Guiding researchers to the web tools they need

The rationale behind a ‘Web tools for researchers’ guide

ALISS Summer Conference

20th July 2011

Miggie Pickton

Outline

• Introduction

• The research process

• Web tools and the research process

– Tools for searching

– Tools for communication

– Tools for collaboration

– Tools for dissemination

– Tools for keeping up to date

– Tools for managing the research project

“The services most likely to succeed are those where researchers are actively involved in uncovering, exploring and exploiting new capabilities, and adapting them to their own purposes, in accordance with the broader cultures and contexts in which they undertake their work”

Research Information Network (2010) If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0., p.9. Available from: http://www.rin.ac.uk/web-20-researchers

The research process

Identify new research area

Produce research proposal

Bid for funding

Conduct literature

review

Collect and analyse data

Write up

Disseminate

Evaluate performance

How can web tools support the research process?

Tools to support the research process

Web tools can support researchers in:

• Finding stuff (people, resources, policy... etc)

• Keeping in touch with each other

• Working together

• Disseminating their work

• Keeping up to date

• Planning and organising their research project

Searching (and finding)

• Scholarly resources

• People

• Conferences

• Funding opportunities

• Images and video

• Public policy

• Statistics

• Government and business

• ...and much more

Identify new research area

Produce research proposal

Bid for funding

Conduct literature

review

Collect and analyse data

Write up

Disseminate

Evaluate performance

Searching the visible web

• Different search engines give different results - Thumbshots

• Try out several search engines – TurboScout, Trovando

• Categorise the results – Yippy

• Limit to scholarly content – Google Scholar, Scirus

• Search visually – Search-cube, Quintura, oSkope

• Search the blogosphere – Technorati or IceRocket

• Find images or video – Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Vimeo

Searching the ‘invisible’ web

• ‘Invisible’ web - beyond the reach of search engines

• Directories:

– Infomine – US based ‘virtual library of internet resources’ gathered by librarians

– CompletePlanet – browseable categories, includes content from dynamically searchable databases

– Intute – UK based collection of subject resources selected by subject experts (but closing soon)

• Search engines:

– OAIster or BASE – harvested from open archives using OAI-PMH e.g. digital repositories

Communication

• With research colleagues

• With current and potential research partners

• With potential employers

• With project participants

• Between supervisor and student

Identify new research area

Produce research proposal

Bid for funding

Conduct literature

review

Collect and analyse data

Write up

Disseminate

Evaluate performance

Tools for communication

• Email is out. ‘Social’ media are in.

– Join a social (or professional?) network – ResearchGate; Academia.edu; Graduate Junction; LinkedIn

– Arrange a web conference – Google Plus, Adobe Connect; GoToMeeting (not all are free)

– Chat one-to-one – Skype; Windows Messenger

• Join an existing network or start a new one.

• ‘Network effects’

Collaboration

• Generating ideas

• Project planning

• Gathering and sharing data

• Working on documents and presentations

• Sharing resources

Identify new

research area Produce

research proposal

Bid for fundin

g

Conduct literature reviewCollect

and analyse

data

Write up

Disseminat

e

Evaluate perform

ance

Tools for collaboration

• Use Google docs to collaboratively create, store and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations online

• For mind mapping try Bubbl.us, Freemind, Mind42 or Mindmeister

• Share favourite websites using Delicious, StumbleUpon or Diigo

• Organise and share bibliographic references with CiteUlike, Mendeley, Zotero or Connotea

Dissemination

• Report ongoing progress

• Publicise research outputs

• Build a body of knowledge

• Publish in an open access journal

• Keep permanent copies of research outputs in an open access repository

Identify new

research area Produce

research proposal

Bid for fundin

g

Conduct literature reviewCollect

and analyse

data

Write up

Disseminat

e

Evaluate perform

ance

Tools for dissemination

• Create a blog or wiki using Wordpress or Wetpaint

• Contribute to Wikipedia (and drive more traffic to a personal or research group website)

• Share project news or follow others on Twitter or Tumblr

• Submit an article to an open access journal or publish a new one using Open Journal Systems

• Deposit research outputs in an institutional or subject repository such as NECTAR or ArXiv (also available as an iPhone app)

Keeping up to date

• Receive the latest news by email or RSS feed

• Tables of contents

• Subject specific mailing lists

• Funding opportunities

• Search alerts from scholarly databases or search engines

Identify new

research area Produce

research proposal

Bid for fundin

g

Conduct literature reviewCollect

and analyse

data

Write up

Disseminat

e

Evaluate perform

ance

Tools for keeping up to date

• Receive up to date information by email or RSS feed:

– Search alerts from scholarly databases e.g. Science Direct, Proquest or search engines e.g. Google alerts

– Tables of contents e.g. ZETOC, TicTOCs

– Publisher alerts e.g. Sage ‘My Tools’

– Subject community mailing lists e.g. JiscMail

– RSS feeds from favourite web pages e.g. JISC, AHRC

• Gather RSS feeds through website or browser e.g Google Reader, Bloglines

Organising and managing

• Project management

• Visualising the research

• Data collection

• Arranging meetings

• Presentations

• Manipulating data

• Writing

• Personal development

Identify new

research area Produce

research proposal

Bid for fundin

g

Conduct literature reviewCollect

and analyse

data

Write up

Disseminat

e

Evaluate perform

ance

Tools for organising and managing the research project

• Set a meeting date using Doodle or Meet-o-matic

• Run an online survey using SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang

• Create a different type of presentation using Prezi, or share a powerpoint on Slideshare

• Summarise text in a word cloud such as Wordle or TagCrowd

• Personalise your web browser with iGoogle, Pageflakes or Netvibes

• ...the list is endless!

Health warning

• Web tools come and go – or get taken over by other providers (think of Google Wave, Viewzi, Bloglines...)

• Users (usually) have no control over their development or their longevity

• Important to have an exit strategy for when they cease operating

• ... but in the meantime, there are some really useful tools for research!

And if you’re not convinced of the value of web tools...

see Gary Hayes’ social media counts

Contact details

Web tools for researchers guide is available at

http://www.northampton.ac.uk/download/2311/web-tools-for-researchers

Miggie Pickton

Research Support Specialist

Department of Information Services

The University of Northampton

miggie.pickton@northampton.ac.uk

Tel: 01604 892245