Collaborative Research: The “Social” Way

1. Collaborative Research: The “Social” Way Jackie Krause, Ph. D. Assistant Faculty, Ashford University DrJackieK@gmail.com jackiekrause.wordpress.com @DrJackieK

2. Agenda • We will look at how researchers can • Connect – • Find like-minded researchers • Communication – • Once connected, how can facilitate communications • Collaborate – • Share research, store references, etc. Hold on everyone, we only have 15 minutes and I intend to cover a LOT of ground!

3. What does it mean to research the “social” way? • Whether you are researching with the group or as a solo activity, we are talking about using social media • Using social media effectively • Not necessarily Facebook, but Facebook like sites • But possibly Twitter! • Possibly blogging • There are a number of social media/networking sites dedicated to researchers. Some of these sites include: • Social gathering and networking sites • Social resource sharing and collaboration • Blogs and wikis

4. Connecting with like-minded researchers • Why? • Consider asking for help finding relevant research • Find out what others interested in the same research topics you are reading • Consider taking advantage of “crowd sourcing” • This is a great way to vet ideas and seek opinions • Find sources for data/Find prospective research participants • Establish your Research Identity and Presence! • Let people know who you are and what you do

5. Connecting with like-minded researchers • Where are they, anyway? • Professional organizations – seems like a good place to start, right • SIGs • Research Gate – HTTP://www.researchgate.net/ • A social networking site built for scientists, by scientists • Ask questions/get answers • Find research/researchers • Setup research topics of interest • Post your own research publications • Start a research project for collaboration, data sharing, and feedback • It’s a great place to carry onconversations!

6. Connecting with like-minded researchers • Emerald Research Connections - http://www.emeraldinsight.com/research/connections/index.htm • Hosted by Emerald Publishing Group • Setup as a platform for finding like-minded researchers and collaborations • BiggerBrains.com - http://www.biggerbrains.com/ • Hosted by Elsevier • For early career researchers • Full of great resources for the newbie who wants to learn more about research and publishing, networking opportunities. Free Services!

7. Collaborating with fellow researchers • Mendeley • Free, web-based tool which allows researchers to: • Maintain a library of references online (including full-text PDF files) • Use a Dashboard like interface: • Search library of published papers • Join public groups and follow their updates through the Newsfeed • Create private groups for collaborative research projects • Share references among your group • “Friend” other researchers and follow their posts

8. Collaborating with fellow researchers • Mendeley, continued • Use a desktop component for a more robust experience, maintains sync with web tool • Includes a plug-in for Word and Open Office to connect to your online library and create bibliographies • Interact with other researchers!

9. Collaborating with fellow researchers • Other tools that are similar: • Zotero (Works with FireFox) • Cite-U-Like • A really nice list can be found at DiRT: • https://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/w/page/17801648/Citation%20Management%20Tools

10. Collaborating with fellow researchers • EndNote and RefWorks • Both offer reference management and collaborative platforms for sharing and working with research teams • You can create a collaboration space to store research and references • Allow those in your research group to Read/Write references to the library • Share and get references from others in your group Fee-based Services Web-based tools

11. Social Media for Academics – New uses for traditional tools • Create a “research” Blog! • Crowd-source ideas • Look/Ask for references/research • Discuss your research and publications – review research • Look for research participants/collaborators • It’s about maximizing your research impact! • For information on maximizing your impact: • http://www2.lse.ac.uk/government/research/resgroups/LSEPublicPolicy/Docs/LSE_Impact_Handbook_April_2011.pdf • Register at http://researchblogging.org • Provides a synopsis of posts made that contain serious research material

12. Additional Support for Blogging • How to write a good research blog post: http://scienceofblogging.com/how-to-write-a-good-research-blog-post/ • Great study on the use of blogging by serious researchers: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035869

13. Social Media for Academics – New uses for traditional tools • Consider academic use of Twitter • Use Twitter to send people to your blog • It’s amazing how many responses you can get to a 140 ch. tweet! • Encourage conversation • Want to know how, check out this resource: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide/

14. Conclusion • There are so many great resources out there, this is just a small taste to get you thinking about how social media might support my research efforts. • Please contact me if you want to talk more, have resources to share, or just want to connect! • A list of additional resources can be found on my blog at: http://jackiekrause.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/welcome-to-the-age-of-using-social-media-in-research/ or use the QR Code on each slide

15. Contact me Jackie Krause, Ph. D. DrJackieK@gmail.com 760-608-8004 Blog: jackiekrause.wordpress.com Twitter: @DrJackieK