In an era of knowledge abundance, scholars have the capacity to distribute and share ideas and artifacts via digital networks, yet networked scholarly engagement often remains unrecognized within institutional spheres of influence. The purpose of this dissertation study is to explore the meanings constructed and enacted within the networked practices of 13 scholars actively engaged in both institutional and networked participatory scholarship. Using ethnographic methods including participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, the study investigates networks as sites of scholarship, with the intent of furthering institutional academia’s understanding of networked practices.

1. Dissertation
Defense
April 17, 2015
SCHOLARSHIP IN ABUNDANCE:
INFLUENCE, ENGAGEMENT, &
ATTENTION IN SCHOLARLY NETWORKS
BONNIE STEWART
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

2. scholarship
what people
had for lunch
NETWORKED SCHOLARSHIP
my research

3. ¡ What counts as academic influence within open
networked circles?
¡ How does scholarly engagement in networks align
with institutional scholarship?
¡ How do attention and visibility operate on Twitter,
and how do they shape participants’ experiences of
care and risk within networks?
¡ (PS – What are the consequences of opening up scholarly
publics to networks’ viral scale?)
A THREE FOUR PAPER THESIS

4. WHY TWITTER?
(Lupton, 2014)

5. ¡ How does networked
scholarship assemble in
“differential patterns
of matter-ing”?
A SOCIO-MATERIAL APPROACH
(Barad, 2007)
“situated
knowledges”

6. ¡ 13 participants
¡ Twitter “residents”* for at
least 2 years
¡ Varied institutional
affiliations & roles
¡ Canada, the US, Mexico,
Ireland, Italy, South Africa,
Singapore, Australia
¡ 200-15,000 Twitter followers
¡ Agreed to public ID
THE STUDY
*(White & LeCornu, 2011)

7. ¡ ETHNOGRAPHIC
§ Participant Observation
§ 24 hour Reflections
§ Blog Posts
§ Profile Reflections
§ Interviews
§ Open Coding
¡ PARTICIPATORY
§ Invitations to expand,
clarify, or reframe
METHODOLOGIES & METHODS

8. capacity to
contribute to
“The
Conversation”
scale of visibility
common
interests &
disciplines
shared ties
PAPER #1
INFLUENCE = CAPACITY TO CONTRIBUTE

9. INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION
DOESN’T MATTER
(EXCEPT OXFORD)

10. MATTER-ING MATTERS
Sometimes…I’ll choose
someone with twenty
followers, because I come
across something they’ve
managed to say in 140
characters, and I think “oh,
look at you, crafting on a
grain of rice.”
- @KateMfD
h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/visualpanic/843670538

11. PAPER #2
NETWORKED PRACTICES = SCHOLARSHIP
¡ Scholarship of discovery
¡ Scholarship of integration
¡ Scholarship of application
¡ Scholarship of teaching
!
(Boyer, 1990)

12. BUT A
SCHOLARSHIP OF ABUNDANCE
h"ps://www.flickr.com/photos/92998734@N03/8466586880/

13. PAPER #3
ATTENTION & VISIBILITY = VULNERABILITY
commodification + institutional indictments of deviance
+ re-inscription of societal biases

14. AND ATTENTION & VISIBILITY = CARE

15. ¡ Networks operate in distinct patterns of connection,
curation, and collaboration
¡ Networked scholarly practices enable and demand
scholars’ individual – rather than institutional – cultivation
of influence, visibility, and audiences
¡ Digital networks offer participants a sense of being
someone who can contribute, and contributions open new
doors into institutional prestige economy
¡ The intersection of high network status with lower or
unclear institutional status creates identity dissonance
OVERALL FINDINGS:
DIFFERENTIAL PATTERNS OF MATTER-ING

16. ¡ Networks becoming
institutionalized
¡ Consequences of public
speech becoming amplified
¡ Class and growing
academic precarity affect
whether/ for whom
scholarly practices
continue to be viable
IMPLICATIONS + FUTURE RESEARCH

17. THANK YOU
Many thanks to Dr. Sandy McAuley & Dr. Udo Krautwurst of UPEI, & Dr. Alec
Couros of the University of Regina for support and direction.

18. ¡ Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: quantum physics and the
entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
¡ Boyer, E. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate.
Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
¡ Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism
and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575-599.
¡ Lupton, D.A. (2014).‘Feeling Better Connected’: Academics’ Use of Social
Media. Canberra: News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra.
¡ White, D. S., & LeCornu, A. (2011). Visitors and residents: A new typology for
online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada through a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral
Scholarship award, by the University of Prince Edward Island, & by BMO.
@BONSTEWART