Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Technology gets in the way of research
I've spent a good part of today trying to submit a research proposal using EPSRC's online submission system. It's a nice idea - it gives you small chunks of the form to fill in, calculates financial details like overheads etc, and then you end up with a nice polished form to submit in the end.
But it's far from perfect. The web site has a number of basic usability problems, like navigation problems, and nonsensical ways of adding new items. The biggest problem is that it doesn't tell you about problems with your submission until you specifically press the Validate button. so at 16:00 I found out that my account doesn't have the right priveleges to include my own name on the form, even though I'm the one submitting it. it could have told me that when I first added my name.
Other problems relate to a basic lack of flexibility - in trying to add referees to the form I found I could only add people registered on the EPSRC system. this precludes anyone outside the UK, and also I'm sure there are a good many people missing from the database.
In short, it's a nice try, and it's easier than submitting 8 copies of a printed form (which is what you used to do) but the inherent rigidity that's been designed into the system makes it hard to do what you want.
I've spent a good part of today trying to submit a research proposal using EPSRC's online submission system. It's a nice idea - it gives you small chunks of the form to fill in, calculates financial details like overheads etc, and then you end up with a nice polished form to submit in the end.
But it's far from perfect. The web site has a number of basic usability problems, like navigation problems, and nonsensical ways of adding new items. The biggest problem is that it doesn't tell you about problems with your submission until you specifically press the Validate button. so at 16:00 I found out that my account doesn't have the right priveleges to include my own name on the form, even though I'm the one submitting it. it could have told me that when I first added my name.
Other problems relate to a basic lack of flexibility - in trying to add referees to the form I found I could only add people registered on the EPSRC system. this precludes anyone outside the UK, and also I'm sure there are a good many people missing from the database.
In short, it's a nice try, and it's easier than submitting 8 copies of a printed form (which is what you used to do) but the inherent rigidity that's been designed into the system makes it hard to do what you want.
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(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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