Archive for the 'Social Media' Category

Engaging a New Generation of Authors, Editors, and Reviewers – Presentation for Boston Editors’ Conference

Published on April 23, 2009 in Social Media and web 2.0. 1 Comment

Hi All,

I will be running breakout sessions at the Elsevier Editors’ conference this coming Saturday.  One of my main suggestions is using 2collab to share presentations, images, etc. that are related to articles, so I figured I should practice what I preach.  For a summary of the presentation, please check out this post on my personal blog.

Key questions from that post are:

When you get a chance, please take a look at the presentation and let me know if you have any suggestions about how journal editor’s or authors can use social media.
Also, please send any examples you know of editors using social media such as blogs or Flickr to interact with authors, editorial boards, or readers. Thanks.

Engaging a New Generation of Authors, Reviewers & Readers through Web 2.0

View more presentations from Michael Habib.

How Scientists Are Harnessing Social Media

Published on December 5, 2008 in News highlights, Research Workflow and Social Media. Closed

I wanted to share these slides that Fabian Kersten presented at the Online Information conference in London this week. He talked about some of the insights from our survey, the one about how Scientists use social media applications, and how they expect them to influence their research work in the future. He also gave a run-down of the features of 2collab itself. Apparently it was standing-room-only!

Afterwards, Dick Kaser of Information Today commented on his blog that “2collab, IMHE, blends a full range of Web 2.0 tools into a platform that should make sense to, and is totally appropriate for, the research community, at least the digital native end of it.  Wave of the future?  Quite possibly. Added value on top of the literature?  You bet.  The type of innovation I would expect from the market leader?  Ab.sol.ute.ly.”

Thanks Dick!

Camelia

Social media app’s will change the face of research: survey results

Published on July 8, 2008 in News highlights, Research Workflow and Social Media. 1 Comment

Continuing from the earlier teaser post, this is a summary of the full results of the 2collab social media survey of professional researchers.

The survey, which yielded over 1,800 responses, revealed that scientists are using blogs, wikis, and social networking and bookmarking applications primarily for professional reasons. Results show that these social media applications have provided scientists and researchers with additional resources to help them collaborate, connect, share and discover information.

We surveyed science, medical and technical information professionals working in academia and government institutions to establish exactly what influence new web applications are having on the way scientific research is conducted.

The results were pretty astounding, even to us. Over 50% of respondents see web-based social applications playing a key role in shaping the future of research. The areas expecetd to have the most influence are critical analysis and evaluation of research data, professional networking and collaboration, dissemination of research output, career development, and also grant application and funding.

Results show that many researchers believe social applications will have a major influence on the future of research. One respondent, an Environmental Science researcher based in Spain commented, “Social media and electronic journals will be the future of scientific information dissemination. Current scientific journals must not disappear but the business model will change.”

Comments from survey respondents identified several issues need to be addressed before mass acceptance is possible – namely the need for specialist tools, higher security, and validation of users. However, these concerns were not seen as insurmountable obstacles, and many anticipated tremendous potential for social media.

“Existing social networks are mostly used for casual social interaction between young people. In order to be more relevant to academia, networks with professional credibility and accountability will need to develop,” writes another respondent, a Canada-based associate professor of Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology.

Our conclusions from this survey are that while it is clear that scientists and researchers will continue to use traditional sources for information discovery, social media applications will provide additional indicators of quality and discovery.

In an era where information travels fastest digitally, online applications will offer these professionals what one researcher stated as a “source of power.” Creating these online scientific communities gives everyone a chance to offer their voices and participate in research, thus increasing the flow of communication, access to knowledge and helping accelerate scientific discovery.

ATB
-Brant

Brant Emery, development manager, 2collab