Introduction to Social Media for researchersHow Social Media can benefit your research and career

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Gilles CouzinFebruary

2014

About you

• In small groups, introduce yourself and say:• Who you are and where you work.• What your research interests are.• What you hope to gain from this workshop.

• Share with everyone:• What you hope to gain from this workshop.• Any interesting or surprising facts you learnt about other

participants.

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About this workshop

• What are Social Media?• How are they relevant to you as a researcher?• Key Social Media tools for researchers• Risks and concerns• Case studies:

• Prof. Alex Marsh from the School for Policy Studies• Dr Matthew Brown from the School of Modern Languages

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What are social media?

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I wish Twitter had

been invented!

A cynic’s definition:

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“A continuously evolving collection of time-wasting

web-based and mobile applications that demean

communication and collaboration between

internet trolls* and other social misfits, through

the exchange, creation and discussion of mostly

irrelevant drivel.”

* Internet troll : a person who submits deliberately inflammatory articles to an internet discussion (The Free Dictionary)

An evangelist’s definition:

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“An umbrella term for a continuously evolving

collection of web-based and mobile applications

that empower us to interact, communicate,

collaborate, connect and learn, through the

exchange, creation and discussion of user-

generated content.”

Tools of the trade

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Categories• Content aggregation and curation

(e.g. RSS feeds, social bookmarking)• Collaborative writing (e.g. wikis,

Google Docs)• Media sharing (e.g. video, photos,

presentations)• Blogging & microblogging (e.g.

Blogger, Twitter)• Social networking (e.g. Facebook,

LinkedIn)

Consuming vs. producing social media

Lurking is ok… a good way to get started and

learn the rules a good way to discover people

with similar interest can be more effective than

search engines to gather and filter relevant information

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 Photo by Jean-François Chénier CC BY-NC

Consuming vs. producing social media

…but, making your own is the goal!

become a participant in a community

build your reputation start small (e.g. ‘like’, post a

comment on a blog)

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A conversation space…

 Illustration by Khalid Albaih CC BY

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…rather than a broadcasting platform

 Illustration by Khalid Albaih CC BY Photo by ehnmark CC BY

How are they relevant to researchers?

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I must write a

blog about this!

Over to you

In pairs (or groups of 3 or 4): • Discuss what you do in the course of your research.• What do you do which is similar to other researchers in

other disciplines?

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What you (collectively) do…• Talk to colleagues and exchange ideas.• Attend conferences, listen to speakers and discuss their ideas with them and

with your peers.• Have an idea for a paper or project and discuss it with potential co-authors

and collaborators.• Write the paper, project proposal or submission jointly with others.• Listen to and ask questions of the stakeholders.• Do the work with project partners and collaborators.• Ensure that the outcome is known about by:

• your peers (who may cite you)• others, including the general public, in order to enhance the impact of

your work.

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The academic research cycle

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From the Research Information Network’s Social Media: A guide for researchers(http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/social-media-guide-researchers)

1. Identification of knowledge

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• The ability to find and filter information is a key aspect of research.

• Social Media enables you: to make the most of your

professional network… …to discover more relevant

information and filter it more effectively.

• RSS feeds, social bookmarking and social citation tools are particularly useful for this function.

 Flickr photo by zphaze CC BY-NC

2. Creation of knowledge

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• Social media can help you: collaborate more effectively create opportunities to forge new

collaborations and benefit from the experience of others

draw in expertise to help you with research processes (e.g. techniques, methods)

receive feedback as you go raise the profile of your work more

rapidly.

• Social networks, wikis, blogs, online office suites like Google Docs are particularly useful.

 Flickr photo by ragesoss CC BY-SA

3. Quality assurance of knowledge

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• Social Media provide tools to: filter information share recommendations through

social bookmarking and social citation sites

review and discuss new ideas and research

get feedback on your ideas and work

 Flicker photo by olalindberg CC BY-NC-SA

4. Dissemination of knowledge

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• Social Media allows you to: disseminate your work more

widely and more effectively enhance your online profile reach out to new audiences enhance ‘impact’ and maximise

dissemination enhance awareness of your

research activities

 Flickr photo by an untrained eye CC BY-NC

Key social media tools for researchers

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 Flickr photo by Lukeroberts CC BY-SA

Maybe I should use a different

brush!

Content aggregation and curation tools

Content aggregation:An automated process that uses software to pull content from different sources.

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Content curation:“The process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme.”

Beth Kanter - http://www.bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/

Content aggregation and curation

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Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed

An RSS news feed is a format for delivering regularly changing web content.

Content aggregation and curation

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Use an RSS news aggregator like Feedly (feedly.com)

Content aggregation and curation

Diigo: Social bookmarking and much more

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Reference and citation managers

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• Network and Discover papers, people and public groups.

• Manage citations and bibliographies.

• Read and annotate PDFs.

• Import and organise PDFs.

• Connect with colleagues and securely share your papers, notes and annotations.

• Access your papers on the web, iPhone or iPad.

Reference and citation managers

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(www.mendeley.com)

(www.zotero.org)

(www.citeulike.org)

Writing collaboration tools

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Google Docs / Drive• Drive is a file

storage and synchronization service.

• Docs is a web-based office suite provided as part of Drive.

• Easily create and share your work online.

• Access from anywhere.

• Available with your UoB Gmail account.

Writing collaboration tools

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Confluence: the University wiki• Can be used as a

reflective space.• A space for writing

drafts of papers and reports.

• Building a knowledge base.

• Collaborative authoring of papers and reports.

• A document repository for agendas and minutes.

• Compiling a manual or glossary of useful terms.

Writing collaboration tools: Wikipedia

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Dr Evan Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History in the Department of History.

Writing collaboration tools: Wikipedia

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Dr Evan Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History in the Department of History.

“Given the great public interest in the exploits of John Cabot, millions of people had followed the story in the media and many came forward with important information. Some of this information has been used by Evan to update the page on John Cabot in Wikipedia, using the page as an effective way of sharing research findings with the public and as a tool to garner further public contribution. All these developments have resulted in the research becoming an international collaboration, encompassing academics in Italy, Canada, Australia and the United States. It also led to him receiving additional funding, of £120,000, from a private Canadian benefactor.”http://www.bris.ac.uk/research/impact-stories/2012/john-cabot.html

Media sharing tools: videos

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YouTube• Good way to

publicise and promote research.

• Helps promote public understanding.

• Easy to embed videos in your website or blog.

• Build a community of researchers with similar interests.

• Helps articulate ideas clearly for a range of audiences.

• Get feedback via comments and reviews.http://www.youtube.com/user/BristolIG

Media sharing tools: photos

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Flickr• Good way to

publicise and promote your research.

• Easy to embed images in your website or blog.

• Provides a photographic record of your research.

• 1 terabyte of storage for free!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/koehllab

Media sharing tools: presentations

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SlideShare• An online repository for

your presentations.• Easy to embed

presentations in your website or blog.

• Get feedback from viewers.

• Join groups to connect with members who share your interests.

• View presentations by other researchers and comment on them.

• Good way to publicise and promote your research.

http://www.slideshare.net/SarahG_SS/using-impactstory-an-introduction

Blogging and micro-blogging: Blogs

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• As a collaborative space to keep a log of ideas, resources, events attended, etc.

• As a private space for reflection and note-taking (similar to a personal diary).

• As a public-facing website to: develop a personal voice

and presence receive early feedback

on research ideas record reflexions on

research or events attended

engage with a wider audience

tell stories related to your research.

Blogging and micro-blogging

Blogging tools:

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(http://www.blogger.com)

(http://wordpress.com)

(University hosted, can be UoB branded, including UoB URL, e.g. mygroup.blogs.bris.ac.uk)

(http://blogs.ilrt.org)

Blogging and micro-blogging: Twitter

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• Connect with people who have similar interests.

• Publicise events, new blog post, etc.

• Filtering relevant information.

• Participate in discussions (e.g. #ecrchat).

• Write short reflective notes during an event (using the event #tag)

• Keep up-to-date with funding opps, calls for papers, etc.

A waste of time?

Yes, for those with time to waste…

…a valuable filtering, communication and dissemination channel for everyone else!

Blogging and micro-blogging: TwitterTwitter: anatomy of a “tweet”

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@ identifies Twitter username (handle)

Mention – when you mention someone

# (hashtag) used to categorise tweets. Similar to a keyword

Short URL

Number of times this tweet has been “retweeted”

People who have “retweeted” or “Favorited” the tweet

For further info on Twitter read the LSE guide guide “Using Twitter in university research, teaching, and impact activities” (http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide/)

Social networking: Facebook

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Facebook• Allows the creation of a

personal profile, groups and pages.

• A collaborative space to share with fellow researchers.

• Create a conference or workshop page (e.g. Chi2012).

• Create private or public spaces for themed discussions.

• Promote and publicise your research to a wider audience.

• Recruit research participants.• Publish research news as they

happen.• Receive early feedback for

research ideas.http://www.facebook.com/CHI2012

Social networking: LinkedIn

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LinkedIn• A professional networking

site.• Your online CV and more.• Can include details of:

research activities Publications

• Tend to be easily found by Google.

• Join groups and engage in discussions with peers.

• Build a professional network beyond the boundaries of academia.

• Promote visibility for jobs & consulting opportunities.

• Network for funding and employment opportunities.

Researcher-specific social networking services

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Academia.edu• Aimed at academics

across the world.• Provide a list of papers.• Upload open access

versions of papers.• Discuss your research

and connect with other researchers in your field.

• Join and participate in research interest groups.

Researcher-specific social networking services• ResearchGate (www.researchgate.net) – aimed at scientists and

other researchers• MethodSpace (www.methodspace.com) – aimed at social

scientists, run by SAGE publishing• Colwiz (www.colwiz.com) – research collaboration and

productivity platform to manage the entire research lifecycle• ORCID (orcid.org) – an international standard for creating and

maintaining a registry of unique researcher IDs and a method of linking research outputs to these identifiers.

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Over to you

In pairs (or groups of 3 or 4) discuss:• whether you think some of these tools might useful to

you;• how you might be able to integrate them in your

research activities.

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Risks and concerns

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I don’t like this pigeon sitting on my head!

Over to you:

In pairs (or groups of 3 or 4) discuss: • What concerns do you have about using social media?• What risks do you envisage?• What limitations might social media have in your

research area?

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Concerns, limitations and risks• Information overload… or “filter failure”• Privacy and confidentiality• Ownership, IPR and copyright• Work/life balance• Stability of technology: here/free today, gone/paid

tomorrow (e.g. Nature Network)!• Quality and authority: how to separate the wheat from

the chaff?• Speed of change of social media technologies

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Final thoughts

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 Flickr photo by Stefano Bussolon CC BY-NC

How to become alive: the case of Dr Bex Lewis

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Her “official” page on the University of Durham website.

How to become alive: the case of Dr Bex Lewis

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Her personal website.

How to become alive: the case of Dr Bex Lewis

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Her LinkedIn page.

How to become alive: the case of Dr Bex Lewis

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Her Twitter account.

How to become alive: the case of Dr Bex Lewis

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…and finally, her Academia.edu profile!

Top 10 tips to get started1. Explore online guides (start with delicious.com/uobittraining/social-media-for-researchers).

2. Do some “lurking” (look at examples of good practice).3. Locate pertinent and relevant online sources (e.g. who to follow on Twitter,

interesting bloggers).4. Start using content aggregation and curation tools (e.g. RSS, Diigo).5. Identify a few key tools and start with those – know your limits!6. Develop your network (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter hashtags).7. Join academic social network sites (e.g. ResearchGate, Mendeley).8. Create your own website9. Start blogging and twittering about your research (or whatever else takes

your fancy!).10. Participate, join in the conversation!

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Where to find more information• List of social media accounts at the University

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/social-media• Making use of social media and mobile applications at the University:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/web/guide/social-media• Research Information Network – Social Media: A guide for researchers

http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/social-media-guide-researchers

• Vitae Innovate / Open University – Handbook of social media for researchers and supervisorshttp://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/567271/Handbook-of-social-media-for-researchers-and-supervisors.html

• Links to social media resources for researchers on Delicioushttp://delicious.com/uobittraining/social-media-for-researchers53

Questions?

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Credits and licenceSome of the ideas in this presentation are based on Using Social Media to Enhance Your Research Activities by Brian Kelly available at http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/using-social-media-to-enhance-your-research-activities-workshop/ under the Creative Commons Attribution Unported 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

This presentation is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).

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