Presentation at the SRHE Annual Research Conference 2012, Celtic Manor, 12-14 December 2012, as part of a symposium: Feral spaces? Social media as higher education practice: Blogs, wikis, and twitter feeds with a pedagogical intent (with Pat Thomson, Inger Mewburn, Anna Tarrant and Jeremy Segrott). http://www.srhe.ac.uk/conference2012/

1. PAPER 0130
Social media practices
Benefits and risks for doctoral researchers
Andy Coverdale
School of Education | University of Nottingham
SRHE Conference | Celtic Manor | 14 December 2012

2. THE DOCTORAL CONTEXT
Social media adoption and use
In context with established practices:
– Legitimise forms of academic quality and reward
– Regulate processes of induction and socialisation
Social media as disruptive technology – opportunities and challenges
Paradox – engagement vs. conformity
Framing the ‘feral’ in social media practice:
– Deterritorialisation
– Granularity

3. DETERRITORIALISATION
Spaces of Enclosure (Edwards & Usher, 2008)
Affinity Spaces (Gee, 2004)
Academic Tribes and Territories (Becher & Trowler, 1989)

4. y
alit
- form ency
-f requ nt
e
- cont
t
-f orma
- length
GRANULARITY

5. BARRIERS?

6. Time-consuming
Low initial rewards
Lack of knowledge / awareness (‘best practices’)
Technophobia
Lack of institutional / departmental support
Institutional constraints or regulations
Not formally recognised / rewarded by institution
Insignificant and frivolous
Egocentric, opinionated and self-publicising
Not trustworthy, unreliable content
Lack of academic rigour
Social media as a ‘commercial imperative’ (non-academic)
Compromise formal publication opportunities
Threats to representation (self, institution, research)
Risks of disclosure (research design, findings etc.)
Issues of privacy
Copyright and IP
Potential misappropriation of content
Risk of exposing academic naivety / immaturity
Low regard of contribution – “I’ve nothing to say”
Compromise existing personal / recreational use and online identities
Compromise professional relationships (e.g. lecturer / student)

7. PRACTICE Time-consuming
Low initial rewards
Lack of knowledge / awareness (‘best practices’)
Technophobia
Lack of institutional / departmental support
Institutional constraints or regulations
Not formally recognised / rewarded by institution
LEGITIMACY
Insignificant and frivolous
Egocentric, opinionated and self-publicising
Not trustworthy, unreliable content
Lack of academic rigour
Social media as a ‘commercial imperative’ (non-academic)
Compromise formal publication opportunities
Threats to representation (self, institution, research)
RISK AVERSION
Risks of disclosure (research design, findings etc.)
Issues of privacy
Copyright and IP
Potential misappropriation of content
Risk of exposing academic naivety / immaturity
Low regard of contribution – “I’ve nothing to say”
Compromise existing personal / recreational use and online identities
Compromise professional relationships (e.g. lecturer / student)

8. BLOGGING CONTENT
Commentary on general academic activities – teaching, internships and
research projects
Reports on academic events – workshops, seminars and conferences
(including ‘live-blogging’)
Development of theoretical and conceptual thinking
Research methods and methodologies
Academic writing practices
Using research tools and software
Training and professional development
Emotional development and well-being related to academic practice
Book and article reviews

9. BLOGGING PURPOSES
Writing practice – experimenting, developing and refining ‘academic voice’
Writing discipline – regularity, time-constraints
Identity work – defining research and professional contexts
Scoping – potential leads and future collaborations
Self-promotion – skills, knowledge and experience
Engaging with wider audience – including interdisciplinary and non-academic
Informal peer review – blogging and commenting
Exploring wider contexts of research field – sociocultural, political and
economic
Advocacy – doctoral, disciplinary and departmental
Biographical – creative and reflective processes of narrative and
documentation
Contribute to networking activities

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

12. BLOG > THESIS
Contribute to the development of formal texts
Work-in-progress – shape ideas, concepts and methodologies
Present personal perspectives, experiences and subjectivities
BLOG
THESIS
‘Blogify’ formal texts
Present summaries of formal texts and personal perspectives
Public engagement (non-specialist, non-academic)
THESIS > BLOG

13. SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
Social media practice as a contested space
Institutional leveraging of social media (platforms and practices)
Impact, outreach and public engagement agendas
Output vs. process

14. Thanks!
This presentation is available on my blog http://www.phdblog.net