Training session for new academics at the University of Manchester in March 2011. Objectives of the session:
Explore the digital world and how you can use it to:
- Understand why your online profile is important
- Develop your reputation through your digital identity
- Extend your research connections
15. Issac Newton seeing farther than others, because he is standing on shoulders of giants. Edmund Halley yes but you also stood side by side with some of us. Richard Bentley and we corresponded about your work when I lectured on Newtonian physics. Research is social and iterative
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17. Why develop a digital network? You and F2F colleagues You within network of institutional partners You within your global digital peer network
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20. The academic research cycle COLLABORATION e.g. undertaking literature reviews using peer reviewed sources by professional researchers usually behind closed doors e.g. publication, presentation at conference e.g. peer review, filtering the best for publication
Quick intro for both of us, why we are interested in social media5min
Led by EGObjectives of the session, any from the floor? Will give you the opportunity to use some of the web 2.0 tools out there and discuss how they might help you in your daily practice
Led by RCWhat are your favourite work and non-work websites?How do you find information on the web?Talk in pairs/small groups, feedback to plenary
Led by EGPrinting press (invented in 1440) – 1st scholarly journals, allowed the easy communication of scientific discoveries. Authorship became profitable/ meaningful. Authors had the power. Changed how people wrote and read (from oral readings to silent private readings). Development of copyright laws to protect the notion of intellectual knowledge. In the industrial revolution Newspapers became possible, news was quick and widespread.Large scale broadcast media. TV, phones, faxes, video, radio, photocopying, global travel, etc etc. More input from the receiver of information but media producers still hold the power.Currently, we are in the ‘beginnings’ of the digital age. And just as it would have been impossible in 1440 to predict the impact upon society of the printing press and later the impact of electricity, we are still yet to live through most of the changes in society that will occur during this digital age.
Led by EGUntil the end of the twentieth century, only a relatively small and wealthy fraction of the human race could broadcast television programs, publish newspapers, create encyclopaedias; by the twenty first century, however, inexpensive digital computers and widespread Internet access in the Western world made the means of high quality media production and distribution accessible to a substantial portion of the world's population.The power of knowledge is shifting because everyone can now create, publish, broadcast, connect, share and search.
Led by EGWeb 2.0 is now most web content as it is every site that is not static and you can contribute to e.g. Trip Advisor, BBC
Led by EGVideo
Led by RCA digital identity is how you and others see you on the web. This can be through static pages or web 2.0 sites and tools. Like it or not, we all have a digital identity. What you want to do is have control over what you and others see as your digital identity. As research becomes even more global, multidisciplinary and collaborative, you will benefit from having a more visible digital identity.
Led by RCManchester eScholar offers a set of services for you to store, manage, and disseminate your scholarly work on the web. Containing a growing digital record of the research output of the University, Manchester eScholar is a tool for you to promote your work and the work of your colleagues within the University and beyond.
Led by RCThis will be both your manchester and outward facing profile
Led by RCAn example of my h-factor Some Universities ask for this as part of the recruitment processThe system details the number of publications, citations and from this works out your h-factor scoreThis will vary depending on your discipline, research area you will be able to see how you compare with your peers, managers etc..Since we have discovered it –We have spent a few hours looking up people! – just to prepare this for you
Led by RCA good way of seeing the extent of your current digital identity is to search for yourself. This is what I get when I Google myself, (comment on content).
Led by RCTask using the sites listed search for yourself. What did you find? Are you happy with it? Is it up to date? Does it showcase you and your research? Is is personal or professional? Could it be improved (if so how?), Pleased…disappointed…worried!?The more you engage with digital technology, the more power you will have over your digital identity
Led by EGResearch is a social and iterative process so social media should be able to help to improve your practice as a researcher. You need a good network to be a successful academic
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Led by EGIncreased potential for collaboration, funding, research, discussion…
Led by EGPeople who are outside of your core network (weak links) can often help you more than those inside.They are less likely to be like you and therefore less likely to be competing for the same opportunities.Having lots of contacts is likely to lead to more opportunities than having a few. Even if the few are very important or active.Lots of people who can help you a bit (the long tail) is better than a few people who can help you a lot.
Led by EGDraw or list your current network.Who are the main connectors?Who are your weak links?Are there any virtual links?How would you like to extend your research connections and see your network and long tails grow?
Led by RCIn this model we have four stages (identification, creation, quality assurance and dissemination) which are underpinned by a variety of social interactions and forms of collaboration. Collaboration is defined broadly here to include the work of all the people who might be involved in research including researchers, librarians, funders and the general public. Each stage is important to the research community’s ability to produce knowledge and learn from the work of others. Social tools have the potential to contribute something to each of these stages. But they also have the potential to challenge the ways in which research is done.
Led by RCConsider how you are viewed and assessed by others around you in the research world. These activities are probably the main way other researchers and academics know who you are and what you do.
Led by RCMap these activities onto your own academic research cycleWhat other activities do you undertake? Include non-research activities if you like.What tools do you currently use to undertake these activities?How might technology help you when undertaking these activities?
Led by EGVery short overview of each tool and then you can have a go at them
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Led by EGCristina Mendes Da Costa is a researcher who has gone down the personal route for her blog and website. She has successfully integrated her personal and professional profiles and is well known in the digital world.
Led by EGAndrew Gray is Curator of Hepatology at the Manchester Museum. He is passionate about his research on a specific species of frog and has developed this frogblog all about this research area. He has a fabulous reputation through his work on the blog and his public engagement activities so this is a great example of a successful research area blog
Led by EGThe GetSETWomen Blog is a really good example of a collective blog where women in the SET subjects can post about anything they like. It has developed a great sense of community and has many active and passive bloggers.
Led by EGHow many hrs do you spend trawling the literature?Think about automatic downloads and e-libraries – share them with your research teamSearch tags so that you will be alerted to papers coming out in your research areasciteulike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references 4,816,166 articles - 3,019 added today. Easily store references you find online so you can access them from anywhereDiscover new articles and resources Automated article recommendationsNEWShare references with your peers Find out who's reading what you're reading Store and search your PDFs Links to endnote and refman
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Led by EGLinkedIn highlights the growing importance of networking in today’s worldAs research becomes even more multidisciplinary and global, collaboration is becoming more important, and social networking in the academic community can present leads and collaboration opportunities that you might never have found by other means.Social networking as a tool to enhance one’s career has proved popular in almost all sectors
Led by EGExample of a LinkedIn profile. I’m part of the UKRSA and PhD careers outside academia groups.
Led by EGLots of examples.
Led by EGGreat for grant, paper writing etcGets rid of the problem of incorporating everyone’s amendments into one documentReduced functionality compared to Microsoft
Led by EGSo many tools out there that you could use. You need to figure out what is worth investing time in and how you will gain.Some tools will show an immediate return but others need a longer term investment before you will se a return.
Led by EGGo through the workbook. You don’t need to explore everything, just tools where you can see benefit to you
Led by EGIt can be difficult to navigate the crowd of information to find networks or individuals who are useful for you and your research.RSS feeds help to filter the incoming information for you.
Led by EGThis is the RSS symbol, you will see it on nearly all websites.
Led by EGRSS allows you to subscribe to that information. That means you can choose which information you are interested in and it will come to you rather than you having to actively look for it. RSS generally gives you headline information then you can choose whether it is important enough for you to find out more.
Led by EGOne way of receiving information by RSS is via iGoogle. You can create a Google search page which has all the headline information you want on it. My iGoogle homepage covers some items about researcher development and also my personal interest items. You can have more than 1 tab. Other examples of RSS readers include Google reader, bloglines, and browser software have their own RSS lists that work like favourites.
Led by RCMy thoughts on creating and using iGoogle... Importance of setting this as your homepage so you receive the information all the time
Led by RCHave a go at setting up your own iGoogle page
Led by EGA word of warning...
Led by EGHave you got any tips to share?
Led by EGHere are a few activities we brainstormed around researcher roles. They are broken them down into 4 main roles. We then listed some of the activities you would undertake to fulfil these roles and some tools you might use to complete each activity. Have a think about this diagram and design your own strategy for developing a digital profile that works for you. Take into account: what you found out about your current digital identity your network and how you would like it to grow your academic activities and research cycle the tools you have found useful or want to find out more about what are you going to do it the next week, next month and next 3 months to develop your profile?