Excellence is Bullshit
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One variant of the "Excellence is Bullshit" talk about evaluation, rankings etc. Builds on "Excellence R Us" Moore et al Palgrave Communications, 2017
![“[The purpose of bullshit] is to
impress the listener and the reader
with words that communicate that
[…]something is being or has been
done, words that are neither true
nor false, and so obscure the facts of
the matter being discussed”
Harry Frankfurt](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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Excellence is Bullshit
- 1. Excellence is Bullshit: Rethinking Research Evaluation for a Networked World @cameronneylon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0068-716X
- 2. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate that […]something is being or has been done, words that are neither true nor false, and so obscure the facts of the matter being discussed” Harry Frankfurt
- 3. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate that […]something is being or has been done, words that are neither true nor false, and so obscure the facts of the matter being discussed” Wikipedia
- 4. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate that […]something is being or has been done, words that are neither true nor false, and so obscure the facts of the matter being discussed” Wikipedia
- 5. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate that […]something is being or has been done, words that are neither true nor false, and so obscure the facts of the matter being discussed” Wikipedia
- 6. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate that […]something is being or has been done, words that are neither true nor false, and so obscure the facts of the matter being discussed” Wikipedia
- 7. “[The purpose of bullshit] is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate that […]something is being or has been done, words that are neither true nor false, and so obscure the facts of the matter that should be discussed”
- 8. My work is excellent…
- 9. This talk is excellent…
- 10. “[…a] commitment to excellence and advancement on merit”
- 11. “[…a] commitment to excellence and advancement on merit” University College London
- 12. “[…a] commitment to excellence and advancement on merit” University College London
- 13. What do we mean when we use the word… “excellence”?
- 14. Pursuit of excellence: We strive for excellence, seeking to apply the highest standards to benefit… University of Queensland
- 15. The university pursues academic excellence through the creation, preservation… University of San Diego
- 16. …to strive for excellence and distinction… Curtin University
- 17. We prize excellence Cape Peninsula University of Technology
- 18. We demand excellence University of Westminster
- 19. …with world- class excellence across all of its departments Princeton
- 20. As a world-leading centre of academic excellence we aim… University of Edinburgh
- 21. The university counts the diversity of its community as […] integral to its mission of excellence, and it is committed to diversity and inclusiveness in both educational… University of Maryland
- 22. “[…a] commitment to excellence and advancement on merit… Fairness and equality… Diversity University College London
- 23. excellence in…?
- 24. excellence in professionally relevant teaching University of Westminster
- 25. excellence in research and education Indiana University
- 26. excellence in research, education and knowledge exchange Strathclyde University
- 27. excellence in teaching, research, and public engagement Cornell University
- 28. …a center of excellence for cultural, athletic and other events University of Toledo
- 29. …internationally recognized excellence in information technology services and infrastructure. Indiana University
- 31. What do we mean when we use the word… “excellence”?
- 32. How can we determine or measure… “excellence”?
- 33. We prize academic excellence at UC Davis. More than 500 of our faculty have earned prestigious [..] honors[..] rank[ings]. UC Davis
- 34. Pursuing excellence means being satisfied with no less than the highest goals we can envision. University of Missouri
- 35. Pursuing excellence involves being informed by regional, national and global standards, as well as our personal expectations. University of Missouri
- 36. “excellence” is the holy grail of academic life Michèle Lamont How Professors Think
- 37. excellence is produced and defined in a multitude of sites and by an array of actors Michèle Lamont How Professors Think
- 38. excellence is produced and defined in a multitude of sites and by an array of actors Michèle Lamont How Professors Think
- 39. excellence is produced and defined in a multitude of sites and by an array of actors Michèle Lamont How Professors Think
- 40. excellence is produced and defined in a multitude of sites and by an array of actors Michèle Lamont How Professors Think
- 41. “excellence” tells us nothing about how important the science is and everything about who decides. Jack Stilgoe Against Excellence
- 42. Using the word excellence is a way of avoiding a difficult conversation
- 43. Using the word excellence is a way of saying something is being or has been done
- 44. Using the word excellence is a way of using words that are neither true nor false
- 45. Using the word excellence is a way of obscuring the facts of the matter that should be discussed
- 46. Using the word excellence is a way of bullshitting ourselves
- 47. Using the word excellence is a way of avoiding talking about values
- 59. …what we may be doing […] when we make [a] value judgement of a […] work... Barbara Herrnstein Smith Contingencies of Value
- 60. …articulating an estimate of how well that work will serve implicitly defined functions… Barbara Herrnstein Smith Contingencies of Value
- 61. …for an implicitly defined audience… Barbara Herrnstein Smith Contingencies of Value
- 62. …experiencing the work under implicitly defined conditions… Barbara Herrnstein Smith Contingencies of Value
- 63. …the work of evaluation is to make these implicit factors explicit.
- 65. Impact There is some good news…
- 73. Citation
- 78. Impact There is some bad news…
- 93. Impact “excellence” becomes a performance
- 95. Impact …in the place of excellent performance
- 99. “[…a] commitment to excellence and advancement on merit… Fairness and equality… Diversity University College London
- 102. Impact “soundness”
- 103. Impact “practice”
- 107. Impact …it’s the questions that are hard
- 108. Impact How do we evaluate whether we are “achieving maximum positive social, environmental and economic benefit”?
- 109. Impact How do we evaluate whether we are “[d]eveloping future generations of leaders in scholarship, research, the learned professions, the public sector, business and innovation”?
- 110. Impact How do we hold ourselves to values of “fairness and equality, diversity, collegiality and community-building, inclusiveness, openness, ethically acceptable standards of conduct…”