literature, is available here: https://writeyourresearch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/03-nov-20-white-on-grey.pdf.
Further listening
We hope you've found this episode is a rewarding listen. If so, you might enjoy the following episodes:
- David Baxter on effective grey literature: the case of reports on gambling
- Innovation in research dissemination: Cora Cole on GreyLit
Support the Show.
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
One question we explore on this podcast is that of antecedents: what came before podcasts?
This episode tells the wonderfully rich history of chautauquas - an enterprising means of bringing entertainment and informal education to small-town America. Chautauquas can be thought of as a kind of predigital Spotify.
Reference
James R. Schultz, The romance of small-town chautauquas (Univ. of Missouri Press, 2002)
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might particularly enjoy the following:
- Where do podcasts come from? Letters as an antecedent
- How to get blogging and stay blogging
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is the third of our series on the relationship between letters and grey literature.
In the first, we made the case, using the case of the correspondence of communications theorist I.A. Richards, for considering letters as a form of grey literature. In the second, using the case of correspondence between George Lyttleton and Rupert Hart-Davis, we explore the idea of letters as an antecedent of podcasts.
Now we consider what implications the idea of counting letters as a genre of grey literature has for the way we define grey literature.
We discuss various definitions of #greylit, notably those related to publishers, genres, and distribution channels. We argue that such definitions are problematic and that consideration of letters helps to highlight several faultlines.
Overall, the most established definitions of grey literature need overhauling.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might particularly enjoy the following:
- But what about letters: their scholarly use as grey literature
- Where do podcasts come from?
- Why we need to talk about silver literature
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Cultural forms and communicative genres tend not to emerge from a vacuum: they tend to emerge from existing forms. In the case of podcasts, obvious candidates include lectures, essays, sermons, and radio interviews.
And, we suggest here, letters.
In this, the second of a series of three episodes devoted to the topics of letters, we examine the resemblance between podcasting and letters.
Using as a case study the literary correspondence between George Lyttleton and Rupert Hart-Davis, we explore the significance of various aspects of content and form, ranging from voice and types of orality to friendship and disagreement.
Reference
The Lyttleton Hart-Davis letters were published in six volumes by John Murray (1978-84).
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might particularly enjoy the following:
- But what about letters: their scholarly use as grey literature
- Online lecturing, with Bart Hallmark
Credits
Sound production: Bart Hallmark
* Music*: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Grey literature covers a multitude of genres - for example, reports, white papers, preprints, and newsletters. But what about letters?
Letters are not usually listed amongst grey literature forms, but this episode puts the case for why letters should sometimes be considered as grey literature.
Reflecting on the letters of literary theorist I.A. Richards, the episode both examines the advantages of considering letters in this light and explores issues and implications that arise from this way of thinking.
References and links
GreyNet International's list of document types is here: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/13201726-understanding-preprints-with-jonny-coates.
Selected letters of I.A. Richards, edited by John Constable (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990).
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode , you might also enjoy the following episodes:
- Consuming grey literature: a reader's perspective
- The business of professional writing
- Understanding preprints, with Jonny Coates
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Overwriting - producing a draft that exceeds your word (or page) limit - is an extremely common problem amongst writers in science, research, and professional areas.
In this episode, Engy Moussa interviews Anthony Haynes. They examine why this problem arises, what harm it does, and, crucially, how to overcome the problem.
The discussion outlines practical solutions, with an emphasis on how to prevent the problem from arising. Topics include the psychology of writing and techniques for planning, reviewing, and editing.
Further listening
We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. You might also enjoy:
- Wasted words: our antidote to verbosity
- Grey literature workflows: the surprising role of pen & paper
- Don't fall in love with your work: Sabuhi Essa on creative processes
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: On The Grey Lit Café we frequently explore grey literature by genre. Here we extend our coverage to the genre of case studies.
To guide us, we interview Dr Farrah Arif, Senior Lecturer at the University of Hull.
Farrah takes us on an expert, and enthusiastic, tour of the genre, taking in:
- how case studies work and what they are used for
- the attraction of case studies and their benefits
- what to do when writing cases - and what not to do
- how to develop as an author of case studies
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following of interest:
- The art of pitching, with Dr Yuxia Zou
- Online lecturing, with Dr Bart Hallmark
- How meetings work, with Dr Carrie Goucher
References and links
Shawn Callahan, Putting stories to work (Pepperberg Press), reviewed on our podcast here: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/13793500-review-putting-stories-to-work-by-shawn-callahan.
Ken Jones, Designing your own simulations (Methuen, 1985).
David A. Kolb, Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development (Prentice Hall, Inc., Pearson Education, 1983)
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: I've long fought for a greater appreciation of forms of serious communication, other than just books and journal papers - forms such as reports, white papers, presentations, and blogs.
But it's difficult because the collective term for such forms is 'grey [or 'grey'] literature', which is a term likely to enthuse anyone.
'Grey' too easily evokes dullness and drabness.
So the term won't do. Instead, I propose 'silver literature' - a term that does more justice to the sense that such works are valuable. Silver literature constitutes a vault of huge value.
Why, even those users of research who continue to assert that peer-reviewed journal papers represent a 'gold standard' of scientific communication must surely acknowledge that.
Here, then, to mark our 50th episode is a proposal: speak not of grey lit, but of silver lit.
silverlit
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following of interest:
- The games we play in science and research communication
- Welcome to The Grey Lit Café
- Another season over and what have we done?
References
Thomas Gray, 'Elegy written in a country churchyard'
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Many engineers need to give presentations. They do so in a variety of contexts - for example, as part of a pitch, project report, conference, or job application. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a top-quality resource on how to do presentations, specifically about engineering?
Well, there is! This episode introduces Rothwell & Cloud's Engineering speaking by design,
Reference
Edward J. Rothwell & Michael J. Cloud, Engineering Speaking by Design:
Delivering Technical Presentations with Real Impact (Routledge)
Further listening
We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. You might also enjoy:
- Review: Putting stories to work, by Shawn Callahan
- The art of pitching, with Yuxia Zou
- Wordclouds: a neglected form of grey literature
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Word processing has been around a long time now - so long, that we barely use the phrase anymore. So dominant in our workflows has it become that we act as though there's no need to distinguish it - as if there is simply no alternative.
So pen and paper have become redundant forms of technology then?
Well, no, actually. This episode dares, unfashionably, to explore how non-digital technology can contribute to the workflows used in the creation of pieces of professional and scientific communication.
And before anyone shouts, "Technophobia!" - no, not a bit. The argument is simply that different forms of technology have different capacities and potentials - and that there are some processes where pen and paper can come into their own.
In the process, we explore document design, types of paper, and the nature of composition,
Reference and links
Sven Birketts, The Gutenberg Elegies (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2006)
The pen shop in Oxford is Pens Plus.
Further listening
If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy the following episodes:
- Don't fall in love with your work: Sabuhi Essa on creative processes
- Wasted words: our antidote to verbosity
- Learning to become design literate: a key resource
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
You can wait a long time for ambitious innovations in the communication of science and research - and then two come along together.
In our previous episode, Scholarly Podcasts, Mack Hagood articulated his thinking behind a novel approach to podcasting.
Now we're delighted to publish our interview with Prof. Giovanni Salucci (University of Florence) and Dr Erika Paoletti on a novel approach to blogging.
Blogging, of course, is no longer new to the field of scientific and scholarly communication. But in this interview Giovanni and Erika introduce a bold innovation - the notion of 'quality blogs' (QBs)
They explain what QBs are, how they relate to both other forms of blogs and journal papers, and the crucial role of metadata.
Though the interviews with Giovanni & Erika and Mack are designed to make sense independently, we suggest they're best thought of as a diptych. Together, they indicate ways to enrich the communication of serious content.
References and links
The proposal for QBs is outlined in 'The Quality Blog: Proposal of a New Format in Lieu of Academic Research Blog' (Journal of Scholarly Publishing, Volume 54 Issue 4, October 2023, pp. pp. 524-551).
Further listening
If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy the following:
- Scholarly podcasts, with Mack Hagood
- Innovation in research dissemination, with Cora Cole
- Online lecturing, with Bart Hallmark
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Many scientists and researchers have come to realise that communicating their work effectively requires them to tell a story.
But how?
One resource is brilliant at answering that question: Putting stories to work, by Shawn Callahan. This review introduces some of Callahan's key insights and recommendations.
Reference
Shawn Callahan, Putting stories to work (Pepperberg Press).
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might particularly enjoy the following:
- The case of case studies, with Dr Farrah Arif
- The games we play in science and communication
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Nobody could accuse The Grey Lit Café of ignoring innovation in the communication of science and research! In fact, we're delighted to showcase innovative thinking, as in such episodes as
- Innovation in research dissemination: Cora Cole on GreyLit
- Online lecturing: Bart Hallmark on pitfalls and good practice
-
Understanding preprints with Jonny Coates
-
and shortly we'll be publishing an interview with Giovanni Salucci on his notion of 'the quality blog'.
Here, in an episode fizzing with intellectual excitement, Mack Hagood develops some innovative thinking on podcasting.
This episode
Why should scholarship be done aloud? And how should 'sonic' scholarship be done?
In pursuit of the answers to these questions, Mack Hagood (Associate Professor of Media and Communication at Miami University, Ohio) distinguishes between three types of podcast:
- 'hi-fi, mid-register';
- 'lo-fi, high-register'
- the 'third way' podcast - the form that Mack proposes as an alternative form to journal papers.
In the process, Mack delves into the characteristics and the benefits of this new form.
References and links
Mack Hagood, 'The scholarly podcast: form and function in audio academia' in Jeremy Wade-Morris & Eric Hoyt, Saving new sounds: podcast preservation and historiography (University of Michigan, 2021).
Mack Hagood's sites include:
- Mactrasound
- Phantom Power
The researcher mentioned at Cambridge Judge Business School is Pearl Phaovisaid.
The book on narrative is Shawn Callahan, Putting stories to work (Pepperberg Press, 2016).
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy:
- Writing reports successfully
- Sponsored report
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel'
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Though opinions differ on the scope of grey literature, there's consensus that white papers represent a core genre of white papers.
This episode examines the place of white papers in the grey literature landscape. In particular, it
- explores what constitutes the essence of white papers, distinguishing them from such forms as (a) pure marketing material and (b) technical documents
- examines the purpose and value of white papers
References
- Michael A. Stelzner, Writing white papers (Whiepapersource, 2007)
- Jonathan Kantor, Crafting white paper 2.0 (Lulu, 2009)
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy:
- Writing reports successfully
- Sponsored report
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Much of the content on The Grey Lit Café is pragmatic, concerned with how to improve the creation or management of grey literature ('greylit'). And some of it is conceptual. concerned with how to inform our thinking about greylit.
This episode seeks to make a contribution by combining the two sets of concerns.
From a pragmatic point of view, we consider how to improve the processes involved in the creation of such documents as grant proposals and responses to peer review.
From a conceptual point of view, we consider how the key processes involved in greylit represent a form of game-playing. We draw here on the notion of 'homo ludens' as articulated by Johan Huizinga in his great work,Homo Ludens (1938)
Recognizing the games involved in such processes as obtaining funding or getting a paper accepted for publication helps writers to interact effectively with other players (such as grant committees, editors, and peer reviewers) and to produce successful texts.
ReferenceJohan Huizinga, Homo ludens (Angelico Press, 2016) Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might particularly enjoy the following:
- Why we need to talk about silver literature
- Wordclouds: a neglected form of grey literature
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Having to pitch yourself and your work in order to win an opportunity is a standard component of professional and scientific life - and one that many people find challenging.
In this episode, Dr Yuxia Zou (Nanyang Business School) reflects on her experience of pitching and identifies actionable insights for other pitchers.
Yuxia reflects both on the activity itself and on the formative process behind it.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy:
- Developing proposals: insights from behind the scenes
- How to write a research proposal and succeed
- Don't fall in love with your work, with Sabuhi Essa
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Support the show
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Our episode on the relationship between dissertations (or theses) and books marked the final episode of our fourth season.
Here, in this additional episode, I reflect on the season. What types of content have we published, in what genres of podcast?
And what have been the key learning points?
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy:
- Welcome to the Grey Lit Café
- What makes a good podcast? What makes good comms?
- What makes a good podcast? Review of the Redefining Communications podcast
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: You've written a dissertation or thesis. You'd like to write a book. How are the two forms related? How to transition from one to the other?
In this episode, we seek to provide detailed, professional, insights into making a success of the process.
Resources
William Germano, From dissertation to book (Univ. of Chicago)
Beth Luey, Revising your dissertation (Univ. of California)
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy:
- Writing book proposals (I): four things not to do
- Writing book proposals (II): five common pitfalls
- Writing book proposals (III): good practice for authors
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: What are preprints?
Where do they fit into the ecology of science publishing? And how did the pandemic change their role?
What do people believe about preprints? How accurate are those beliefs?
In this interview, Dr Jonny Coates (Associate Director, ASAPbio) demythologizes preprints and their role in research dissemination.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy:
- Developing proposals: insights from behind the scenes
- Sponsored reports: David Baxrer on the interface between research and policy
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: The title is this episode forms the sub-title of a book by Gerard M. Crawley & Eoin O'Sullivan called The Grant Writer's Handbook.
The episode on the latest in our series of reviews of grey literature resources. In it, I seek to characterize the book as a whole and identify some highlights of the book.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following of interest:
- Developing proposals: insights from behind the scenes
- Other reviews of resources, including Learning to become design literate and The business of professional writing: review of Accidental Author
References
'Writing grant proposals' in the Writing Protocols series.
Gerard M. Crawley & Eoin O'Sullivan, Grant Writer's Handbook (ICP)
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: On this podcast, we like to explore best practice in content development and content marketing. What does best practice look like? What mindset and processes are required to support its development - and, especially, to enable consistently high quality?
in this episode, we learn from a remarkable content producer, TREW Marketing. Our star interviewee, Lee Chapman (President of Trew) reveals what has made Trew so productive and has enabled them consistently to meet high standards.
In the process, the interview continues to The Grey Lit Café's sustained exploration of what we consider to be an under-researched theme - the relationship between content marketing and grey literature.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this thesis, you might enjoy the following:
- Cooms, business, and creativity: interview with Stephanie Shirley
- Writing reports successfully: a professional view
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Sabuhi Essa, from (as she proudly declares) "from the feet of the greatest mountains in the world", trained in an art school in Pakistan, practiced architecture, and is now researching the topic of resilience whilst based in the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering.
Of all the hundred or thousands of creatives, writers, and researchers I've mentored, few if any have proved more receptive to feedback than Sabuhi - especially critical feedback.
When I noticed this, I asked her, 'How come?' It turns out that her openness and receptiveness is a function of her design philosophy, which itself derives from a charismatic teacher at National College of the Arts in Lahore.
In this episode, Sabuhi tells the story of the evolution of her design philosophy and explains how she applies that approach to various media, including drawing and writing.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this thesis, you might enjoy the following:
- Writing reports successfully
- Stephanie Shirley shares expertise on comms, business, and creativity
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark*
-
Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
-
I confess that we threw Bart a curve-ball with this episode. When we started recording, we experienced a problem with audio quality at Sabuhi's end. We fixed that, but in the process somehow created a problem at my end. As a result, the file that Bart received was not in good shape. The quality here may not be up to our usual standards - but Bart certainly did his bit to improve it!
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: We've recorded two episodes on the topic of meetings. Why, on a podcast devoted to grey literature?
Well, our guest, meetings guru Dr Carrie Goucher, argues that understanding (and improving) meetings benefits a 'systems' approach, in which we consider how they interact with the culture of an organization and its other forms of communication (which will include grey literature forms such as newsletters, email, documents, and online copy).
And, more simply, though we don't think of meetings as a form of grey literature, they fulfill (or are supposed to fulfill) comparable functions - notably sharing perspectives and disseminating information.
We published our interview with Dr Goucher a year ago. The episode we publish here was actually recorded before that episode, but we decided to hold it back in order to focus our promotion on the interview.
Publishing this episode subsequently does, however, present a difficulty! In our interview with her, Dr Goucher argues (as I mentioned above) for a systems approach. As a result, she is rather unenthusiastic about the idea of publishing lists of decontextualized tips.
Well, having interviewed her, I have to say that I think Dr Goucher's right! That said, the episode we now publish very definitely falls into the genre of list-of-tips.
Our hope is that, though this genre might not be ideal, such lists need not be valueless. The tips we share here are certainly borne out of years of observing (and even perpetrating) various kinds of practice, good, bad, and challenging-the-will-to-live.
Citation
Carrie Goucher's thesis was published under her previous surname of Bedingfield.
The reference is: Bedingfield, C. (2021). Designing Meetings Systemically: Towards a deeper, more holistic understanding of how meetings work (Doctoral thesis). https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.75625.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this thesis, you might enjoy the following:
- How meetings work: a constructive approach:
-
Managing emails
-
and our episodes on productivity (in November & December 2022).
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: I like listening to good podcasts about communications because I can learn in two ways simultaneously - from what the podcast says about communication and also from what they show through the good practice they embody.
Frankly, I haven't found as many good podcasts on the topic as I'd hoped or expected. But there are some. And, in our occasional series dedicated to reviews of grey literature products, we like to analyse the best.
Our first such episode reviewed Redefining Communications. Now, here, we review Emma Drakes' Communication Strategy That Works. We seek to identify some of the factors that make it a rewarding listen.
Link
Communication Strategy That Works is available here: https://open.spotify.com/show/4j8Lf9YFkSpKFbr3XHMxpC.
Further listening
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy:
- What makes a good podcast? Review of the Redefining Communications podcast
- Practical insights on blogging from an industry expert: the Stephanie Shirley interview
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: "Email? - no sweat!"; "Email is no kind of bane to me!" - one doesn't offer here such sentiments.
Anyone who remembers the world of work before the advent of email will remember of feeling of wonder when email became available. When I started working in publishing, authors were required to mail hard copies of their typescripts (along with a 'floppy' disc - remember them?) With email, even those authors working in far-off lands could send their scripts with a push of a button.
But for most people, that sense of wonder has largely been replaced by more negative emotions - feelings of being overburdened, wearied, and hassled.
So there's a premium on efficient and effective means of managing email. Engy Moussa and I have for some time been collating practical resources on email management (the link is below).
Here we share our top half-dozen tips. We hope they alleviate some of the pressure!
Link
Our links to (a) a slide deck on how to manage email and (b) third-party resources are available here: https://writeyourresearch.wordpress.com/email-writing-and-management/.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy listening to the following:
- Writing emails effectively: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10664828-writing-emails-effectively
- How meetings work: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10743611-how-meetings-work-a-constructive-approach
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: 'Added bonus'; 'free gift'; 'forward planning'; 'pre-prepared': pleonasms - usages that involve redundant words - are all around us. In this episode, Engy Moussa and I have fun with the English language.
We ask:
- what are the most common pleonasms?
- what types of pleonasm are there?
- do pleonasms matter?
- is pleonasm always a bad thing?
- how should we respond to pleonasm?
Support the show
Reference and allusions
Thomas Gray, 'Elegy written in a country churchyard'.
Our use of 'one-uppersonship' (which we're hoping is a first: OED please note) alludes to Stephen Potter's writing on one-upmanship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-upmanship.
The allusion in the title of this episode is to the second stanza of Bob Dylan, 'It's alright, Ma (I'm only bleeding)'. (My rewrite of the text would be 'plays wasted words, proves to warn/ That he not busy thinking is rather sleeping'.)
Credits
Sound production: Bart Hallmark
Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the showAbout the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: In our third season we had the pleasure of publishing an episode in which we interviewed Stephanie Shirley, Founder & Owner of Bennis Public Relations. on aspects of comms, business, and creativity.
Here we're delighted to welcome Stephanie back for an interview focused on blogging. Stephanie is a consummate blogger: her blog, the Comm Entrepreneur, is a stand-out long-runner.
(By the way, on the recording I misidentify this as 'The Comm Engineer' :( - my apologies to Stephanie for the slip of the tongue!)
The interview enables bloggers, actual or prospective, to benefit from the insights and the wisdom that Stephanie has gained from her experience.
Further information on Stephanie and her business
Most of Stephanie Shirley’s public relations career has been spent on the consultant side. At the age of 23, she left her newly appointed job within Pennsylvania's state government to take an entrepreneurial leap of faith and start her own PR consulting business, Bennis Public Relations.
Now almost 12 years later, Bennis Public Relations has proudly assisted hundreds of clients locally and nationally, serving as their strategic partner who creates innovative and effective communication solutions to help grow a powerful and consistent brand.
Stephanie has helped businesses of all sizes and industries navigate the challenging internal and external communications of branding, transitioning through acquisitions and leadership changes, developing comprehensive strategic communications strategies, and implementing those strategies, consistently and effectively.
Stephanie is also called upon during critical moments when crisis communications and reputation management are central to the future viability of an organization, brand, or person.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you may find the following episodes especially appealing:
- Stephanie Shirley shares her expertise on comms, business, and creativity: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/12168724-stephanie-shirley-shares-expertise-on-comms-business-and-creativity
- How to get blogging and stay blogging: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10248394-how-to-get-blogging-and-stay-blogging
Credits
Sound production: Bart Hallmark
Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is the first in an occasional series entitled "Behind the scenes", in which we seek to provide guidance to the creators of grey literature based on our professional experience of working on grey literature genres.
Here we focus on grant proposals. First, we examine proposals from the authors' point of view: we identify typical pitfalls and then distill a series of constructive pointers.
And second, we provide insights into the textual detail of proposals, based on our experience of editing a multitude of proposals.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following of interest:
- Writing reports successfully: a professional view
- Our three-part series of episodes on writing book proposals, beginning here
References
'Writing grant proposals' in the Writing Protocols series.
Gerard M. Crawley & Eoin O'Sullivan, Grant Writer's Handbook (ICP)
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
We published our first episode on 8 March 2022. This episode, our 29th, marks our anniversary. In it, we discuss the contribution of the podcast, placing it in the context of other grey literature publications.
In particular, we attend to the question of perspectives - those of authors/originators, managers/information scientists, and readers/consumers.
We suggest that distinctive contributions of our podcast include (a) its archival function and (b) an emphasis on pragmatic aspects of the creation/origination of grey literature.
The latter concern articulates with the issue of quality infrastructure.
Note: the episode referred to (around 02:07) has in fact now been published: Consuming grey literature: a reader's perspective (15 Sept 2022).
References
Sarah Bonato, Searching the grey literature: a handbook for searching reports, working papers, and other unpublished research (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
Michelle Leonard & Susan E. Thomas (eds), Managing grey literature: technical services perspectives (American Library Association, 1922).
Dominic J. Farace & Joachim Schöpfel (eds), Grey literature in library and information studies (DeGruyter, 2010).
The grey journal: an international journal on grey literature (TextRelease)
Ulrich Harmes- Liedtke, Quality infrastructure for development: a platform for people interested in quality infrastructure.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: In the literary world there's no shortage of memoir or autobiography. If you want to read about the writing life from the point of view of a writer of fiction, say, or poetry, there's a multitude of options.
But what about the writing life of an author of grey literature?
I can't think of any such memoir - until now. Accidental Author is a memoir of the extraordinarily successful and prolific writing career of Dr Duncan Clarke. Accidental author narrates the story of his prolific career as the author of reports, briefings, presentations, and the like.
In this episode, I'm pleased to review the book.
Reference
Duncan Clarke, Accidental author: fifty years writing Africa and the world (Royal Sable Publishing, 2023). ISBN 978-1-991220-12-7.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy our other reviews:
- Learning to become design literate: a key resource
- What makes a good podcast?
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Across the fields of librarianship, information science, and grey literature, questions concerning values have come strongly to the fore.
In particular, the notion of decolonisation of intellectual capital has gained currency.
In this interview with John Barbrook, Faculty Librarian at Lancaster University, we discuss the meaning and process of decolonisation.
In the process, we consider the role of providing pathways for library users. In addition, we explore the relationship between grey literature and systematic review.
Links
John Barbrook: https://lancaster.libguides.com/prf.php?account_id=140137
Decolonising Lancaster University https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/decolonising/
Lancaster University library guides:
- Decolonising LibGuide https://lancaster.libguides.com/decolonising
- Systematic review LibGuide https://lancaster.libguides.com/SystematicReviews/
- Grey Literature LibGuide https://lancaster.libguides.com/greylit
Resources:
- Overton.IO https://www.overton.io/
- Policy Commons https://policycommons.net/
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy the following:
- Interview with Sarah Bonato: Searching the grey literature
- Consuming grey literature: a reader's perspective
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: This podcast covers the production, management, and consumption of grey literature. Of these themes, we've placed most emphasis than most resources on the first.
In the context of professional communication, we're interested in the creators - people and organizations - and their behaviors. This episode stems from that interest.
I was delighted to have the opportunity to interview Stephanie Shirley, Founder & Owner of Bennis Public Relations. I've followed Stephanie online for many years and have been struck by the quality and consistency of her output - especially her long-running and outstanding blog, The Comm Entrepreneur,
In the course of our conversation, we explore Stephanie's career history, vocation and motivation. In the process, Stephanie provides three pieces (bronze, silver, and gold) of advice, based on the lessons that she has learned from 12 years of business development.
We also discussed The Comm Entrepreneur - Stephanie's reasons for running the blog and the benefits that accrue.
Further listeningIf you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you might also be interested in the following episodes:
- How to get blogging and stay blogging
- Our mini-series on productivity, including Improving your productivity through time management
- Writing emails effectively
Further information on Stephanie and her business
Most of Stephanie Shirley’s public relations career has been spent on the consultant side. At the age of 23, she left her newly appointed job within Pennsylvania's state government to take an entrepreneurial leap of faith and start her own PR consulting business, Bennis Public Relations.
Now almost 12 years later, Bennis Public Relations has proudly assisted hundreds of clients locally and nationally, serving as their strategic partner who creates innovative and effective communication solutions to help grow a powerful and consistent brand.
Stephanie has helped businesses of all sizes and industries navigate the challenging internal and external communications of branding, transitioning through acquisitions and leadership changes, developing comprehensive strategic communications strategies, and implementing those strategies, consistently and effectively.
Stephanie is also called upon during critical moments when crisis communications and reputation management are central to the future viability of an organization, brand, or person.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: In this episode, I was delighted to interview an expert on project management, namely Ville Helenius, Managing Director of Simbalite.
In the interview, Ville draws on his vast and varied professional experience to articulate the relationship between contrasting approaches to project management.
In the process he:
- reflects on the process of managing a writing project (using a dissertation as a case)
- introduces his ProMeSe (Program Method Selection) model.
Further links
Ville's programme management website, including his blog, is available via Si-PM.com.
An entertaining novel on the subject, in an IT context, is The Phoenix Project.
Credits
Production: Bart Hallmark
Music: Harry Chalmers
Further listening
We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. If so, you might enjoy:
- Managing writing projects: two strategies
- Selecting the best approach for your writing project
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes:
In a previous episode, we outlined two ways of managing writing projects, namely waterfall and agile.
Here we explore the question of which approach to select.
We consider the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and explore hybrid approaches.
Further listeningThis episode is the second in a mini-series of three. The first episode wasManaging writing projects: two approaches.Other episodes concerning the matter of getting things done include:
- Boosting your productivity: the role of space and place
- Improving your productivity through time management
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
In this interview, Engy Moussa and Anthony Haynes explore approaches to the management of lengthy writing projects.
First, they characterise the 'waterfall' approach and indicate its strengths and weaknesses - especially in terms of assumptions about the underlying nature of writing.
Second, they characterise and assess the 'agile' approach.
Further listening
We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. If so, you might enjoy the following episodes:
- Writing reports successfully
- How to get blogging and stay blogging
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: In our previous episode we outlined ways to improve one's productivity through optimal use of space and place.
Here we move on to consider how to improve productivity through time management.
This episode introduces two approaches to time management, namely the strategic and the tactical.
Resources
Oliver Burkeman, Four thousand weeks (Vintage).
Ed Bliss, Getting things done (Bantam).
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Further listening
We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. If you did, you might be interested in the following:
- Boosting your productivity: the role of space and time
- Writing emails effectively
About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide
- consultancy
- mentoring
- editing and writing
- training
and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: On this podcast we often explore grey literature from the perspective of creators - the authors, editors, designers, and publishers.
We focus both on the genres of grey literature and the processes of creation and production. This episode is one of the latter.
Productivity hacks typically focus, sometimes exclusively, on use of time. Here, in contrast, Dr Engy Mouusa and I focus on the ways in which use of space and place can contribute to personal productivity.
Further listening
We hope you enjoy this episode. If so, you might find the following episodes of interest:
- How meetings work: a constructive approach: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10743611-how-meetings-work-a-constructive-approach
- Writing emails effectively: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10664828-writing-emails-effectively
Anthony Haynes writes: Our previous episode on abstracts focused on structure and content. Now we switch our attention to process -- how to go about writing the text.
The episode considers common pitfalls and provides tips for good practice.
Resources
Unit V of #EnginComms provides links to a video and how-to slides, together with links to other creators' resources in various forms: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_oHWjm3yg7Z29K31gE6niS4KWpFmUNyNTgbTIhNCFNQ/edit?usp=sharing.
Karen L. McKee has produced two excellent videos, one on written abstracts and one on graphical. The respective links are:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYkXA6gDRlg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGwA-j1wikk
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following episodes of particular interest:
- How to write abstracts: structure and tone
- Wordclouds -- a neglected form of grey literature
- Posters as a form of research communication
Anthony Haynes (Creative Director, Frontinus Ltd) writes: Abstracts are of central importance to grey literature: some forms of grey literature -- proposals, for example, or working papers -- come accompanied by abstracts; and abstracts themselves (which are often used independently of the texts they're designed to accompany) constitute a form of grey literature.
This episode is designed to help listeners to create abstracts effectively and without undue difficulty. It does so by outlining (a) the content required in an abstract and (b) ways of sequencing content to achieve narrative flow. In the process, the episode distinguishes between obligatory and optional content.
Resources
Unit V of #EnginComms provides links to a video and how-to slides, together with links to other creators' resources in various forms: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_oHWjm3yg7Z29K31gE6niS4KWpFmUNyNTgbTIhNCFNQ/edit?usp=sharing.
Karen L. McKee has produced two excellent videos, one on written abstracts and one on graphical. The respective links are:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYkXA6gDRlg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGwA-j1wikk
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy our episodes on creating word clouds and research posters. The respective links are here:
- https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10339609-wordclouds-a-neglected-form-of-grey-literature
- https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10507666-posters-as-a-form-of-research-communication
How Frontinus Ltd can help
Frontinus has extensive experience of helping organisations and their authors to write abstracts. Our services include writing, editing, and training. To discuss your needs and see how we add value, please contact us via our website: http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: This episode draws on extensive experience of working professionally on reports in order to provide practical advice and guidance to authors writing reports.
The topics that Engy Moussa and I discuss include:
- what a report is (the meanings of 'report')
- identifying and charaterising your audience
- articulating your goal
- establishing a workflow
- using models
- working with word budgets
- creating sample text
- working collaboratively
Resources
This eisodes recommends the following:
- Bruce Cooper, Writing technical reports (Penguin, 1964)
- University of New South Wales, 'Report writing support': https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/report-writing-support
- Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, '21 top tips to make the most of your freelance copyeditor or proofreader': https://www.ciep.uk/resources/top-tips/21-top-tips-to-make-the-most-of-your-freelance-copy-editor-or-proofreader/
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following episodes of particular interest:
- David Baxter on effective grey literature: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10489614-david-baxter-on-effective-grey-literature-the-case-of-reports-on-gambling
- Learning to become design literate: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/11241915-learning-to-become-design-literate-a-key-resource
How Frontinus Ltd can help
Frontinus has extensive experience of helping organisations and their authors to write and produce reports. Our services include writing, editing, and training. To discuss your needs and see how we add value, please contact us via our website: http://frontinus.org.uk/.
Anthony Haynes writes: Much of the emphasis of our podcast falls on the creation of grey literature. We often look at grey literature from the perspective of creators, originators, or producers.
But in this episode, we switch perspectives and examine how grey literature looks from the consumer's point of view.
I interview political scientist Dr Engy Moussa (University of Cambridge). We discuss how grey literature has contributed to her research. What types of grey literature have featured in her work? And how have such materials contributed to her research?
We also touch on Engy own production of grey literature.
Engy presents a view of grey literature as "integral" to research, contributing to her work on an almost daily basis -- in the form both of (a) subject matter to be analysed and (b) resources to support the conduct of research.
Our conversation ranges over such grey literature forms as abstracts, applications, dissertations, protocols, reports, presentations, and protocols.
Anthony Haynes writes: Many of us who aren't designers need to know something about design.
It may be that we have to design something - documents, for example -- ourselves.
Or it may be that we need to work with designers: we need to know how, for example, to brief a designer or to assess and respond to draft work.
That's where Robin Williams' wonderful book, The non-designer's design book (Peachpit), comes in.
This episode reviews this resource, outlining its scope and indicating key aspects of its content.
Further listening
This is the second episode in our occasional series of reviews. If you enjoyed listening to this, you may enjoy our first review, which is of the Redefining Communications podcast.
Anthony Haynes writes: In this episode, we provide constructive advice for prospective authors.
Dr Engy Moussa and I focus on good practice to boost the chances of eliciting a publishing contract.
Topics include:
- defining your market(s)
- incorporating the potential for
- export sales
- rights sales
- year-on-year sales
- identifying ways of reaching your market(s)
- positioning your book in relation to other products
- selling points: the need for your book and the benefits that your book will provide to readers
Related episodes
This is the third and final episode in a three-part series on book proposals. The previous two episodes both identify pitfalls that often prevent authors from producing effective proposals.
The episodes are here:
- Writing book proposals (I): 4 things not to do
- Writing book proposals (II): 5 common pitfalls
Anthony Haynes writes: Although definitions of grey literature exclude books, the proposals that authors write in order to attract a publisher can be thought of as a form of grey literature -- hence our mini-series on book proposals.
How to write a proposal effectively? In this episode, like the previous one, Dr Engy Moussa and I explore some of the pitfalls that authors often fall into.
By anticipating such pitfalls, authors can give themselves an advantage in the competition for book contracts.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you may be interested in the first in this mini-series, Writing book proposals (I): 4 things NOT to do.
Anthony Haynes writes: Welcome back to the Grey Lit Café for this, the first episode in our second season.
Engy Moussa and I begin the new season with an extended treatment of one specific form of grey literature, namely book proposals. We've decided to devote three episodes to this topic.
We begin with a consideration of why this topic falls into the category of grey literature.
We then outline four pitfalls that are very common and need to be avoided.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy listening to our episode on blogging.
Anthony Haynes writes: In this interview, Dr Bart Hallmark provides a wealth of practical insights derived from his intensive experience of moving from in-person lecturing to delivering lectures via video.
We concentrate first on what goes wrong -- those things that online lecturers do, but shouldn't, or don't do, but really should.
And then we consider what makes for good practice and distill a series of tips for making online lectures a successful learning experience.
This is the twelfth and final episode in the first season of this podcast. Our next season will commence next month.
Reference
Bart's YouTube channel, Dr Bart's world of chemical engineering, is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTdbVC0zIPOWFUBP9LzUYXA/featured.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy our episode on what makes a good podcast: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10704424-what-makes-a-good-podcast-review-of-the-redefining-communications-podcast.
Anthony Haynes writes: In this episode, I interview David Baxter of the University of Alberta on the topic of sponsored reports.
We pay particular attention to reports on gambling, whether sponsored by industry or government.
Amongst the topics we discuss are the career incentives for researchers, readability, the selection of research questions, and changes required.
Links and references
The website for Grey Literature Guides is here: http://www.greylitguides.com/.
The Goldsmiths report, Fair game: producing gambling research, is here: https://www.gold.ac.uk/gamblingineurope/report/.
The journal, Critical gambling studies, is here: https://criticalgamblingstudies.com/index.php/cgs.
Further listening
Our previous interview with David, on the factors that make reports effective, is here: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10489614-david-baxter-on-effective-grey-literature-the-case-of-reports-on-gambling.
Anthony Haynes writes: It would be a stretch to define meetings as a part of grey literature. Yet they fulfill some of the same functions in business and professional life -- notably the facilitation of consultation and the diffusion of information.
In this episode, Anthony interviews Dr Carrie Coucher, founder of FewerFasterBolder.
They discuss ways of understanding meetings, the ways they work, and how to approach them.
Citation
Carrie's thesis was published under her previous surname of Bedingfield.
The reference is: Bedingfield, C. (2021). Designing Meetings Systemically: Towards a deeper, more holistic understanding of how meetings work (Doctoral thesis). https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.75625.
Further listening
If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy our episode on writing emails, here.
Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is the first in an occasional series dedicated to reviews of grey literature products.
The review is of a podcast published by Jenni Field, namely Redefining Communications. The review seeks to identify the strengths of her use of the form.
Link
Redefining Communications is available here.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Further listening
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy our episode on blogging.
In this episode, Engy Moussa (University of Cambridge) and Anthony Haynes (Creative Director, Frontinus Ltd) discuss how to write emails.
They focus on how to anticipate typical pitfalls in order to enhance communicativeness.
References
The links, both to (a) the slide deck on practical advice and (b) further practical resources, are available here: https://writeyourresearch.wordpress.com/email-writing-and-management/.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Further listening
Other genres covered by episodes of this podcast include posters, blogging, and word clouds.
In this episode, we're delighted to have Cora Cole, founder of GreyLit, as our guest.
Cora outlines her vision for knowledge mobilization and the acceleration of the process of converting knowledge into action.
She also discusses how the role of grey literature has changed during the pandemic.
GreyLit's website address is greylit.net.
In this episode, Engy Moussa (University of Cambridge) and Anthony Haynes (Creative Director, Frontinus Ltd) discuss how to write, design, and present posters.
They focus on how to anticipate typical pitfalls in order to enhance communicativeness.
References
'Writing, designing, and presenting a poster' is published by Frontinus Ltd as the 17th resource in the Writing Protocols series. It provides references to other resources, including Colin Purrington's website.
Vischeck is available here: vischeck.com.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Anthony Haynes writes: For this episode, we are delighted to have David Baxter (University of Alberta) as our guest.
Using reports on gambling as cases, David reflects on the characteristics of effective reports and the lessons to learn from them.
Organisational/personal links
- David Baxter's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5235-6728.
- Gambling Research Exchange Ontario: https://www.greo.ca/en/index.aspx.
- GreyNet: http://www.greynet.org/home.html.
Citations/links
- "Developing your paper" (Frontinus Ltd): https://writeyourresearch.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/20-aug-20-editing-your-paper.pdf.
- Jamie Evans, Sharon Collard, & Chris Fitch, A blueprint for bank card gambling blockers (University of Bristol; 2020): https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/geography/pfrc/A%20Blueprint%20for%20Bank%20Card%20Gambling%20Blockers%20-%20Report.pdf.
- Gambling (Australian Government Productivity Commission; 2010): http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/89248/1/McDaid_Gambling-Related_harms_Published.pdf.
- Grey Literature Guides: http://www.greylitguides.com/.
- Heather Wardle, Measuring gambling-related harms: a framework for action (Gambling Commission; 2018): http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/89248/1/McDaid_Gambling-Related_harms_Published.pdf.
- Robert J. Williams et al., Quinte longitudinal study of gambling and problem gambling (Report prepared for the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre. Guelph, Ontario; 2015): https://opus.uleth.ca/bitstream/handle/10133/3641/QLS-OPGRC-2015.pdf.
Our guest, Sarah Bonato, is Librarian at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
In this interview, we explore the story behind, and need for, Sarahs' book, Searching the grey literature.
We ask, what are the key messages for readers and consumers of grey literature and for librarians and information professionals?
Finally, we consider how the role of grey literature changed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Reference
Sarah Bonato, Searching the grey literature: a handbook for searching reports, working papers, and other unpublished research (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
The ISBNs are here: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538100653/Searching-the-Grey-Literature-A-Handbook-for-Searching-Reports-Working-Papers-and-Other-Unpublished-Research.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
This episode covers key questions concerning word clouds:
- what they are
- where they can be sued
- why they are useful
- how to use them.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
PS If you'd like to commission a designer to produce word clouds, we can recommend Mr Tom Allery: https://tomallery.co.uk/.
This episode outlines key considerations for establishing yourself as a blogger -- the mindset, the key decisions, and considerations of how and what to write.
Resources
Michael Hyatt's book is called Platform: get noticed in a noisy world (Harper Collins, 2012).
Rachel Extance's post, 'How to create a content plan for your blog', is published on The Story Cave,
Henneke's post, 'Stuck in a blogging rut? Try these 17 ideas to spark a wave of creativity', is published on Enchanting Marketing.
Further ideas and references relating to the incubation of ideas are available on 'Incubating ideas for writing'.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
We kick off our podcast by asking; what is grey literature? why does it matter? and why Grey Lit Café?
This episode features co-hosts, Engy Moussa and Anthony Haynes.
References
[Mentioned at about 04:30] Research communication and grey literature: a rising tide: https://writeyourresearch.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/03-nov-20-white-on-grey.pdf
[Mentioned at about 11:03] The website of GreyNet: http://www.greynet.org/
Further readings on grey literature:
- [Book] Sarah Bonato, Searching the grey literature: a handbook for searching reports, working papers, and other unpublished research, London: Rowman & Littlefield (2018)
- {Book] Dominic J. Farace and Joachim Schöpfel (ed), Grey literature in library and information studies, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG (2010).
- [Journal paper] Amanda Lawrence, 'Influence seekers: the production of grey literature for policy and practice' Information services & use, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 389-403, 201 (2017). DOI: 10.3233/ISU-170857.
- [Discussion paper] Amanda Lawrence et al., 'Where is the evidence? Realising the value of grey literature for public policy and practice', Swinburne Institute for Social Research (2014). DOI: 10.4225/50/5580B1E02DAF9.
Credits
- Sound production: Bart Hallmark
- Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra