1. Connecting researchers
Supporting social media use at the
University of Bath
Jez Cope, Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies
Geraldine Jones, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

2. What is this session?
● An introduction to social media
● A sampler of the sessions we've run
● An overview of the support we've provided

3. What are social media?
The old way…
The new way!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/khalidalbaih/5653817859/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/austinevan/1225274637/

4. "Participants are different. To participate is to
act as if your presence matters, as if, when you
see something or hear something, your
response is part of the event."
Clay Shirky (2010). Cognitive Surplus:
Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.
Allen Lane. ISBN 9781594202537

5. What is social media?
● Blogs ● Citation sharing
○ WordPress.com ○ Zotero
○ Blogger ○ Mendeley
● Microblogs ● Slide & doc sharing
○ Twitter ○ Slideshare
○ Google+ ○ Scribd
● Social networks ● Data sharing
○ LinkedIn ○ FigShare
○ Facebook
● Bookmark sharing
○ Diigo
○ Delicious
● Plus much more…

6. Value for researchers
● Attract collaborators
● Attract funding (private/public)
● Attract PhD students
● Get more citations
● Debate & share ideas with peers
● Influence policy
● Knowledge transfer
● Engage with the public

7. "I first started using social media because it was clear to
me that as researchers we needed to publish more
effectively to support better development of theory around
what were very empirical areas. So it was initially about
effective data sharing. Then I got interested in the more
general ideas of effective communication on the web and
found there was a community already out there. I wanted
both to be able to record my own ideas in this space in a
way that was ‘native’ to it and to engage with that
community, so blogging was a natural course to take."
Cameron Neylon (Senior Scientist, Biophysics)

8. Supporting researchers
● Our approach
○ External expert speakers
○ Panel session
○ Hands-on workshops

9. Our approach
● They're just tools
● Think about:
○ Aims & objectives
○ Audience
○ Measuring success
● Focus on "why-to" and "when-to" as much as
"how-to"
● Demonstrate good practice

10. External expert speakers
● Social media users who are themselves
researchers
○ Dr Tristram Hooley, University of Derby
○ Dr Alan Cann, University of Leicester
● Understand the issues which affect
researchers
● Speak to researchers on their own level

11. Panel session
● Focused on blogging (in our case)
● Panel comprised local academics who used
blogs in various ways
● Less structured — good opportunity for
open-ended discussion

12. DVIDSHUB on Twitter: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/4304099382/in/photostream/

13. Hands-on workshops
● Most tools are actually quite intuitive
● Many people would try social media out if
they have a bit of hand-holding
● Small group workshops
● Specific tasks, e.g.:
○ Set up an account
○ Publish a short blog post
○ Connect with the person sat next to you

14. Your turn
Conference hashtag: #darts3
Tasks:
● [Sign up at twitter.com]
● Tweet to the hashtag
● Reply to someone's tweet
● Share a link to something
useful
Image by MDGovPics on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/6756411895/

15. Discussion points
In groups of 3–4:
● Do you use social media? If so how?
● What do your users think of social media?
● How can libraries support researchers in
using social media?

16. Summary
● Social media is a great opportunity for
researchers
● Many researchers want to learn more
● The tools are intuitive…
● …but novelty makes them scary

17. Resources
● Cann, A.J., Dimitriou, K., Hooley, T. (2011).
Social Media: A Guide for Researchers.
Research Information Network http://bit.
ly/KGrpSa
● Our Diigo bookmarks:
http://groups.diigo.com/group/connected-researcher-bath