Paul Spencer

Researcher
Development
Manager

@paulspencer42
http://thedigitald
octorate.com
@uwegradschool

Social Media: WIIFM

(Researchers)

What do we mean by social

media?
The important
thing is not the
tools; more that
social media is
about people
sharing things

We dont have a choice on whether

we do social media, the question is
how well we do it. Erik Qualman

Digital literacy survey (JISC + Vitae)

n=1301

Age gap?

Researchers do engage with digital tools but

with cautious experimentation could be
described as risk averse

Hopes and Fears

Information overload
Digital Identity
Intellectual Property

Information hydrant by Will Lion at https://flic.kr/p/4XmARC

We need filters

Information management

Microblogging

Discovery and following topics - # (hashtags)

Find and follow colleagues - @paulspencer42
Re-tweeting (forwarding) useful stuff from your network
Continuing conversations with connections

Probably the most useful thing

about twitter
The people you follow are
filtering information for
you!

Finding time
Mostly its about
incorporating into
daily routine like
checking the news
and substituting for
other activities

Shallow work?

Digital Identity who am I?

Daddy?
Bass Player?
Cheesy DJ?
Microbiologist?
Researcher Developer!

We all have many sides to us

If I searched for you on the internet

"I'm Feeling Lucky" Business Card by Jason Theodore on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Compartmentalise?
Private self versus Professional?

Intellectual Property

The Bandit by Vinylville available at Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The research cycle

e.g. publication,
presentation Dissemination
at conference of knowledge

Identification of
knowledge

e.g. undertaking
literature reviews
using peer reviewed
sources

Collaboration
e.g. peer review,
filtering the
best for publication

Quality
assurance of
knowledge

Creation of
knowledge

by professional
researchers
usually behind
closed doors

Academic applications
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Writing a paper
Developing a joint presentation
Grant proposals
Online meetings
Sharing papers with your group
Finding others in your field
Disseminating your work

Why do I blog?
I write for me
Reflect on workshops I
have run
By-product is it useful for
others
It has become my own
repository
Happy to share!

The Digital Doctorate blog

Further resources
Social Media A Guide for Researchers
Vitae/Open University Handbook of Social Media
Vitae Digital Literacies survey report (2012)
The Ed Techie Martin Weller blog on digital scholarship/open ed
Mark Carrigan Social Media for Academics (2016)
The Thesis Whisperer blog
Patter Prof. Pat Thomsons blog