Communicating science, creating impact

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Esther De Smet - FBW workshop - 2 June
2015

There seems to be a new punch line in academia: Publish or Perish has become Be
Visible or Vanish.
From funding to citations to digital footprint and media exposure: research seems to be
about getting noticed and making an impact.
If you are serious about being a researcher in today’s context of science for society,
online academic tools and high impact and visiblity,
It might be interesting to pay attention to this talk and get a few pointers on how to
approach this in a strategic way.
Goodier and Czerniewicz adapted the functional building blocks of social media (‘Social
media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media’ by Jan
H. Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens , Ian P. McCarthy , Bruno S. Silvestre in Business
Horizons, Volume 54, Issue 3, May–June 2011, Pages 241–251) and applied them to the
networked scholar.
Your digital identity online, defined as ‘the extent to which others can identify you online
as a scholar’, is central. This is why it is critical to become aware of your online presence
and to shape and maintain this presence.
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According to the authors there are 4 steps in assessing and improving your online
presence.
One – look at your current digital footprint. Yes people, this means googling yourself
once in a while.
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Two: decide on what you want.
Having an online presence is a time commitment. Online profiles that are not
maintained or updated do not create a good impression.
There are many (academic) social networks around.
Think about how much time you can commit to keeping your profile(s) current and then
decide if you should
have just one profile with links from other services, or whether you should replicate
your profile on a number of services.
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An example of such a service is Impactstory – and it even takes it a step further. It is an
open-source, web-based tool that helps scientists explore and share the diverse impacts
of all their research products—from traditional ones like journal articles, to emerging
products like blog posts, datasets, and software. By helping scientists tell data-driven
stories about their impacts, we're helping to build a new scholarly reward system that
values and encourages web-native scholarship.
Another interesting thing is OrcID – which provides a persistent digital identifier that
distinguishes you from every other researcher and, through integration in key research
workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages
between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized.
Ghent University will be implementing this later this year via Biblio.
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Step 3 is ‘Improving your outputs’ availability’
This is about making your scholarly outputs reach as many people as possible.
While you may publish prolifically, if people can’t discover your content online, they are
much less likely to read it.
Some say that if it’s not online it does not exist; we think if it’s not findable online it
might not exist. This step involves
assessing what publications and other outputs of yours are already online and then
sharing everything else you are able to.
You are also encouraged to share all your scholarly outputs, including teaching resources
and
‘popular or informal’ resources in a variety of formats.
Science Europe identified three essential aspects of Open science: its relation to digital
technology, the idea that ir explores changing research practices and their impact on the
research system as a whole, and the fundamental importance of “a certain vision of
science as a community of practice”.
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Once you got the basics, it is time to start communicating and interacting. And I cannot
stress enough that both aspects are equally important. Just broadcasting is not enough
(adopt the same attitude as in research: more than publications, also projects and
collaborations).
Communication and interaction is also key to creating (societal) impact. There are many
types of (societal) value creation of research – a whole smorgasbord to unleash your
creativity, fit for your kind of research - but that’s another workshop.
In this session we’ll be focussing on social media.
With social media you are in effect using media that thrive on interaction. If you just
broadcast what a great researcher you are.
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How I see it, to take you to the next level you need to look for productive interactions.
Choose tools that fit your character, your talents and your research.
Re-use all this scientific and non-scientific knowledge that you’re amassing but be sure
to adapt it the fit your specific aim and tailor it to your audience.
PRODUCTIVE INTERACTIONS means looking for partners within your university.
- Communication Office
- Unit for Science Communication
- Research Communication (incl. scholarly communication)
- Faculty Communication
- Dedicated person with research group
It also means identifying external stakeholders:
- Of your research: general public and specific target groups
- Of your communication: media
When it comes to social media: FIND YOUR INFLUENCERS
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Before I turn to the wide array of tools at your disposal I would like to turn your
attention to a useful competence in your bag of communication tricks.
STORY-BOARDING – why not try story-boarding your research project?
• It helps envision, or picture in miniature, and long in advance, a finished product.
• Storyboarding is a kind of low-cost prototyping, a way of making more concrete
what will happen.
• Because concepts are fleshed out and made concrete in an accessible way, a
storyboard can help generate resources and commitment from external source.
• The storyboard (and later the screenplay) generate a detailed, common vision that
can be shared early on by many different actors in complex production teams.
Link: https://medium.com/advice-and-help-in-authoring-a-phd-or-non-fiction/story-
boarding-research-b430cebd5ccd
STORY-TELLING – that in turn will help when you try your hand at story-telling.
The risks that come with communicating your research to wide audiences are great.
Rigorous researching and attention-grabbing storytelling are very different trades.
However, by finding that point of connection in your research and by maintaining control
of your media relationships, you will be better placed at mitigating those risks.
Link: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/08/27/academic-storytelling-
risk-reduction/
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TOOLS
And let’s stress again: RE-USE CONTENT BUT ADAPT TO AIM AND TARGET AUDIENCE
- Website: news items
- Opinion pieces for all kinds of media
- Reddit
- Ik heb een vraag
- Twitter: cf infra
- Tumblr. E.g. Congrats – you’ve got an all male panel!
- Wikipedia as a means to open up science:
https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2014/10/using-wikipedia-to-open-up-science/
- Infographics: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcblog/2014/08/11/the-power-of-
pictures-how-we-can-use-images-to-promote-and-communicate-science/ > the
importance of visuals (academic poster becomes infographic)
- Online book reviews including popular books based on science:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/category/disciplines/media-studies/
- Blog
- Explanimation: e.g. Crash Course Biology
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3EED4C1D684D3ADF > Choose your
audience / Deliver in style / Stay focused / Get to the point / Be part of the
community / Give the audience an anchor / Be a person not a company
- Ted talk (start locally with TedX) – Scientists Popularizing Science: characteristics and
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impact of TED Talk Presenters (PLOSONE April 2013): “Presenters are predominantly
male and non-academics. Although TED popularizes research it may not promote the
work of scientists within the academic community.”
- Podcast
Missing: facebook
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So let’s start by asking the question: is social media a waste of time?
And I’ll be honest: social media are not the easy way out.
Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
Certainly a matter of ‘look before you leap’.
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Timing and complementarity are everything in social media but what about the actual
impact – scientific and otherwise?
For those looking at hard evidence let’s look at the science about science.
1. April 2012: article by Melissa Terras showing increase in downloads after tweets
2. Reminiscent of article by Eysenbach 2011
3. What about blogs?
4. Which led to age-old discussion ‘association is not correlation, which in turn is not
causation’
Tweets tend to associate with citations but not correlate > but the more people start
tweeting their research the bigger the correlation will get?
In any event, interest was sparked and more people were talking about ‘altmetrics’ as
the new saviour of science.
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An umbrella term for spectrum of social media-based metrics:
- often proposed as alternative to citation-based indicators
- And as a tool to measure the impact of science outside academia
But… “most studies show that, although citations and the new metrics are to some
extent positively correlated, these correlations are very weak.” Quote from a recent and
very interesting article by scientometricians concluding that at the most, social media
metrics may function as complements to other types of indicators and metrics.
Some more findings from this same article: (see looking glass and circle)
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Also, questions are raised about a certain bias. A bias in topics: do social media only pay
attention to the sex, drugs and rock and roll of science? A bias in broadcasters: social
sciences and humanities are the most often found on social media platforms.
Or is a matter of shouting the loudest?
“Just like a taller, more powerful radio tower will boost a signal so it can be heard at a
greater distance; it makes sense that more people will read a paper if the writer is active
on social media. Of course, because we wrote it, we think it’s great that our paper has
proved so popular, but we have to ask: in the future, will the highest quality papers be
read most? Or will it be only those papers backed up by the loudest voices?” - Academic
blogging is part of a complex online academic attention economy, leading to
unprecedented readership, I. Mewburn and P. Thomson for LSE Impact blog (Dec 2013)
Let’s wrap this discussion up with the four words scientists love to hear: more research
is needed!
In the meantime things are evolving… (see tweet)
So let us ask that question again: why should we be interested in social media as a tool
for research?
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Besides the obvious benefits:
- Connect with peers and building a scholarly network. Quote: “It’s allowed me to open
up new communities for discussions and increase the indertdisciplinarity of my
research.” (A network boost by M. Baker. Nature, 12 Feb 2015)
- Reputation management
- Dissemination
Conferences:
- Back-channel: (capture content & provide feedback) share questions and resources
- Connecting and networking
- Virtual participation
- Reading tip: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-
network/blog/2012/oct/03/ethics-live-tweeting-academic-conferences
Jobs & prof. development:
- “Following institutions, companies and individuals on Twitter can offer clues about
workplace culture and ongoing projects in a way that static website do not.”
- “Junior researchers are creating identities that don’t have to be routed through the
principal investigator.” (A network boost by M. Baker. Nature, 12 Feb 2015)
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There’re great benefits to integrating social media into your research – not just as a way
to communicate but also as a means to become
a better scholar.
Although it can be great fun and many of the social media look flighty (eg. half-life of a
tweet is 18 minutes) it should not be taken lightly
but approached in a strategic and professional manner.
It’s all about finding the right balance:
- Not overthinking it but using it to your advantage
- Getting into the spirit of sharing while keeping focus in your own research and not
losing yourself in procrastination
- Giving it a natural place in your time management and approaching it so you feel
comfortable with it
It might even offer you some release to the incessant publication and promotion
pressure (although the current academic system
is not yet in tune with outreach and online activities)
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Twitter can be a lot of fun and be an added value if you find the right use for you and
your aims
But those might not be the aims of your target audience
It also adds to information ‘overload’
It does need to be approached with a healthy wariness and self-control
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Account:
- in order to keep an account active, a user needs to log in and tweet at least
once every six months, or risk permanently losing an account.
- An account might appear dead, but someone might be an active reader of
other’s tweets.
Handle / user name:
Use a short Twitter username. Limit to 15 characters
cannot contain "admin" or "Twitter“
avoid numbers or underlines: you want others to be able to remember it and
type it easily.
You can be anonymous if you wish, but as a researcher it is not recommended:
you are more likely to have interesting interactions with others if they know who
you are.
TOOLS
Twitter clients
Specific features and apps: schedulers, link shorteners, analytics, archive
(twDocs), history (Topsy), integration with outlook (twInbox)
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Free and paying
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Importance of a good bio
Odd followers: it happens
@tweetyourscience database
With time, you'll become adept at discerning who is worth following and who is
not. There's no set strategy for this — it's completely up to you and your own
personal tastes. It might also depend on your strategy.
Twitter etiquette does not require that you follow someone just because they
follow you, but following someone is a way of indicating your presence to them.
LISTS
A list is a curated group of Twitter users. You can create your own lists or
subscribe to lists created by others. Viewing a list timeline will show you a stream
of Tweets from only the users on that list.
Lists are used for reading Tweets only. You cannot send or direct a Tweet to
members of a list, for only those list members to see.
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You can follow Twitter profiles using lists without actually following their accounts,
which means these users aren’t notified that you’re following them.
If you’re going to an event or attended one in the past — add the people
associated with the event to a Twitter List.
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Individual tweets are being displayed with larger font and a new font face, while your
thumbnail image, name and Twitter handle are actually smaller, bringing the focus on
the content of the tweet.
And your tweets that are getting particularly high engagement (more favorites,
retweets, etc.) will actually be displayed with even larger font to bring further attention
to them.
PIN TWEET TO YOUR PROFILE PAGE
Thin and thick tweets (David Silver): one layer of information > more layers
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Disclaimer: often depends on twitter client
REPLY AND MENTION
- Visiting another user's profile page on Twitter will not display Tweets that
mention them. However, you can search for all Tweets mentioning their
username in the search box. Search for "@username" to view results.
- People will only see others' @replies in their home timeline if they are following
both the sender and recipient of the @reply.
- People will see any mentions posted by someone they follow (all mentions are
treated like regular Tweets).
- People with protected Tweets can only send @replies to their approved
followers.
If someone sends you an @reply and you are not following the user, the reply will
not appear on your Tweets timeline. Instead, the reply will appear in your
Mentions tab. You can click People you follow at the top of the Mentions timeline
to only display mentions from users you are following.
It's a good idea to be judicious in your use of the Twitter @ reply button. If you're
trying to have a direct conversation with someone, be sure your tweets are
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interesting before you start sending a barrage of Twitter replies. (of course, no DM
is possible to multiple contacts)
TWITTER CANOE
If you’ve been @-mentioned in a conversation on Twitter that mentions a lot of
other users and that doesn't stop until the people involved run out of things to
say, congratulations! You’ve been roped into a Twitter canoe.
A canoe is a conversation on Twitter that keeps rolling and adding new people
until people get annoyed or bored and stop talking to each other. Adding yourself
to a Twitter canoe is a bit of a bold move—etiquette calls for someone to add you
first.
SUBTWEETING and TWEETSTORMS > CODE of CONDUCT
DIRECT MESSAGE
Direct Messages are private messages sent from one Twitter user to other Twitter
users. You can use Direct Messages to communicate privately with a single person
or with a group of people.
• You can start a conversation with anyone who follows you.
• Some accounts, including businesses, have enabled a setting to receive Direct
Messages from anyone. You can send a Direct Message to these users even if
they don’t follow you.
• There is an account limit of 1,000 Direct Messages sent per day.
Blue Line versus View Conversation
On Twitter web as well as its Android and iOS apps the tweets that form part of a
conversation are displayed connected by a blue line. This makes conversations
much easier to follow right from the timeline itself without having to go to a
tweet's permanent URL.
This means that if you have something to say that cannot be contained within the
confines of a single tweet, split them up into logical sentences, post the first
sentence(s) and then reply to that tweet using the reply button, remove the
@mention and then put in the second sentence(s), follow the same procedure for
subsequent tweets.
Also, if a conversation started an hour ago, but the latest tweet was sent 38
seconds ago, the whole conversation is going to appear at the top of your
timeline.
Blue line: if you follow people involved in conversation
View conversation: if retweeted (so people you don’t follow)
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Get to know the habits of your followers and influencers!
HALF LIFE: http://www.socialmediacontractors.com/half-life-tweet/
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1. Your followers are reacting: you should be able to see a reaction ripple
through your feed.
2. Your number of followers is steadily and naturally growing. If your follower
numbers are falling, tweet less; if they’re static, tweet more.
3. The right people are seeing and responding to your tweets. Connect with the
influencers.
4. You treat Twitter interactions differently than promotions. If you are using
your Twitter account strictly as a promotional channel, people will treat it as
such.
5. Your posts yield real results.
Knowing how many times to tweet per day is a process of trial and error, but that
doesn’t mean it’s a matter of blind luck to find that magical number. It’s an
ongoing process of refinement.
I would add: management of expectations
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Communicating science, creating impact

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