Brief presentation outlining my dissertation work

1. Communication in science: toward a descriptive conceptual framework Christina K. Pikas Doctoral Candidate Doctoral Research DayFebruary 14, 2011

2. Given: Communication is vital to science –it is the “essence” Garvey (1979)

3. Problem: Many disciplines study science communication Communication and Rhetoric Information Science Science and Technology Studies These bodies of literature are independentand do not build upon one another

4. Problem: New social computing technologies (SCTs)are being adopted in science* Many early studies seem oblivious to the body of literature in any of the disciplines Chu & Guo (2006), Mark Ware Consulting (2008), Proctor, Williams, & Stewart, (2010)

5. Problem: For social computing technologies in particular,the technology and uses co-evolve Early specific studies on a single technologyquickly become dated

6. My approach: Develop a comprehensive framework to describe communication in sciencethat draws upon the relevant literatures The framework will be useful for: Situating new technologies Research on uses of SCTs Helping organizations understand SCTs, so that they may support their use

7. My Dissertation: Presents a tentative framework Tests and continues to develop that framework by analyzing the uses of selected SCTs (blogs and microblogging)in a specific community (geosciences)

8. Framework: Headings: Communication partners Purpose Features of the message Communication channel

9. Communication Partners: Number Education or sophistication Match

10. Purpose: Dissemination Certification Preservation Learning/Teaching Persuasion Evaluation/Opinion Social Entertainment Borgman (2007) Nentwich (2003)

11. Features of the Message: Topic Type of content Data, instructions, analysis, theory Structure Persistence Review or quality control

12. Communication channel: Face-to-face Mediated copresence, visibility, audibility, cotemporality, simultaneity, sequentiality, reviewability Clark & Brennan (1993)

13. Methods: Case studies combining Qualitative individual interviews Participant observation Qualitative content analysis

14. Contact me: @cpikas cpikas@ {umd, gmail} http://scientopia.org/blogs/christinaslisrant Slides will be posted to SlideSharehttp://www.slideshare.net/cpikas