learning exchange may 15 - supporting researchers in their use of social media
TRANSCRIPT
Supporting researchers in their use of social media
Lucy Keating. Arts, Humanities and Education liaison librarianNewcastle University Library
Online guide: principles
Illustrated with real subject
examples
Portable bite-
sized chunks
No log-in or
other
barriers
Attractive
Focus on all
aspects of
research process
Flickr the Commons: Cornell Uni Library, no known copyright restrictions
Objective, not
evangelical
Practical, not
theoretical
Encouragement of
dabbling
Face-to-face training and
supportPGR
development programmes
Staff development
workshop
Customised workshops
One-to-one consultancies
Flickr: (CC-BY-2.0) http://www.flickr.com/photos/stabilo-boss/101793493
Research lifecycle
Have ideas
Find information and keep up to
date
Collaborate
Conduct research
Organise and manage
Disseminate
Curation
Time-
consuming
Quality and
authority
For social life
onlyPlagiarism
and copyright
Lack of clarity
about benefitsToo much
choice
Ethical issues
(harvesting comments,
participant
recruitment)
Few career
incentives
Metrics and
impact
Volatility
Researchers’ concerns Distortion
How much, how
often?
Which platform
should I use?
Interactive
Cheap...free!
Fast
FlexibleAltmetrics and
impact
Collaboration and
engagement
Flickr the Commons: State Library of NSW
Event amplification
Useful at all
stages in
research
process
But worth dipping your toe in the water?…
Fun!
Supplement, not
replacement
Promotes
‘traditional’
research outputs
Very much an introduction, but that was
what I needed
Would like more guidance on what to
tweet: hard when you’re representing
the views of the University
Would work better if training was
delivered to each Faculty/Research
institute
Needed help with some specific
technical issues
I’ll now use some of these
resources in future public engagement
I’ll take the 30 day impact challenge
Learned about a lot of new tools and
resources
Useful to have resources to
work with afterwards
This workshop
would benefit all staff
Social media proved invaluable to my research process
Useful to find out about different platforms
which can help with my academic profile
Significant find was a list of
media scholars on Twitter
Implications for researchersNew skills
• Data mining and management, curation, creation
• Less depth, more breadth?
New techniques and genres
• Interdisciplinarity
• Memory studies, social network analysis…
Opportunities
• New discoveries and interpretations of old sources
• Public engagement
• Career development
Flickr Commons: US National Archives
In a nutshell: advice for
researchersBe led by your need, not the
tool
Configure settings carefully
Be prepared to experiment
Flickr Commons: US National Archives; Library of Congress; George Eastman House