Workshop presentation as part of a one-day event on research impact for Medical Research Council funded PhD students from the University of Nottingham and University of Birmingham. Engineering and Science Learning Centre, 27th November 2012.

1. Using Social Media for Academic Practice and Impact
Andy Coverdale
27 November 2012
Engineering and Science Learning Centre

2. #1
Social media
are not only
about impact

3. #2
Social media
are
interrelated.
Technically,
commercially
and culturally

4. #3
Social media
do not exist in
isolation

5. #4
Social media
constitute a
contested
space

6. #5
Both
interaction
and
broadcast
metaphors
apply

7. #6
Academic
reputations
and
hierarchies
are easily
transferred

8. #7
Practices are
emergent,
contested
and culturally
situated

9. SOURCE, MANAGE
NETWORKING
& SHARE RESOURCES
COLLABORATIVE
DISSEMINATION
WORKING

10. SOURCE, MANAGE NETWORKING
& SHARE RESOURCES & DISCUSSION
RSS Readers
Facebook
Social Bookmarking LinkedIn
Twitter
& Referencing Google+
Facebook Groups
Content Sharing Sites
‘Ning’ Sites
MOOCs
Wikis Blogs
COLLABORATIVE Google Docs
DISSEMINATION
WORKING

11. Tools

12. Spaces

13. Individual Research
Professional Group /
Development Department
Research Events &
Project Conferences

14. Barriers to adopting social media?

15. Time-consuming
Lack of knowledge / awareness / ‘best practices’
Insignificant and frivolous
Egocentric, opinionated and self-publicising
Not trustworthy, unreliable content
Lack of academic rigour
Not formally recognised / rewarded by institution
Lack of institutional / departmental support or incentive
Institutional constraints or regulations
Compromises formal publication opportunities
Threats to representation (self, institution, research)
Risks of disclosure (research design, findings etc.)
Technophobia
Low initial rewards
Low regard of contribution – “I’ve nothing to say”
Exposure of academic naivety
Compromises lecturer / student relationships
Compromises existing personal / recreational use and online identity
Potential misinterpretation and misappropriation
Commercial imperative (non-institutional / non-academic)
Issues of privacy
Ownership, copyright and IP issues

16. NETWORKING

17. Facebook LinkedIn Academia.edu Google+ Twitter
General / Professional Dedicated General / Microblogging
recreational networking academic recreational site
social networking (business- network social networking
orientated)
‘Friending’ ‘Connections’ ‘Following’ ‘Following’ ‘Following’
metaphor metaphor metaphor (non- metaphor (non- metaphor (non-
(reciprocal) (reciprocal) reciprocal) reciprocal) reciprocal)
Status updates, Status updates Status updates Circles – Tweets (max. 140
commenting, and messaging. and messaging organisation of characters)
messaging and Professional followers and Retweeting,
live chat profiling privacy settings direct messaging,
lists and
favourites
Facebook Job seeking and Content sharing – Hangouts (group Third-party
Groups, events listing facilities papers etc. video-chat). clients, apps. and
and pages Integration with services
other Google
apps. and
services

18. Twitter: Academic Practices
Knowledge / resource sharing – posting, accessing and ‘retweeting’
microcontent
‘Information overload’ – using people as ‘filters’
Self-promotion – new blog posts etc.
Notification – new publications, events, call for papers, announcements etc.
‘Crowdsourcing’ – asking questions, making enquiries
Real-time discussion
Real-time search engine
Hashtag communities and networks e.g. #phdchat – informal community /
network of PhD students
Events and conferences – the ‘backchannel’ and remote conferencing

20. Format Media Mode Genre

21. Granularity

22. ores2k | Thinking (2007) http://www.flickr.com/people/ores2k/

23. What?
Type of research work / activities / content etc.
Where?
Social media – platforms and tools
When?
Stages of project / study / tenure
How might this support / compromise formal publication?
How?
Type of format / media etc.
Who (to/with)?
Audience – academic / discipline / public
Stakeholders – participants / partners

24. Blogging
Writing Development
Contribute to development of writing skills
Developing writing ‘voice’
Experimentation with different writing forms / styles
Conceptual Development
Blogs as Narrative - journal-style structure (e.g. research project / PhD)
Blogs as Documentation - contextualised personal / professional development
(chronological / themed)
Blogs as Reflective process - development of ideas / concepts / projects

25. Blogging: Impact Factors
Contexts
Emphasis on personal perspectives and experiences – Informal and
subjective
Opportunity to explore wider contexts – socio-cultural, political and economic
Engaging a wider (non-specialist) audience
The ‘Blogosphere’ – blogging community
Reading, linking to, and commenting on each others blogs
Beyond local research community – geographically and (inter)disciplinary
Establish sustainable channels of discussion, feedback and peer support
Group blogs – guest blogging Institutional / departmental blogs or project
blogs
Increasingly multimodal – RSS feeds, links, tags, images and video
Non-textual formats: video blogging, podcasting

26. Blogging: Relationship with Formal Publication
Work-in-progress – shape ideas,
concepts and methodologies
Draw on personal perspectives
and experiences
Contribution to development of
BLOGS formal publication – thesis, journal
article or report
Develop smaller, specific
components of text FORMAL
Summaries and specific parts PUBLICATION
Informal, personal and subjective
Engage a wider (non-specialist)
audience

27. Based on: Jacob E Bardram | The Fish Model (2007) http://www.itu.dk/people/bardram/pmwiki/?n=Main.ArtPhD

29. Blog Content
Can include:
Reports on academic events, including workshops, seminars and conferences
Book and article reviews
Commentary on ‘academic life’ including teaching and research projects
Research methods and methodologies, and academic writing
Using research tools and software
Development of theoretical and conceptual ideas
Training and professional development
The academic experience – emotional development and well-being

30. Some Other Social Media
Content Sharing Sites
Sharing of academic content in different formats / media
Tagging and annotation of content - playlists, favourites and comments
Content can be embedded on external sites (blogs etc.)
Presentations e.g. Slideshare
Papers / Reports e.g. Scribd
Images e.g. Flickr
Video e.g. YouTube Vimeo
Networking Sites e.g. LinkedIn Academia
Community Sites (Ning)
Specialist or community-based themes
Multifunctional - profiling / discussion (forums), blog posting, and repository
e.g. Ning SocialGo BuddyPress

31. Some Other Social Media
Text Editing Tools
Wikis – text-based collaborative platform e.g. Mediawiki Wikispaces
Google Docs. – suite of office tools – synchronous editing for multiple users
Social Bookmarking
Personal / collaborative organisation of web-based content
Examples: Delicious Pinboard
Tagging also used in blogging, and content sharing sites (e.g. Flickr
YouTube and Slideshare)
Social Bibliography / Reference & Citation
Personal and social management of academic papers and references
Synchronisation between browser, desktop and web based programmes
Collaboration through group-based and networking activities
e.g. CiteULike Zotero Mendeley

32. Digital
Identity/ies “
“ The persona an individual
presents across all the digital
communities in which he or
she is represented.
http://thisisme.reading.ac.uk

33. Identity is…
Modernist Postmodernist
Determined by dominant Socially constructed and
structures culturally mediated
Stable Flexible and in flux
Singular and developmental Multiple and fragmentary
Unified across multiple Diversified across multiple
contexts contexts

34. Digital Identity and Reputation
Web Presence – ‘Digital Footprint’
New channels of academic discourse, research dissemination and peer review
Permanence and transience – activities and artifacts are increasingly
searchable / traceable
Online Profiles
Professional / institutional site registrations – personal profiles
Self-publishing – e.g. blogs "About” page
Professional Development – Digital / online CVs and e-Portfolios
Digital Artifacts
Academic content and references
Records of social interaction – blog posts, tweets, forum discussions etc.
Modality
Verbal, textual etc.
Multimedia – images, video etc.

35. Digital
Beetham, H., McGill, L., & Littlejohn, A. (2009). Thriving in the 21st century: Literacies
Literacies
for the digital age (LLiDA Project). The Caledonian Academy. JISC.
“ (R)ecognising technology practice as
diverse and constitutive of personal
identity, including identity in different
peer, subject and workplace
communities, and individual styles of
participation.
Beetham et al. (2009:3)
“

36. Critical and
Reflective Practices
Image: Rachel Walls | http://newresearchtrajectories.net

37. Resources
Identifying appropriate tools and platforms and evaluating their affordances
Negotiating institutional, proprietary, and open-source resources
Training and Shared Practice
Identifying appropriate training needs within lifelong learning and
professional development contexts
Developing opportunities for shared practice and potential for individual,
participatory and collaborative design
Digital Literacies
Developing new socio-technical workflows
Negotiating new academic (inter)disciplinary communities and networks
Recognising shifts in academic protocols – new modes and means of
production, peer review and knowledge resources
Adapting to new practices in academic integrity and responsibility –
referencing and attribution of digital sources and artefacts
Understanding emerging multimedia and multimodal practices
Managing online identities and reputation

38. Research Practices 2.0
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/graduateschool/resources/socialmedia/index.aspx

39. Thanks!
Andy Coverdale
Blog: http://www.phdblog.net
Twitter: @andycoverdale