Delivered to the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, 2nd November 2015

1. Developing your public
research profile
Anna Jenkin
Faculty of Music Outreach Co-Ordinator
@acjenkin

2. Structure of the session
O What is a public research profile and why
does it matter?
O What is your current public research
profile?
O Improving your online public research
profile
O Improving your broader public research
profile.
O Suggesting options rather than selling a
format: its up to YOU to decide.

3.  What is a public
research profile?
Personal websites
Institutional websites
Social media profiles
Citations/ articles in
public-facing media
Blogs
Pictures, videos,
audio
Public-facing events Reviews
Interview
s
Social media interactions
Other
people

4. Total control No
control
Personal websites
Citations/ articles in
public-facing media
Blogs
Pictures, videos,
audio
Institutional websites
Interview
s
Social media profiles Social media interactions
Public-facing events
Search engine results:
Other people

5. Who is the ‘public’?
Totally non-
academic
Totally
academic
Personal websites
Citations/ articles in public-
facing media
Public-facing events
Blogs
Social media profiles
Social media interactions
Pictures, videos,
audio
Interviews
Institutional websites
Other people

6. Why does it matter?
77%
77% of recruiters used search engines to find
background data on candidates
35%
35% admitted eliminating candidates because of
the information that they found online
http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/google-online-searches
Slide via Lynn Bailey

7. What about in academia?
O AHRC Pathway to Impact now includes
Social Media interactions.
O Job applications increasingly involve
impact or ‘contribution’ sections
O 7 million users of Research Gate
worldwide.
O 974 million twitter users, with a
substantial number of researchers.
O 26 million academics have signed up to
Academia.edu

8. What curating a public
research profile did for me
Major thesis discovery
Invitations to
conferences in
France and USA

9. Issues
Time-consuming
Doesn’t count on job
applications/Ref
Moves too quickly
Security issues
Undermines research- precocious
publishing
Not taken seriously by
people that matterAnonymity
Ethics and copyright

10. What is your current research
profile?
ACTIVITY:
Write your name on a piece of paper
Swap that piece of paper with
someone sat in front or behind you.
Google that person and write down
what kind of person they are (don’t
forget to include images).
Search in youtube- does that give a
different image?

11. Results
 Some pretty accurate readings- ac.uk
sites are prioritised.
 Any surprise social media accounts?
 Any awkward photos?

12. What is your current research
profile?
ACTIVITY:
 Now google yourself: note down:
 Are there things on there you’d rather
weren’t?
 More importantly, what isn’t there that
you would like to be?
 How do you want to appear on the web?
How can you go about making that a
reality?

13. How to enhance your visibility
O Google prioritises ‘sites with
authority’ eg/ ac.uk accounts
and social media accounts
O Find out how people are
searching for you:
academia.edu and google
complete
O Update your resources at peak
times: 9am, 3pm, 6pm.
O Its much easier to create new
than get rid of old- make sure
your peak hits are ones that
you have control over. Photo by Giles Moss via Flickr Creative
Commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc/2.0/legalcode

14. Institutional website
O Make sure you keep it as up to date as
possible.
O Create a profile on Academia.edu or
researchgate that can be transferred over.
O Make the most of institutional broadcast
platforms: University research homepage,
Research Horizons magazine, and
connections on most social media
platforms.

15. Using Social Media

16. Strategise
O What do you want to say about yourself?
O What is the audience that you are trying to
target?
O What are you going to offer them?
O What do you want to get in return?
O Where are the possibilities for
mistakes/tensions?

17. Broadcasting NetworkingResource Sharing

18. Broadcasting
O Sometimes more
personal
O Active updates on your
activities and thoughts
O An insight into your
persona as a
researcher.
O Can also guest
broadcast on other
platforms.
O Regular, short bursts of
content.
Photo by Todd Heft via Flickr Creative Commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc/2.0/legalcode

19. Resource-sharing 1: curation
O Demonstrating your
place in the field through
the sharing of relevant
and interesting news
pieces, publications and
resources.
O Short, regular bursts of
content.
O Be vigilant: make sure
the information you are
sharing is high quality and
correct.
Photo by Bruno Cordioli via Flickr Creative
Commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc/2.0/legalcode

20. Other curation resources
O http://www.scoop.it/ - Scoop- online
newsletter collation resources
O https://storify.com/ - Storify – collates
social media onto a page that tells a story

21. Resource-sharing 2: Content
Creation
O Written: blogs (and micro blogs),
articles, reviews, papers
O Audio
O Video
O Longer time investment, less
regularly. Or in response to current
affairs.
O Think carefully about what you do
and don’t want to share.
O A way of sustaining interest in your
work, and sharing research not
suitable for publication
O Maximise coverage by connecting
to university accounts and choose
your key words carefully
O Guest blog on other public-facing
sites, eg/ The Conversation
Photo by Stephen Campbell via Flickr Creative
Commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc/2.0/legalcode

22. Networking
O Some platforms can be useful for
connecting with researchers from
around the world and sharing
expertise.
O Remember: unless you’re using a
private messaging function, these are
public.
O Some academics more
approachable on social media than
via email.
O Comments functions on publishing
platforms vary enormously. Some
also allow you to make groups.
O Complimenting real life networking:
livetweeting at conferences.
O Requires regular time commitment: if
you want people to respond to your
enquiries, you must respond to theirs.
Photo by Chris Potter via Flickr creative
commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
legalcode

23. How do I bring it all together?
O Keep it consistent: use the same
name, username, image, biographical
details and links on every platform.
O Use namechk to devise a suitable
username.
O Use gravatar to generate an image
that can be used across all platforms
and as a central directory of all your
platforms.
O Set up a Google + profile to heighten
the visibility of your publications.
O Create a personal website directory
through about.me or flavours.me
O Create your own personal website,
either via wordpress or through a
professional company.
Photo by Cory Doctorow via Flickr
creative commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
2.0/legalcode

24. How do I bring it all together?
O Create a Google Scholar
citations platform to make
sure all your publication
lists are up to date.
O Create an OCRID to bring
all your online activity
together and connect it to
your publications and other
forms of research output.
Photo by Bipin Gupta via Flickr creative
commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legal
code

25. How do I keep it separate?
O Be clear on what platforms you
are using for what purposes. Have
a clear policy on friending/following
in both domains.
O Use platforms with strong privacy
settings for personal use and make
sure they are in place and regularly
updated.
O Use separate email addresses for
different platforms.
O Avoid synching log ins and do not
let your computer ‘remember’ you.
O Use shortened names or
pseudonyms for personal use.
Photo by Frankieleon via Flickr creative
commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/l
egalcode

26. Keeping an eye on what’s going
on
O Create a ‘Google alert’ . You can
also use
http://www.socialmention.com/ and
http://technorati.com/ to keep track
of discussions on social media.
O Use analytical tools such as
google analytics and twitter
analytics (most platforms have
them). Record any particularly high
impact publications.
O Be vigilant: delete accounts that
are not in use or contain old
material. Make sure you have at
least one presence outside of your
institution. Back up material: no
platform will last forever!
Photo by Johan J-Ingles-Le Nobel
Flickr creative commons:
https://creativecommons.org/license
s/by/2.0/legalcode

27. Your public profile outside of
the internet
O What forms of public
engagement would work
best with your research?
O What kinds of people would
you like to work with?
O What do you want them to
get out of it?
O What do you want to get
out of it?
Photo by Sholeh Flickr creative
commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/2.0/legalcode

28. Organisations
O National Centre for Co-
Ordinating Public
Engagement:
publicengagement.ac.uk
O Next Generation Thinkers
2016 via AHRC
O Non-academic
conferences
O Musical charity work and
campaigns eg. Live Music
Now
Photo by JLS Photography Flickr
creative commons:
https://creativecommons.org/license
s/by/2.0/legalcode

29. Top tips for developing public
engagement
O Start small- if in doubt,
focus on your sources
O Think carefully about your
audience
O Know what you want
O Don’t just talk
O Have a clear evaluation
system in place
O Back it up with an online
campaign Photo by Tessss Flickr creative commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/le
galcode

30. To conclude…
O What do you want
your public profile to
say?
O Who do you want
your ‘public(s)’ to be?
O What are the best
platforms for you to
do this?
O How are you going
to keep control?
Photo by Tambako Flickr creative commons:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalco
de