This document introduces digital tools that can support research activities. It discusses social networking tools, social bookmarking, research collaboration tools, blogging, and developing an online presence. Specific tools mentioned include Diigo, Mendeley, Google Docs, blogs, and Twitter. The document explains how these tools can help researchers keep up-to-date, find collaborators, share work, and develop their professional network and reputation. Potential concerns with social media are addressed, and reasons to use these tools for research are provided.

1. Developing The Digital Researcher
Neal Sumner
Senior Lecturer
Learning Development Centre

2. Aims
• To introduce you to the range of digital tools and
organisations which can support your research.
• To introduce you to the role of social media in developing
a research network and online identity
• To explore the benefits of developing your online
presence.

3. What kinds of tools are available?
• Social networking tools
• Social bookmarking, news
and social citation
• Research, writing and
collaboration tools
• Blogging and
Microblogging tools
• Academic and research
blogs
How can they help?

4. Why do researchers shy away from social networking?
• I’m too old to do social
networking…
• I don’t have time!
• Hey it’s MY research, I’m
not sharing it
• Only for people with big
egos
• Too hard to learn all these
new technologies…

5. OK OK….so why use social networking tools?
• Keep up-to-date and
exchange information on
current developments in
your research field
• Seeking sources of
funding and support for
your research
• Identify potential
collaborators and areas
of common interest

6. …and there’s more!
• Get involved with
disciplinary, cross-
disciplinary, cross-
institutional and cross-
sector research groups
• Seek avenues for getting
published
• Explore career options
NB the importance of
maintaining clear personal
and professional
boundaries

7. How can these technologies support your research
activities?
• keeping records of meetings with supervisors
• informal interactions with supervisors, peers and the wider
academic community
• document sharing and storage
• space for personal reflection and peer review
• keeping informed about the work of others in your field

8. Formal dialogue with supervisors
• e-mail
• Adobe Connect and/or
Skype (audio/video
conferencing tool which can
record meetings and notes)
• Google chat (audio/video
conferencing tool)
• Wikis (wiki software: e.g.
Moodle, pbworks,
MediaWiki)
• Second Life (avatar-based
3D virtual world

9. Some uses for digital technology as a research tool
• Crowd sourcing
• Peer review
• Collaborative working
• Extending your
research contacts

10. Why use Social bookmarking, news and social citation
tools?
To find out and share what other academics are reading
with a view to developing a community in interest,
practice and inquiry
To know who is reading the same stuff as you – what other
work is going on in your area/discipline?
Some popular tools are:
• Diigo - www.diigo.com
• Mendeley - www.mendeley.com
• Zotero - www.zotero.org

11. Social networking tools
• Academia.edu - www.academia.edu (>250,000
members, HE academics)
• ResearchGate - www.researchgate.net (>700,000
members, professional scientists, can also join with
Facebook or LinkedIn accounts)
• Graduate Junction - www.graduatejunction.net 17,272
members, postgraduates
• LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com

12. Diigo (Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other
stuff)
• Much more than a place to keep tabs on your websites
• It allows you to share what you have found with others via
Twitter, blogs etc.
• You can build a personal learning network to see what others
are reading
• You can set up research groups (public, private or semi-
private) and group tag!
• Everything on Diigo is there because someone has thought it
is worth saving

13. Mendeley - www.mendeley.com
• ‘most likely to change the world for the better’ Guardian, July 2010
• A free reference manager and academic social network founded in 2007
• Combines a PDF and reference management app with Mendeley Web, an online social
network for researchers
• What I like best about Mendeley is being able to see what other researchers are reading at
the moment. It helps to keep track of trends but also get new ideas and find new
connections of bodies of knowledge.
• It allows me to add and manage references that I regularly refer to, such as books,
newspaper articles, journal articles, web pages and even films. Managing means I can
group references around a certain topic and also add notes and tags.
• All of this usually takes time but there also is a ‘web importer’ button that allows to easily
add an item found on the web.
• Extremely helpful is also the instant conversion of citation styles which can be a tedious
and time consuming business, such as manually converting from “Chicago” to “Harvard”
style”.
• Dr. Michael Hohl
• School of Art, Design and Architecture
• University of Huddersfield

14. Research, writing and collaboration tools
• Wiki - PBworks - http://pbworks.com
• Document sharing - Dropbox - www.dropbox.com
• Google Docs - http://docs.google.com
• Wetpaint - www.wetpaint.com
• Wikia - www.wikia.com
• Wikispaces - www.wikispaces.com
• Zoho Office Suite - www.zoho.com

15. Blogging and Microblogging tools
• Wordpress -
www.wordpress.org
• Twitter -
www.twitter.com

16. Examples of academic and research blogs
• PhD Blog (dot) Net - http://phdblog.net
• http://thethesiswhisperer.wordpress.com/
• Research blogging - http://www.researchblogging.org
• Academic blog portal - http://www.academicblogs.org

17. Twitter? …really?
• What I had for lunch?
• Finding out celebrity
gossip?
• Collecting stalkers?
• …much more!

18. Great for….
• Keeping up to date
• New way of
communicating
• Being part of a wider
community
• Widening your
knowledge &
research reach
• Promoting what you
do

19. Anything else?
• Great for
conferences and
events (esp. if you
are absent)
• Gathering ideas…
testing the water

20. Support for researchers
• Networked researcher
• Thesis whisperer
• Vitae
• PG toolbox
• RIN

21. Developing your digital identity and reputation
• An example from .... Mathematics!
http://terrytao.wordpress.com/
• http://terrytao.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/internet2.pdf
‘Thanks to the internet, the type of insights once reserved
for seminars or conference hallways can now be
preserved, accumulated… and searched’
• http://ssrn.com/
• The move towards online journals
• Academic reputation building in the blogosphere and
twittersphere

22. Neal Sumner Emily Allbon
•n.sumner@city.ac.uk • e.allbon@city.ac.uk
•www.city.ac.uk/ldc • www.lawbore.net