Form and Function of Digital Genres of Academic Communication

Cornelius Puschmann, Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinMerja Mahrt, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

International Conference on Science and the Internet (#cosci12)August 3rd, 2012

Düsseldorf, Germany

1. How do ICTs/the Internet reshape scholarship?

2. How is scholarly communication reconfigured?

3. How do scholarly blogs fit in?

Prior research on scholarly blogging

•Mortensen and Walker (2002):blogs as tools for writing and knowledge management•Walker (2006): change of usage over time•Gregg (2009): blogs as a subcultural form of expression, part of constructing a professional identity•Bar-Ilan (2004):aims of scholars inferred from form and content •Luzón (2009): use of hyperlinks in academic blogs•Kouper (2010): “virtual water cooler” for experts

Why do we care? (Alt)metrics!

•natively digital formats (blogs, wikis, tweets, ...) not part of formal academic evaluation (though there are exceptions)• this may change in the future, as metrics become more personalized•output in digitally native formats is likely to increase

Issues of defintion

defined by content”a blog with scholarly

content”

...but what makes content scholarly?

defined by actor”a blog written by a

scholar”

...but who exactly is a scholar and who isn‘t?

Genre as a possible point of convergence?

scholarly/science/academic blog

scholarly blogscienc

e blog

research blog

digital lab notebookacademic b

log

carnet de recherecheWissenschaftsblog

different terms & concepts

What are the motives of scholarly bloggers?

•online questionaire among bloggers on the German-language platform SciLogs (n=44)•platform is run by popular science publisher Spektrum der Wissenschaft•all respondents are regular authors on SciLogs•majority of bloggers male (73%)•majority with a natural sciences background (59%)

because I enjoy writing

to present my field to a general audience

to establish a thematic presence

to raise grievances/controversies

to express myself creatively

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

I blog...

percentage of respondents who somewhat or fully agree with the statement

discussion and exchange of ideas

presenting the results of my research

publishing texts written for other purposes

0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

Important functions of my blog are...

percentage of respondents who somewhat or fully agree with the statement

it varies from post to post

popular science publications

essays/op-eds

I have my own style

non-scholarly blogs

scholarly publications

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

In terms of style, my blog emulates...

answer the public’s questions

repay a debt to society

0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

Through my blog, I...

percentage of respondents who somewhat or fully agree with the statement

SciLogs: one platform‘s take on scholarly blogging

• the SciLog authors blog because they enjoy engaging with the general public•blogging is not seen as a replacement for traditional scholarly publishing•blogging is also not seen as a replacement for science journalism• instead, different blogs occupy different niches between popular science writing and public discussion of science•other platforms (Hypotheses.org, Researchblogging.org) are based on different sociotechnical conceptualizations and follow different aims

Thank you for your attention!