Web logic: researches and social media THERE are many social networking sites for researchers out there but how exposed and connected do you want to be? Academics, post-docs, graduate students and independent researchers have been bombarded with choices to publicise their work lately. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are largely overlooked by many academics. LiveJournal, WordPress, Blogger, including personal websites, have also been used by academics to share their research online. But to wait for comments to your blog or an email from someone who recognises your work is passé. Newbies have come to town. With 3.6 million users, there is Academia.edu and its glut of statistics on profile and document views, including search keywords used and from which countries. There’s Global Academic Talent which allows you to share your work publicly and uses its UniJobs network to connect you to job hunters. ResearchGate also accepts your articles and connects you to other researchers but offers something new. It gives you a score based on an algorithm that attaches a score to your publications, your contributions and how they are evaluated by peers, and who you interact with. So you might want to check the ‘hotshots’ in your field as your interaction with them can earn you some points. There are also the small players, and perhaps virtually unknown to Australian researchers, like MyNetResearch, Epernicus, and the various interest-specific groups in LinkedIn. Although Mendeley and Zotero offer reference management solutions, they also offer the ability to share your work with colleagues. Scholastica, on the other hand, makes it easy to create and manage your own open access journal. You as the publisher and editor is now possible in seconds. The sites are only as good as their membership base. That influences your exposure and how well your work is viewed, read and discussed. That somewhat tells you the impact of your research and who is interested in what you do. Who knows what functionalities they will add or which new sites will launch in the future. The sites are in their infancy stage. Membership is growing (or declining) exponentially to some, and it is early to tell whether they will really ever serve the needs of researchers. However, they provide opportunities researchers never had before. We are now seeing more researchers that work in the same area as we do, we follow and get followed, evaluate others’ work and be evaluated, connect with researchers from different parts of the world, and so on. The sites also act as repositories of our work. More than ever, the opportunities for showcasing our work and expanding our professional network have never been more far-reaching than a decade ago. Albeit spoilt with choices, it all boils down to personal preference. How ubiquitous online you want to be depends on how far you want to go. And if you’re looking for that ‘Like’ button, the sites are more ‘brainy’ than that. Dr Angelito Calma is with the Faculty of Business and Economics Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the University of Melbourne. More: theaustralian.au/higher-education/opinion/web-logic-researches-and-social-media/story-e6frgcko-1226686311505
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 16:20:42 +0000
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