Academic Research in 140 characters ... or less

Academic research in 140 characters or less …#eLSE 2011 Bucharest 28-29 April 2011 Pictures : HikingArtist.com

AGENDA (or what you can read in the full paper) http://www.scribd.com/doc/53952320/Else2011-Final-Paper# Introduction (very short) Literature review (actually an overview) The Romanian context (yes, that’s true) The Study: background, methodology and (of course) the results ... The END: we have some conclusions, too ☺

„Can micro-blogging micro- be used research?” for field research?”Mayernik and Pepe, 2009http://research.cens.ucla.edu/events/?event_id=231

A new form of scholarlycommunication?

a way to track trends-in-time a new form of authoring publishing, researching a data repository to collect a platform for social informations and links micro-interactions to connect people an outreach toolaimed at promoting public awareness a search tool a tool for disseminating a social collection to manage: a micro-peer method scientific information • people for learning, reviews feedback • messages • hashtags

(micro??) Scholarly identity 2.0

ROMANIAN EDU-MICROSPHERE Total number Teachers / Doctoral /Platform of users Researchers Master studentsTwitter 50000 400 3000Cirip 18000 250 600Edmodo 200 30 140Yammer 200 20 10Plurk 500 30 40Google Buzz 800 100 100Identi.ca 500 50 50Jaiku 200 30 20Twiducate 150 30 100 Total 70550 940 4060 Estimations: ZeList.ro, RoTwitterSurvey 2010, specific Twitter lists, searches with twellow,,tweepz, Cirip statistics, Edmodo HE private accounts, Google searches etc.

Respondents profile Data ValidationResearch method Target population 110 female, collecting 4.66% of thesurvey distributed 123 male total of 5000 online 7-15 March educational academics 2011 aged > 25 years accounts METHODOLOGY

Respondents by academic position PhD Student – 10% Researcher – 9% Instructor / Trainer – 8% School teacher – 8% Teaching assistant – 8% Lecturer – 3%University Professor – 2% Administrative / management – 2% Associate Professor – 2% Decision maker – 2% Other – 5%

Microblogging platforms used by responders59%56%13% 3% 2% 1%

Microblogging uses in research by discipline 58% of the respondents have a science background education less than 20% are from humanity field and economics

7% are innovators (opened thefirst microblogging account more than3 years ago) 11% 11% are early adopters(opinion leaders with accounts of 3years old) 35% early majority (2 years) 35% 29% 29% late majority (one year) 19% 19% are laggards (accountsopened during the last 6 months) How long have you been microblogging?

15%the most active users write daily (15%)almost half of the respondents (47%) say they seldom send a message23% post weekly How often do you post on a microblog?

FOLLOWED more than 500 – 6% between 201-500 – 11% between 101-200 – 7% between 51-100% – 5% less than 50 – 71%How many microblogging accounts do you monitor? How many followers do you have? FOLLOWERS more than 500 – 11% between 201-500 – 12% between 101-200 – 4% between 51-100% – 9% less than 50 – 64%

How researchers are making use of languages only in Romanian 25% (60 users) only in English 9% (20 users) both in Romanian and English 62% (144 users) in other languages (including Ro) – 3% others 1%

Social Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn etc.) – 86% Video-Sharing (Youtube etc.) – 69% Blogs (any type of platform) – 44%Image sharing (Flickr,deviantART etc.) – 46% Miniblog – 9%Social Bookmarking – 47% Audio-Sharing (Blip.fm etc.) – 16% Others – 14% SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCE

How do you use microblogging for the following activities?Activities Yes Not yet I have but I’m used aware of it No didactical 45% 21% 34% research 27% 27% 46% professional 51% 22% 27%development personal 64% 17% 20%development

I work with … Number PercentCollaborators in different institutions from Romania 79 34%Collaborators in different institutions from other countries 63 27%Colleagues / peers across my department / faculty / university 54 23%/ institutionsStudents of my own department / faculty / university 102 44%I work on my own research or scholarship 54 23%Others 72 31% Mode of research work

Contextual conditions in which scholars use microblogging Activities No. % Searching news, academic content 130 56% Dissemination of own results articles, projects, presentations 110 47% Inquiring (reviewing the literature, collecting and analyzingresearch data) 51 22% Personal / Professional Communication / Collaboration 171 73% Networking for professional development 88 38% Building a community of practice 39 17% Building a learning community with students enrolled in formalcourses 61 26% Learning from the stream (following a specific hashtag) -participating / following different scientific events (as a real time 95 41%news-source) Others 51 22%

BENEFITS Collective Intelligence Ambient Intelligence Extension of the PRN –Personal Research Network DISADVANTAGES Managing the researchers‘ Ethical dilemmasprojects Concerns about Quality Security and Privacy Developing as a researcher Concerns

Key findings The role of microblogging technology in supporting Romanian research andresearchers’ careers is slowly increasing, but on an upward curve. There is still a concern in adopting microblogging and other Web2.0 tools(such as blogs and wikis) to communicate ideas and projects, some educationalactors believing they are dangerous or a waste of time.

Gabriela Grosseck Carmen Holotescu University of the West Politehnica UniversityTimisoara, Romania Timisoara, Romania Twitter: @ggrosseck Twitter: @cami13 Cirip: @gabriela Cirip: @cami13 Thank you for your attention!

Academic Research in 140 characters ... or less

by Gabriela Grosseck

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