1 / 31

Improving Academic Communication

Improving Academic Communication. Patrick Dunleavy and Chris Gilson LSE Public Policy Group Investigating Academic Impacts conference 13 June 2011. Outline. Academic communication as it is now Academic blogging, and the advent of Multi-author academic blogs (MAABs) Using social media

nolcha
Download Presentation

Improving Academic Communication

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Improving Academic Communication Patrick Dunleavy and Chris Gilson LSE Public Policy Group Investigating Academic Impacts conference 13 June 2011

  2. Outline • Academic communication as it is now • Academic blogging, and the advent of Multi-author academic blogs (MAABs) • Using social media • Multi-author blogs at the LSE and beyond

  3. Academic Communication as it is now • Journal articles, conference proceedings (very high-price) books, book reviews • Journal articles and books are read by few, and rarely picked up by the media • The text of books and closed-web articles is completely inaccessible to those without journal/library access, far too long, and often impenetrably written • Reflecting a one-way (experts only) communications process

  4. Academic Communication cont’d BUT – social scientists are observers who need to communicate their observations to the world (in a timely fashion) - much of social scientists’ knowledge and input goes unapplied because of very long time-lines for outputs, and lack of adaptation or translation So how can we change or complement the ‘traditional’ model?

  5. Academic blogging and the advent of Multi-Author Academic Blogs (MAABs)

  6. Academic Blogging • Academics going online is not new • Electronic journals began in disk/BBS format in 1980s and the first ‘Internet’ journals in the mid 1990s • Academic blogging is different • Shorter articles: 300 – 1,200 words • Easy to share by email, social networks • Searchable on the open web – could be a teaching tool • Whole person style – where content may be personal as well as academic • Instant comments and feedback

  7. Academic Blogging, contd • Anyone can do it – exceptionally easy software • Hosting • Wordpress • Blogger • Self-hosted • Institutional • Hosted in mainstream media • Dissemination is immediate – seconds as compared to years • Spectrum of offerings from stars (like Paul Krugman) to more ordinary academic folk

  8. Single author blogs • Have grown massively in popularity (with their authors) in recent years; e.g. Warwick lists over 7,000 on their portal with over 140,000 entries • But, without frequent updates, these often wither – 75%+ of blogs worldwide are dead or dormant • With increasing pressure on academics and university staff – who has the time to blog?

  9. Single author blogs • Content is king, and ‘vanity’ projects with infrequent posts are counter-productive and won’t survive • Some SABs are successful in the political arena (Guido Fawkes) • But most SABs are now either shutting down or joining with other (more corporate) bloggers – even in political commentary (Iain Dale) • Appetite for personal commentary/ glimpses of life has now shifted to Twitter?

  10. Multi-author academic blogs (MAABs)

  11. Multi-author academic blogs • Multiple contributors • Covering many topics or subjects • Posting regularly and reliably, so that readers know when to return • Flexible formats – from ‘Top-level’ blogs with hundreds of authors and posting every day (e.g. LSE’s British Politics and Policy blog) • Through to smaller MAABs for single departments or networks, posting weekly or bi-weekly • Comments and social media can help build a community • Easy to track readership with Google Analytics

  12. Multi-author blogs and social media • Twitter/Facebook • Promote the blog and can greatly extend its reach and visibility • Add interactive elements to build community • Encourage discussion, rapid correction and clarifying

  13. Multi-author blogs – style tips • Use short paragraphs, simple language • ‘Front load’ the narrative – get the key points at the beginning • Always use narrative titles (written by the blog team, not the author) will help content to ‘go viral’ – can you retweet the title as it stands? • Include good introductory paragraphs (also written by the blog team) give the gist of the argument and key take-away messages • Don’t leave out simple, clear, charts and diagrams • Give methods information where it is needed – help expand public understanding of academic subjects • A Creative Commons license helps content to spread

  14. Multi-author (themed) blogs • Work well linked to a journal (e.g. Social Europe) • Can generate many Twitter followers (e.g. British Politics and Policy at LSE has 4,200 in a year, Social Europe has 10,000+) • Can make good use of podcasts, video and other rich media elements (e.g. Social Europe) • Varied orientations e.g. The Conversation is a newspaper, Australian Policy Online is an indexer

  15. Smaller multi-author (themed) blogs • Are becoming more and more prevalent worldwide – a few we’ve noticed in our area: • Many at LSE – Media, International Affairs, Africa • Oxford – Politics in Spires • Nottingham - Ballots and Bullets

  16. Multi-author blogs • The internet is not a zero-sum game, and if many universities pitch in to better communicate academic knowledge to wider audiences the result should be beneficial for all

  17. Structural issues for MAABs • Getting institutional buy-in is tricky: • Coping with academics who don’t “get it” and want to “stay long” – offer to rewrite stuff for them, giving them final editorial control (of main text) • Dealing with Press Office/ Communications/ External Relations and other vested interests, who often are very slow to change and feel threatened • DIY options – single departments/groups can run less ambitious MAABs. But what will make folk come back to you? • Faculty and university-wide MAABs will probably work best • Collaborations between institutions and networking can both help in assembling a critical mass of authors

  18. Conclusions • Professional standards of communication are changing in every walk-of-life and every academic discipline • Usually towards getting shorter – “Less is more” • Strong exceptions too though, like 24 hours news long interviews, to fill the space; many webcasts and podcasts, etc. • Main research outputs need different versions, targeted more to segmented audiences (e.g. closed-web experts and open-web audiences) • But even these distinctions may lapse – e.g. free-to-read professional journals are opening up full details to everyone online (who’s expert enough) • And with 50% of each UK generation becoming graduates, and universities needing alumni support, communicating expertly to graduates is set to be more vital

More Related