1. Benefits of social media for
researchers
Inge de Waard

2. Using Web2.0 or not?
Just pose yourself one question:
Where do I want to be in 5 years

3. What is our future?
(image from Tensafefrogs)
The future is to become more human. And to become more human, we must
learn more rapidly, understand more fully.
Social media technology brings us closer to how a human works, AND it
enhances our human state.

4. Innovations can bring us closer to
our own human potential
(image from javier.reyesGomez)
Facebook’s and twitter’s success is not coincidental, it works because it
expands our own humanness:
This characteristic fits all contemporary innovations.

5. So … what is human?

6. We sit around campfires
We tell stories: narration has always given us a deeper understanding.
Storytelling will take us all along a learning journey.
And most importantly, when night falls, we DREAM. We let go of the world we
know and we look towards the stars to share our wildest dreams.
We share.

7. We connect: networking is what we
have always done, we need to
We share common interests, with others. Mentorship was always around and
in this Web2.0 age neo-mentorship is gaining stamina once again. We follow
our mentors, engage with them and learn (read/write web).
We know knowledge comes from connecting: we bond and therefore we are.
Personal characteristics will position us in a group.

8. Learning is inherently human: from
in the whomb we learn
Our learning mind does not need to be told what to do, we learn no matter
what. Sugata Mitra discovered with his hole in the wall project, where small
children taught themselves English and genetics from a stand-alone computer.
We socialize and learn from each other (peer-to-peer).

9. As humans,
we talk, we share, we connect and we learn
Researchers are human, so do we do the
same in our professional life?

10. The world is changing
Cold war: East  West
Colonial times: North  South
Current: global migration: we are all nomads

11. Learning on the move
was always happening
Griot or jali: these musicians were
walking history books,
preserving their ancient stories
and traditions through song.
• This image, which was originally posted to
Flickr, was uploaded to Commons using
Flickr upload bot on 19:10, 21 August 2007
(UTC) by T L Miles (talk).

12. Grand tour …
Grand tour: famous in
18th
century Europe
(only for those who
could afford it)
All regions, all ages… what is yours?

13. We move towards a knowledge era
Web2.0 is nothing special, it simply
increases our human potential as nomads
in the real world AND in cyberspace

14. In the Knowledge Age: eLearning is coming of
age: everything is in the cloud
The earth is becoming the
village we want it to be, no
longer limited with geo-
graphical boundaries…
thanks to cloud computing.
One problem:
The village is learning faster
then we do…
Researchers need to get
into social media & the
cloud

15. Is this the right time to dive into
Social Media and Web2.0?
Some researchers
are skeptical or feel
an aversion to
change
but … shift happens
Generation Y is here

16. Web(2.0) was made for
science and learning
Tim Berners-Lee created the idea of the World
Wide Web in 1983
together with Robert Cailliau the WWW was
turned into an instrument for
scientific information exchange

17. Closed => Open science
Copyright and
intellectual property
=> science commons -
interested:
podcast of John
Wilbanks from Science
Commons, interviewed
by MIT Libraries News.

18. Science is changing
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Critical science and mixed research
• Ivory towers  open access
Pushed by political and research agenda
• Berlin Declaration 2003
• Regional push for brain exchange: Bologna declaration 2000

19. This is (y)our era: push the research
agenda & let yourself be heard
• Read/write web => Web2.0
• First time in history all of us global citizens can create,
and share content
• => First time we can connect across regions, to those
areas that face similar challenges, to share or work on
solutions
Content production is on the rise

20. The world is becoming our teacher
One person no longer knows it all…
they probably never did.
We must organize to stay on top
So where are you? And who are you?
Is your research out there?
Can your research be found?
Can your profile be found? Who finds
it?
Is your digital identity relevant to your
professional expertise?

21. We need to share and connect
• People we trust will lead us to the most
relevant content (AND semantic web is
coming, where our content will lead people
towards us)

22. Social Media = Connections
lifelong learning + latest knowledge + (global) network
= science = benefits of Social Media
You and F2F colleagues
You within network of
institutional partners
You within your global
digital peer network

23. Why should we connect?
To …
• Stay on top of our field
• Create career opportunities
• Exchange ideas with peer experts
• Envision the future steps in the field
• Start formal collaborations
• To get Better….

24. Who do we connect to?
• Subject matter experts
• People you trust
• People who share your field of expertise

25. Where do we connect?
On the Web, using social media

26. When do we connect?
24/7

27. We need to make ourselves
digitally and networkingly literate
• We need to know how to connect AND interact with
others
• For top researchers, learning happens on a daily basis,
by following peer teachers…
of which we are one
Image is made with Wordle.com

28. An example of openness:
Neglected Diseases in Open Science
http://fora.tv/2010/07/29/Mike_Gretes_Neglected_Disease_RD

29. First a warning!

30. Web2.0 will help you,
but be aware as well!
• Gossip!
• Some things are shareable, others stuff is only for our
intimate friends: the Web STICKS (read this online book)
• (facebook friends e.g., video’s from teachers on youtube)

31. And the personal laws still apply:
Dunbar’s number drives us socially
Unfriending social network sites (e.g. Facebook) is needed for focusing
reasons, we sometimes need to regroup ‘friends’ for increased comprehension.
Dunbar showed us that we – as humans – have a limited social capacity.

32. Okay, let’s do it!

33. There are massively many
tools out there
But each tool belongs to a tool family that can be used depending on the
networking or collaboration goal you want to achieve
And… once you start with using tools, you will have your own story on why to
use it

34. Six simple steps to start connecting
and learning
• Step 1: clarify your personal goal for professional
development
• Step 2: create your own journal => feedreader (google
reader).
• Step 3: write a short profile about yourself in language
that will connect to your peer expert group
• Step 4: understand copyright, intellectual property and
disclaimer implications
• Step 5: understand the mechanism of logging in =
username + password
• Step 6: dive into social media, one tool at the time

35. All you need
Social Media is subscribing
AND remembering username & password
Use tag(s) to be able to
retrieve relevant info.
Or getting an openID (= one ID fits all)

36. Blog: reflect on your research
and share it
Blogger, wordpress, …
Posterous (great
integration, all
communication only via e-
mail)

37. Be part of or build a social network
Facebook, Ning, Grouply, …

38. Discuss and exchange knowledge
Discussion groups: google groups, e-mail
list servers

39. Q/A between peers and quick
knowledge updates
Microblogging: twitter, foursquare, …
(searchable via search.twitter.com, using hashtags = #)

40. Get experts ‘beamed in’
DimDim, skype,…

41. Start open classrooms
Wiziq, Elluminate, adobe connect…

42. Add and share content
Video: ForaTv, ustream, blip.tv, YouTube…
Pictures: Flickr, picasa, …
http://blip.tv/file/2869621/

43. Share bookmarks
Delicious, Xmarks, …

44. Share your papers and publications
Academia, Scribd, …

45. Share your presentations
Slideshare, authorstream, Prezi…

46. And get things organized with:
RSS
Add a feed reader for easy
(easier) content follow-up
Syndication, picks up social
media content and spreads it
throughout the internet where it
can be found by anyone looking
for that information.
See how it works (commoncraft).
Some feed readers:
Bloglines
Google reader
feedreader
iTunes!

47. Contact
E-mail: idewaard@itg.be
Blog: ignatiawebs.blogspot.com (click the ‘mobile’ tag)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Ignatia
Slideshare (ppt): http://www.slideshare.net/ignatia
linkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ingedewaard