Presentation given at the 5th ICT in HE conference, March 2014.

1. The digital,
social, open,
networked
scholar
Daniela Gachago, Fundani
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
@dgachago17

2. Digital scholar
Digital scholarship can
encompass both
scholarly communication
and publication using
digital media and
research on digital
media. (Abby, 2011).

3. Social scholar
Networked Participatory Scholarship: scholars’ use
of participatory technologies and online social
networks to share, reflect upon, critique, improve,
validate, and further their scholarship (Veletsianos &
Kimmons, 2011)
Social scholarship, combining traditional
scholarship with more informal social Internet
practices, is characterized by openness,
conversation, collaboration, access, sharing and
transparent revision. (Greenhow et al 2009)

4. Open scholar
“the Open Scholar is someone who makes their
intellectual projects and processes digitally visible
and who invites and encourages ongoing criticism
of their work and secondary uses of any or all parts
of it–at any stage of its development” (Burton 2009)

12. www.sherpa.co.uk

16. Alternative ways of measuring
impact…
…a new lens on peer review processes, potentially
ushering in an important “soft peer review” based
on how much an author’s work is cited, tagged, or
reviewed online... (Taraborelli 2008)

19. Veletsianos 2012

20. The connected scholar…
We are seeing the
development of a “personal
brand” and “academic rock
stars” amongst academics as
new technologies allow them
to establish a new and wider
audience.
(Cowling 2013)

21. What does this mean for
Africa?
Africa’s current contribution to world science is
approx 1.3 percent. (WOS)
International journals have an acknowledged
bias in favour of English and researchers in the
developed world
Digital scholarship and Open
Access provides researchers in
the developing world with a
unique opportunity to
collaborate and increase the
impact and visibility of their
research

22. Alperin 2013

23. • Levels of take-up among academics are relatively low.
• Internal data indicates that there are regional differences in adoption of web
2.0 tools among southern researchers both in terms of use and reasons why
adoption has not occurred.
• There does appear to be a gender divide when looking at frequency and
purpose of use of web 2.0 tools and women may have particular needs that
should be addressed to encourage adoption e.g. lack of time and concerns
over security online.
• There are three broad reasons for lack of adoption: lack of awareness,
being prevented from using them or choosing not to use them.
Specific barriers include: poor infrastructure or lack of equipment, usability,
time, perceived value or credibility of tools, and lack of institutional incentives.
Reality on the ground…
Brown 2012

24. Czernievicz 2013

25. Harnessing the power of
social media …
Develop a clear (web based) strategy for yourself and
your research:
1. Retool your online profile
2. Share and upload all your research output onto open
platforms incl unpublished papers, presentations etc
3. Refine your publication strategy with impact in mind
and inc OA (Green & Gold)
4. Disseminate, engage and collaborate
(Cowling 2013)

26. Alperin, J. 2013. Are ALMs/altmetrics propagating global inequality? Presentation given at the ALM Workshop in
San Francisco, October 10-12, 2013. Available at: https://speakerdeck.com/jalperin/altmetrics-propagating-
global-inequality
Burton, G. 2009. The open scholar. Blog entry in academic evolution. Retrieved on 12.08.10 from.
http://www.academicevolution.com/2009/08/the-open-scholar.html.
Brown, C. 2012. Are southern academics virtually connected ? Report for GDNet connect South.
Cowling, N. 2013. Open research and the digital scholar. Keynote at the CPUT Teaching with Technology day.
Available at http://www.slideshare.net/noellecowling/noelle-cput-keynote
Czerniewicz, L. 2013. Power and politics in a changing scholarly communication landscape T HE CHANGING
DIGITALLY - MEDIATED. In Proceedings of the IATUL conferences. Available at:
http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul/2013/papers/23.
Greenhow, C., Robelia, B. & Hughes, J.E. 2009. Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship in a Digital Age: Web 2.0
and Classroom Research: What Path Should We Take Now? Educational Researcher, 38(4): 246–259.
Available at: http://edr.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.3102/0013189X09336671.
Veletsianos, G. 2012. Higher education scholars’ participation and practices on Twitter. Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning, 28(4): 336–349. Available at: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00449.x
Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. 2011. Networked Participatory Scholarship: Emergent techno-cultural pressures
toward open and digital scholarship in online networks. Computers & Education, 58(2): 766–774. Available at:
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0360131511002454
References