Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

Tweeting from a research

perspective

“Be visible or vanish” Bigger picture > Reputation of the university • Research output • Rankings

Policy and communication: strategy and tools Smaller picture > Reputation of the researcher • Research community • Digital footprint

OVER TO YOU… • Help form strategy and policy by

being an active part of the research community at Ghent University • Use the participatory culture • Keep Biblio up-to-date • Fill out your research

discipline in Apollo • Submit awards and prizes

via website • Be an example for the junior

researchers in your research group

Communication strategy of Ghent University

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

• Know what’s out there • Subscribe to electronic newsletter Berichten over Onderzoek • Follow @ResearchUGent (incl. list of researchers) and @ugent • Make use of available PR material: brochures and graphs (website) • Create contacts at the Research Department • Contact them or Press Office about your research breakthrough:

• include a link to the relevant publication • also address ‘the common man’

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

THE IMPORTANCE OF A DIGITAL FOOTPRINT or 8 reasons to invest in your online reputation 1. Connect with a community of people who care about the same thing that

you do 2. Allow people to get to know you better (and find you more easily) 3. Improve your writing skills 4. Refine ideas, collect intelligence and collaborate 5. Build a permanent platform from which you promote your work 6. Increase the number of times your articles are cited 7. Explore your life as a public intellectual 8. Erode the power that academic publishers have over your reputation

Cf. Jo Hawkins – www.historypunk.com

WARNING – No time?: to succeed, it has to be something you believe in and enjoy doing.

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

The Digital Academic

LinkedIn Academia.edu Research Gate

Mendeley Zotero

Google Scholar Blog

Wikipedia Storify Tumblr

YouTube SlideShare

HOW TO START? • Start small: maybe blogging is too big a step? So start your online presence

on Twitter (see next slide). Use social media to engage with communities and contribute to conversations.

• Integrate collaboration into the research project itself. • Maybe join an online researcher profile website (see next slide). • (Write for media outlets that have been specifically created for academic

engagement with public audiences)

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

“Academic social network sites give scholars the ability to publicize their research outputs and connect with each other. With millions of users, these are a significant addition to the scholarly communication and academic

information-seeking eco-structure.”

Cf. Academia.edu: Social network or academic network. Thelwall and Kousha, 2013

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

RESEARCH - Finding jobs - Generating ideas/questions - Funding opportunities - Creating involvement - Recruiting participants - Collecting data - Dissemination - Conferences - Media engagement - Professional development - Reputation management - Connect with peers and society - Impact TEACHING - Up to date sources - Reliable sources - Boost engagement - Improve student writing

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

Open Access = Impact ↑

• Open access extends the reach of research beyond its immediate academic circle.

• Open access speeds research progress, productivity, and knowledge translation.

• Every researcher in the world can read an article, not just those whose library

can afford to subscribe to the particular journal in which it appears. • Research funding agencies and universities want

to ensure that the research they fund and support in various ways has the greatest possible research impact.

But at least… • Put your journal articles into the

institutional repository (Biblio) to make them available on open access

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

“The nature of academic life has become in many ways surrounded

by online and mobile media culture as much as there continue to be

patterns of engagement and activity that resemble previous

eras of scholarship.”

Cf. The academic online, K. Barbour and D. Marshall, 2012

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

Thank you!

Esther De Smet

Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014