Helping early researchers harness social media to support and further their own research. Rhodes University Education Department 'Doc' Week 2016

1. Education Department ‘Doc Week’
Rhodes University, South Africa.
© Fiona Still-Drewett, Rhode University Library, March 2016

2.  Internet embedded
in the everyday
 How can social
media increase
research impact
and reach?
 Can social media
help grow your
academic career?
Pic from Taylor & Francis white paper, Oct 2014

3.  Engaging with the users “It’s crucial to note that our
upcoming wave of library patrons – students,
colleagues, and staff – will be from this generation who
are technologically sophisticated, well-connected on the
social web, entrepreneurial, and oftentimes, impatient.”
 Content management “We need to dive in on the
teaching front – students are taking on the role as
educators.”
 Changing technology “It is difficult to predict where it
goes. So many applications … Social media is becoming
the primary means for communication.”
Taylor & Francis White Paper, Oct 2014

4.  Web 2.0 is not a technology, it is an attitude
(O’Reilly 2005)
 Web 2.0 about providing users with the
means for producing and distributing
content
 Typical Web 2.0 qualities: dynamic,
participatory, engaged, interoperable, user-
centred, open, collectively intelligent…
(Muster & Murphie 2009)

5. Which to use? How familiar are you with them?
 Twitter : ‘now happening’ research
 Google Scholar : profile & citations
 Blogs : news, research & events
 Academia.edu /ResearcherID: profiles &
academic networking & collaboration
 Facebook : invitation only groups ~ subject
focus
 LinkedIn : job hunting Etc.

6. To Do:
 Follow high profile
researchers in your
field
 Follow associations,
publishers,
libraries…
 Alert RUL to new
publications
Contact your Principal Faculty Librarian
Value of:
 Stay up to date with
very latest research
 Time efficient – via
links of interest
 Useful in
conference settings
@RhodesResearch
#RUCHERTL

7.  “Naturally, in the
digital age, it’s
important for
researchers to have
profiles and be
associated with their
work. Funding,
citations and lots of
other good career
advancing benefits
flow from this”
 “beneficial to showcase
a broad range
of output, so blogs,
slide presentations,
peer-reviewed
publications,
conference posters
etc.”
 Elizabeth Allen
Sep 2014
 From the
ScienceOpen.com blog

8. ORCID
Non-profit: independent,
community driven
Google
Scholar
Search: Google
Researcher
ID
Publisher: Thomson
Reuters
Scopus
Author ID
Publisher: Elsevier
Mendeley Publisher: Elsevier
Academia.
edu
Researcher Network:
Academia.edu
ResearchG
ate
Researcher Network:
ResearchGate
From ScienceOpen.com blog
Why ORCID?
From ORCID.COM
ORCID is a unique,
persistent personal
identifier a researcher
uses as they publish,
submit grants, upload
datasets that connects
them to information on
other systems.
Ten things you need to
know about ORCID right
now
From Impactstory blog

9.  Can make your profile public so appears in
Google Scholar search results
 Can track your citations
 Manual or auto updates
 Gives ‘fuller’ picture
 http://0-scholar.google.co.za.wam.seals.ac.za/
 e.g. Prof. Sioux Mckenna, CHERTL, RU

10.  Institutional research repositories
e.g. Rhodes Digital Commons
(via Quick Links on RUL homepage)
 provides open access to RU research output
 creates global visibility for research
 store and preserve digital assets eg theses

11.  Academics' online presence: a four-step guide
to taking control of your visibility
(open UCT guide by Sarah Goodier and Laura Czerniewic)
 Assess yourself: search for yourself and check your impact
 Your profile as an individual: keep all profiles up to
date
 Improving the availability of your outputs: self
archive & share what you can
 Communicating and interacting: connect & interact
online
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/2652

12.  Author ID: select name format & stick to it!
(prevents author ambiguity)
 Create a Google Scholar citation profile, a
Researcher ID profile, and an ORCID id
 Participate in the research landscape: blogs,
twitter..
 Deposit all research output on your
institution’s repository - Rhodes Digital
Commons

13. Enhances research impact via
application of the research, grows citation
counts, extends global reach, & facilitates
collegial collaboration
Thus helps to develop one’s
academic/research career, Contributes to
institutional research output, & Grows funds
for research & higher education in South
Africa
Thank you for your attention !

14.  Goodier, S. & Czerniewicz, L. (2014) Academics’ online presence [Online] 2014.
OpenUCT Guide. Available from: Available at: http://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/2652
. [Accessed: 16th January 2015]
 HINTON, S. & HJORTH, L. (2013) Understanding Social Media. London: Sage Publications
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_repository
 http://www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network-
1.15711
 http://blog.scienceopen.com/category/profiles/
 http://orcid.org/
 http://blog.impactstory.org/ten-things-you-need-to-know-about-orcid-right-now/
 http://contentpro.seals.ac.za/iii/cpro/app
 http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/access/white-paper-social-media.pdf
 RUL Science & Pharmacy Blog
http://rulscipharm.blogspot.com/2014/09/researcher-profiles-which-one-to-use.html
 For Google Scholar Profile info
http://0-scholar.google.co.za.wam.seals.ac.za/intl/en/scholar/citations.html