The document discusses the impact of digital technologies on research practices, highlighting various projects and collaborations that explore data access, communication, and collaboration in academia. It emphasizes the evolving landscape of research, including the challenges of privacy, ethics, and the need for new business models and digital literacy among researchers. Additionally, it points out the democratization of research and the importance of networked individuals and institutions in shaping modern academic environments.

1. Digital Academe:
A Perspective from Digital Social Research
William H. Dutton
Professor of Internet Studies
Oxford Internet Institute (OII)
University of Oxford
Presentation for Oxford Journals Day Conference, Oxford University
Press, 14 March 2012.

2. Relevant Research
• Oxford Internet Surveys of Britain: 2003, 2005,
2007, 2009, 2011 and World Internet Project (WIP)
• The Global Values Project: OII in collaboration with
INSEAD, comScore, and WEF
• The Performance of Distributed Problem-Solving
Networks (DPSN) Project (2007-8)
• The Oxford e-Social Science Project (OeSS),
Economic and Social Research Council (2005-12)
• The Fifth Estate Project, supported by the OII,
Oxford Internet Surveys (2003-2012), and June
Klein, Electronic Boardroom™

3. Oxford e-Social Science Project
Spanning types of data and tools
Case studies
Spanning disciplines:
(Social) sciences and humanities
Privacy and data protection
Issue-based studies Institutional Infrastructures
E-Research ethics, and …
Online survey of e-Research:
Bottom-up practices, proximity and cohorts
Survey research
Scientometrics and webmetrics:
Global visibility and output
Longitudinal ethnographies Contexts of research innovation

4. Reconfiguring Access in Everyday Life and Work
• How you get information
Information • What you know
• How you communicate
People • Who you know
• How you obtain services
Services • From whom, from where
• How you do what you do
Technology • What know-how you
require

5. Reconfiguring Access in Research
• How you collaborate
Collaboration • With whom you collaborate
• How you observe objects
Observation • What you observe/experience
• How you obtain info, data
Data, Information • What you collect
• How you conduct
Analysis • Where you obtain computation
• When & how you disseminate
Distribution • What you distribute to whom

7. Researchers
First Port of
Call
Collaborative
Network Search v Sites
Organizations
Empowering
Networked
Individuals
Trust Social Cues
Centrality
Significance
Students

8. Networked Institutions & Individuals
Networked • NHS Direct (Web v Phone)
Institutions • PubMed/MEDLINE
Networked • Searching the Internet for health
Individuals and medical information
Collaborative • Networking Patients (UK Children
Networked with Diabetes Advocacy Group (500)
Organizations • Networking Physicians, e.g., Sermo

9. Arena: Networked Institutions Networked Individuals
News Online journalism, BBC Netizens, Citizen
Online, Live Micro-Blogging Journalists, Bloggers,
Whistleblowers, Leaks,
Churnalism.org, Hacking
Blacklash
Research Institutional Repositories, Search, Subject Matter
Institutional Clouds, Online Repositories, Cloud
Access to Libraries, Services, Citizen Scientists,
Digitization of Holdings, Blogging (Lab Notes),
Journals Online Online Tools (Surveys,
Content Analysis)
Education Online Learning, Multimedia Backchannels, Informal
Classrooms Learning, Rate My Teacher
Health and Medical NHS Direct, e-mailing Going to the Internet for
safety alerts health information,
Networks of Patients,

10. Implications of Networked Institutions and Individuals
• More Competition for Attention
Journals • Sustainability: New Business Models
• Sustainability: New Services, Facilities
• Digital Tools and Literacy
Editors • Greater Reliance on Search, Social Networks
• New Legal, Ethical, and Quality Issues in Research
• Digital Research Post-Fad
Researchers • Following Content, and Networks
• Democratization of More Aspects of Research
• More Fluid, and Active: Links, Ratings, Discussion
Readers • Following Content and Networks
• Democratization of More Aspects of Research