I was invited to talk about development blogging, social media and research at an event in Manchester that the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Postgraduate Forum organized. The topic was 'Publishing and disseminating your research' and I shared some reflections on development blogging Outline of the presentation: - Development communication: New digital possibilities & old academic rituals ž- Understanding contradictions & managing expectations ž- ‘Almost everyone will miss almost everything you do on social media’ ž- Blogging as communication ‘enabler’ ž- Building your e-reputation ž- Approaching the ‘perfect space’ for academic blogging More information: http://aidnography.blogspot.com/2013/04/development-blogging-disseminating-research-ereputation.html

1. Publishing and Disseminating Your
Research
DARG Postgraduate Workshop 2013
Dr Tobias Denskus
University of Manchester, 26 April 2013

3.  Development communication: New digital possibilities
& old academic rituals
 Understanding contradictions & managing
expectations
 ‘Almost everyone will miss almost everything you do
on social media’
 Blogging as communication ‘enabler’
 Building your e-reputation
 Approaching the ‘perfect space’ for academic
blogging

4.  Digitally enabled
campaigns (e.g.
Kony 2012 or TED)
 Bill Gates, Bill Clinton,
Bono: The influence
of philanthropists and
celebrity activists
 Framing complex
development topics
into the mainstream

5.  Anthropologist Sarah
Kendzior & the
realties of academia
as a career choice
 Oxford University
advertisement for
a ‘Junior Research
Fellow’

6. The well-told tale, complete with great
colour and anecdotes, backed up by
rigorous data analysis, and supported by
great multimedia elements, may well
continue to be the gold standard we
aspire to; but we need also to be working
how best to harness our reporting and
presenting capabilities so we can create
other types of narratives that touch
people.
(Journalist Reg Chua)
Social media is the water in
a bottle that fills the spaces
in between the rocks, with
the rocks constituting stand
alone items such as PR
events or a separate
digital campaign.
(PR Executive)
?

7. ‘Everybody is a broadcaster’

8.  The ‘wrong’ people
tend to know about
your blogging, the
‘right’ people often
don’t
 Blogging is (still)
responsive to agenda
set elsewhere
 Blogs/social media are
a threat to conference
rituals – not to
traditional publishing
(at the moment...)

9.  Blogging as enabler: Broadens your profile into different
areas or new spaces in your discipline
 Good examples: Nelly as political commentator; Mia as
a ‘technical expert’
 Small stories and real-world commentaries attract more
interest than ‘policy noise’
 Making your content accessible; good, relevant content
always finds a ‘home’

10.  It’s about your comfort
level of exposure (think
guest posts, book reviews
or Academia.edu profile
 Social media skills are
transferable, ‘real’ skills
 Embrace digital
technology, i.e. Skype
presentations, conference
HangOuts, YouTube,
Soundcloud etc.
Building your
e-reputation

12. Email:
tobias@aidnography.de
Blog:
http://www.aidnography.de
Twitter:
@aidnography