1. Networked Participatory Scholarship: Empirical
perspectives on scholars use of social media
George Veletsianos,
Associate Professor,
Canada Research Chair,
Royal Roads University,
@veletsianos
Social Media & Society, Toronto, ON, September 2014

2. Objective
To examine issues associated with scholars’
participation in online networked spaces.

3. What characterizes online scholarly
networks?

4. Network characteristics
Networks of knowledge creation &
dissemination
Networks of tension & conflict
Networks of care & vulnerability
Fragmented networks
Transparent networks

5. Knowledge creation & dissemination
• Crowdsourcing

6. Knowledge creation & dissemination
• Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything)

7. Knowledge creation & dissemination
• Blog debate and commentary

8. Tension & conflict
• Navigating personal-professional boundaries (e.g.,
friending)
• Navigating copyright restrictions (e.g., Elsevier
takedown notices, #icanhazpdf, dropbox sharing)
• Lack of frameworks to evaluate legitimacy or
quality of networked/digital activities & pressure to
engage in activities traditionally valued by
academia
• Institutional surveillance (e.g., Salaita, Kansas Board
of Regents policy)

9. Tension & conflict
“I made it [Facebook] this hybrid space ...
and sometimes it's really annoying. … I
keep thinking I should be writing or looking
at data, and I'm doing this! … I think that I
created the conundrum that I live in now.”

10. Tension & conflict
• Navigating personal-professional boundaries (e.g.,
friending)
• Navigating copyright restrictions (e.g., Elsevier
takedown notices, #icanhazpdf, dropbox sharing)
• Lack of frameworks to evaluate legitimacy or
quality of networked/digital activities & pressure to
engage in activities traditionally valued by
academia
• Institutional surveillance (e.g., Salaita, Kansas Board
of Regents policy)

11. Tension & conflict
• Navigating personal-professional boundaries (e.g.,
friending)
• Navigating copyright restrictions (e.g., Elsevier
takedown notices, #icanhazpdf, dropbox sharing)
• Lack of frameworks to evaluate legitimacy or
quality of networked/digital activities & pressure to
engage in activities traditionally valued by
academia
• Institutional surveillance (e.g., Salaita, Kansas Board
of Regents policy)

12. Tension & conflict
• Navigating personal-professional boundaries (e.g.,
friending)
• Navigating copyright restrictions (e.g., Elsevier
takedown notices, #icanhazpdf, dropbox sharing)
• Lack of frameworks to evaluate legitimacy or
quality of networked/digital activities & pressure to
engage in activities traditionally valued by
academia
• Institutional surveillance (e.g., Salaita, Kansas Board
of Regents policy)

13. Networks of care & vulnerability
Social media functions as a place where
(some) academics make themselves
vulnerable and where they express and
experience care.

14. Networks of care & vulnerability
• Caring for one another online takes many
forms
– Advising students at an institution different than
their own
– Sharing personal struggles
– Taking a stand and speaking out about
injustices
– Commiserating about experiences (e.g.,
doctoral work)

15. Networks of care & vulnerability
“Since she passed away, I’ve wondered
what I could have said differently to her
during our last call. I told her that I loved
her, that I missed her very much, and that I
would see her very soon.”

16. Fragmented networks
Fragmented identity
Acceptable Identity Fragments theory
(Kimmons & Veletsianos, 2014).
Fragmented participation (e.g., dispersed
across networks)

17. Transparent networks

18. Transparent networks

19. What do scholars need to know?
They need to be able to
• talk about social media/networks
• understand the relationship between social
media and scholarship
• criticize social media/networks

20. What do scholars need to know?
Problem: lack of curricula to prepare
students and academics for networked
scholarship
Networked Scholars open online course
(October, 2014) - #scholar14
https://learn.canvas.net/courses/413
Networked Scholars book (Spring, 2015)

21. Related work
Available at http://tinyurl.com/nps-papers
Kimmons, R., and Veletsianos, G. (2014). The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites,
acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation. Computers & Education
Veletsianos, G. (2013). Open Practices and Identity: Evidence from Researchers and Educators’ Social
Media Participation. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(3), 639-651.
Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2013). Scholars and Faculty Members Lived Experiences in Online Social
Networks. The Internet and Higher Education,16(1), 43-50.
Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2012). Assumptions and Challenges of Open Scholarship. The
International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning,13(4), 166-189
Veletsianos, G. (2012). Higher Education Scholars’ Participation and Practices on Twitter. Journal of
Computer Assisted Learning, 28(4), 336-349.
Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2012). Networked Participatory Scholarship: Emergent Techno-Cultural
Pressures Toward Open and Digital Scholarship in Online Networks. Computers & Education, 58(2),
766-774.

22. Thank you!
www.veletsianos.com
@veletsianos on Twitter
veletsianos@gmail.com
This presentation:
www.slideshare.com/
veletsianos