Ten questions with Professor Melissa Terras

1. What does innovation mean to you? 

A change, making something new, introducing something new, or changing the way we do things. I’m not a huge fan of the narrow definition of innovation which seems to mean “making technology that can be revenue generating”: there’s more to life than capitalist values. I’d like innovation to be more innovative, please.

 

2. What has been your biggest success? 

I’ve worked hard and also been very lucky. My biggest achievements are probably my doctorate in Engineering from Oxford University (given my undergraduate was in History of Art and English Literature: it was a steep learning curve!). Also, balancing work and home life, to make Professor in my late 30s while I had three preschool children. Exclusively breastfeeding twins was quite the long-haul, and something I’m really proud of. I’ve been involved with some amazing projects in my career in Digital Humanities and I think there’s also something about staying interested in your discipline and looking forward to the next thing, rather than looking back too much. That in itself is a success.

 

3. What failure has helped shape you? 

I once wrote a grant that I was super confident in, involving many world-leading external partners. The peer reviews were brutal: I scored 0/6. It was the first time I had really fallen flat on my face and I learned not to second guess the process, but also the benefit of humility, and the kindness of partners as I explained the result to them. We went again and got funding another time. I also learnt you can’t win all the time, and not to take these things too personally. It should be the thrill of the chase, and if you want to enjoy this academic ride, you have to enjoy the process, not just the result.

 

4. What is most important to you? 

I try to go about my professional life with a level of honesty and transparency – I play no games – and I think academia would be better for it if more people did so too. Professionally, I place a lot of my identity in my writing: it’s important for me to be working on another project, and to have the time to stare down the blank page, which I really enjoy. I also think universities should be a place where people bring their smarts and their commitment to make the institution a better place, and to take responsibility for how the institution is functioning. We are all the university, and it would be a better place if we were empowered and trusted within it. I like to move ideas forward and to make things happen.

 

5. What book do you recommend to others? 

The book I probably think about most is the first in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy: Northern Lights. I often figure out what my colleague’s daemons would be, and that helps me figure out and navigate working relationships. I read this while writing up my PhD and it has really stayed with me, and I often recommend it to others.

 

6. What would your friends say your greatest strengths and weaknesses are? 

I’ve been told I am 45RPM in a world of 33RPM, so the pace I get things done can be a strength, but also a problem for others! I hope I’m kind alongside that. My weaknesses would be getting so focussed that I do not prioritise myself over work, and working in a way which is not the healthiest re long hours, etc: I’m trying to learn how to navigate that better and make a better prioritisation of my own health and wellbeing. It’s been so exciting working in technology over the past 25 years that there has always been more work to do, rather than look after myself, and I need to change that.

 

7. What scares you?

I have a proper phobia of daddy-longlegs (tipulophobia). Apart from that, I’m pretty intellectually fearless: and I’m not afraid of speaking truth to power. (Power generally knows the truth and has been actively avoiding it, though, in my experience). I get myself into some scrapes as a result, and I probably need to learn how to pick my battles a bit better!

 

8. What piece of advice has stuck with you? 

I grew up in a working-class family, in Fife. When I got into Oxford to study for my doctorate my Granny Terras took me aside and explained some basics of navigating social situations when you were out of your depth. She said, if you didn’t know what knife to use, or glass to use, or what to say, the chances are no-one else knew either, so just wade in and do something first with “aplomb and panache” and everyone will think you know what you are doing. That’s stood me in good stead and “Aplomb and panache! Aplomb and panache!” is something I think of her saying often, particularly when I’m in a situation where nerves start to rise.

 

9. What future innovation would you like to see happen in your lifetime?  

I’d like to see proper resources being made available for technological innovation and sustainability for tools and services that aren’t financially profit making, but that make the world better. We’re so wedded to financial models that just prioritise economic growth (or encourage people to spend money), but there’s so much that could be done with technology that would benefit health, wellbeing, creativity, and social bonds in society. I’d like to see feminist data sciences approaches – where equality and diversity are at the heart of development and analysis – become more widespread. I’d like to see the tech world use its smarts to give opportunities to all, rather than just racing to see who can accrue the most wealth, like some digital-age Smaug.

And I’d also like better AI tools for OCR correction, which would make Digital Humanist’s lives a whole lot easier!

 

10. What gives you hope?  

The world is on fire just now, but the next generation coming along are tackling that in a different way than my generation ever did. I think we’ll see a very different society in another 20 years, once they are running the joint. My children, too, give me hope, with their creativity and resilience. And my crow-fam - I got to know the local clattering of jackdaws and charm of magpies during lockdown, and they chat to me every morning when I feed them, just doing their thing. We’ve just got to get on with it, as best we can.