shall we use social media for our research?
DESCRIPTION
Co-Production of Knowledge: Social meida, STS and ...TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Yimei Zhu
Sociology PhD Student
University of Manchester Twitter: @yimeizhu
www.facebook.com/yimeizhumanchester http://yimeizhueresearch.wordpress.com
The Co-Production of Knowledge SymposiumUniversity of York18-20 July 2012
Shall we use social media for our research?
![Page 2: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Introduction Background
What’s the question now and what can be done?
Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusion and future work
Presentation Outline
![Page 3: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
My PhD thesis:
Are the new forms of scholarly communication the pathway to open science?
Open access to publication Open access to research data Using social media for scholarly communication
This paper I’m presenting today is focused on using social media for scholarly communication based on a pilot study I’ve conducted with a number of UK based academic researchers.
Introduction
![Page 4: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Scholarly communication, has been used as a broad term to cover all the activities and norms of academic research related to producing, exchanging and disseminating knowledge (Rieger 2010; Hahn et al. 2011).
Scholarly communication
![Page 5: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
A study of the adoption and use of Web 2.0 in scholarly communication conducted 3 years ago with UK academic communities and publishers by internet survey, interviews and case studies:
Procter, R., Williams, R. & Stewart, J. (2010a). If You Build It, Will They Come? How Researchers Perceive and Use Web 2.0. Research Information Network.
Procter, R., Williams, R., Stewart, J., Poschen, M., Snee, H., Voss, A. & Asgari-Targhi, M. (2010b). Adoption and use of Web 2.0 in scholarly communications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 368(1926).
Background study
![Page 6: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
What Procter et al (2010a) found: Only 4% write a research blog and 6% post
slides, text and videos publicly as frequent users.
39% of UK academics are non-users of Web 2.0.
The forms of current scholarly communication in the UK academia were strongly influenced by disciplinary and institutional norms and variance.
Background study
![Page 7: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Some Questions to consider: Has the attitudes and practice changed in the last
three years? How has Twitter been used for scholarly
communication? what strategies can be employed to maximise the
impact of using social media? Is there any possible causal relations between
various variables and the researchers’ attitudes and practice
What can be done?
![Page 8: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Pilot study Internet survey Follow-up interviews Social Network Analysis Participant observation
My plan
![Page 9: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Shall we use social media for our research?
Research questions for this paper
![Page 10: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Interviews: By face-to-face, Skype and Emails
Participant observation
Methods for the pilot study
![Page 11: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Users: Male, Professor in Politics Male, Lecturer in Social Science Male, PhD student in Education Female, PhD student in Education Female, PhD student in Biology Non-users: Male, Senior Lecturer in Music composing Male, PhD student in Politics Female, PhD student in Material
Engineering
Interviewees (4 Universities)
![Page 12: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Talk to various researchers about their attitudes towards and experience of using social media
Created my own twitter account and academic blog, as well as joined a number of social media sites.
Participant observation
![Page 13: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Current most commonly used social media sites for research-related purpose:
Blog sites (e.g.,WordPress), Twitter, Facebook groups and pages
Results and Discussion
![Page 14: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Also used: Academia.edu,Pinterest,Mendeley, etc.
![Page 15: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Finding information as well as disseminating information (Procter et al, 2010a)
‘Twitter – links, information, discussion. Blogs – dissemination, information.’(Male, PhD
student in Education)
‘I use blogs and Twitter to disseminate information about my research and that of my colleagues, to ask questions that will help my research, and to circulate news or articles within my fields of research.’ (Male, Professor in Politics)
What are they for?
![Page 16: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Build a community and support network:
Share useful resources
Offer advices and feedbacks
What are they for?
![Page 17: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Networking at a conference using Twitter hashtag ( e.g., #stssm)
‘Yes I use Twitter during a conference. I find it a useful way of meeting new useful contacts (via hashtags), sharing jokes, links etc. generally a positive experience.’ (Male, Lecturer in Social Science)
What are they for?
![Page 18: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Get advice and feedback you otherwise won’t be able to get quickly
‘There have been a few occasions when I've asked a question, e.g. "Has anyone ever done a study of X", and some followers will message me with suggestions and reading. So that is a very quick way to do a literature review.’ (Male, Professor in Politics)
Benefits
![Page 19: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Increase readership and thus citation
‘More readership will bring more citations. I think the xxx blog is regularly trying to prove this’. (Male, Professor in Politics)
Eysenbach (2011) found that disseminating publication information in twitter either increases citations or reflects the underlying qualities of the published paper which also predicts citations.
Benefits
![Page 20: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Danger of hurting reputation Eg., Inappropriate content linked to your
profile
Getting abused if publicly posting opinions about sensitive issues
Revealing too much personal information (eg., get students friends request)
Potential problem
![Page 21: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Reason of not using social media: 1. No time 2. Don’t trust information online that are
not peer-reviewed 3. Isolation and self-deprecation 4. Don’t like anonymity 5. Prefer face-to-face or other traditional
communication methods 6. Lack of perceived value 7.Subject area or professional status
reasons
Non-user attitudes
![Page 22: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Link different social media sites for cross-platform promotion.
‘I use my twitter network to promote my blog.’ (Male, Lecturer in Social Science)
‘Linking each site to one another so that they’re updated automatically… I set up WordPress link to my Twitter which is linked to my Facebook page…So I cover both bases separately. I used to post on Facebook and Twitter about my blog post. Once I set up the link on WordPress, it would just do it at once.’ (Female, PhD student in Education)
Strategies used by users
![Page 23: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
‘I use Buffer to automatically set tweets on twitter… Buffer is time saving. On Buffer, I can set up that I retweet it at 2, retweet that at 4…Buffer automatically tweets on my behalf. So people don’t have to spend a lot of time on social media, because some tool can do it for you automatically.’ (Female, PhD student in Education).
Use tools to manage social media sites
![Page 24: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Examples:
Twitter #phdchat network (one hour chat every Wednesday 7.30-8.30
UK time)
Create a support network
![Page 25: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
![Page 26: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Facebook Group: UoM Sociology PhD
Blog network
Create a support network
![Page 27: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Creative commons license:
free to use and add to a blog site protect the copyright of the content on the
website tells people what they can do about it
Copyright protection
![Page 28: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
‘Twitter is professional, and Facebook is for personal, and there is very little (although increasing) overlap.’ (Male, Lecturer in Social Science)
Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family, twitter to publicise my work.… At least 99% of my tweets are work/research-related.’ (Male, Professor in Politics)
Privacy issue: Have different identities on Twitter and Facebook
![Page 29: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
‘I’d only put online what I’m not ashamed of and willing to publicly defend.’ (Female, PhD student in Education).
Use blog as a reflective tool to think about the research and the process of doing research rather than revealing the findings
Cautious about the content on the social web
![Page 30: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Link your blog to other popular blog
Using anonymity and pseudonym
Other strategies
![Page 31: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
In social sciences, the nature of research and their findings are very different from natural sciences which determine what can and can not be blogged about.
For example, for politics science, there are not many definitive findings.
Disciplinary differences
![Page 32: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Does the use of social media have more potential benefits for early career researchers than for professors?
Career paths difference?
![Page 33: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
I started using Twitter last year and recently started my blog and Facebook Page
It was hard to gain followers (36 on Tue) Need technical support or help from
someone more experienced Don’t know what to tweet or blog about Don’t know the benefit of writing a blog
post
My reflection using blogs and twitter
![Page 34: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
![Page 35: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
![Page 36: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
![Page 37: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Depends on who ‘we’ are—researchers at different disciplines and various stage of career paths have different needs.
It can be very helpful for early career researchers to raise their profiles to peers and an international audience.
It can be very useful for some discipline areas, such as politics, when the research aims to reach out quickly to a wider population of audience or to be picked up by the media.
Conclusion--Shall we use social media for our research?
![Page 38: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
Social Media can be beneficial for anyone who use it wisely.
Employ strategies—learn from colleagues and attend workshops
Learn by doing it Be careful about the content you put on the
social web Follow disciplinary/institutional norm—eg.,
not revealing findings too early
Depends on how we use it
![Page 39: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
An internet survey with UK academic researchers to obtain a representative sample
More follow-up-interviews and participant observation after the survey
Future Work
![Page 40: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Eysenbach, G. (2011). Can tweets predict citations? Metrics of social impact based on twitter and correlation with traditional metrics of scientific impact. Journal of medical Internet research, 13(4).
Hahn, T., Burright, M. & Duggan, H. (2011). Has the revolution in scholarly communication lived up to its promise? American Society for Information Science and Technology, 37(5), 5.
Merton, R. K. (1957). Priorities in scientific discovery: a chapter in the sociology of science. American Sociological Review, 22(6), 635-659.
Procter, R., Williams, R. & Stewart, J. (2010a). If You Build It, Will They Come? How Researchers Perceive and Use Web 2.0. Research Information Network. Available at www. rin. ac. uk/system/files/attachments/web_2. 0_screen. pdf [accessed 21 Dec 2011].
Procter, R., Williams, R., Stewart, J., Poschen, M., Snee, H., Voss, A. & Asgari-Targhi, M. (2010b). Adoption and use of Web 2.0 in scholarly communications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 368(1926).
Rieger, O. Y. (2010). Framing digital humanities: The role of new media in humanities scholarship. First Monday, 15(10).
Reference
![Page 41: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Thank you!
![Page 42: Shall we use social media for our research?](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062703/555089b4b4c9051e5b8b4c71/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Any questions? Follow me @yimeizhu