How do scholars use the social networks to do research. Visit your library, first. Then, branch out as you use the tools and sites and communities of your scholarly network. Social and Scholarly are not the same even though the fun of using any community network well, makes it seem that way.
Academic Research Social Networks 15 Strategy Tools
1. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding. Tao 1 Downloaded from http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/7347256.html on October 15, 2008
6. Example of a free public library database: (with library card number) Proquest Research Database http://www.kclibrary.org/?q=databases Search = greensburg kansas tornado Keep it simple
7. 362 documents found The list is certainly growing. Now limit to specific publication types or topics.
8. Set up an email alert and you will get notifications on updates for the exact search “ greensburg kansas tornado ” ? Narrow search
14. Tool #3: iGoogle (as an RSS reader) Google.com . . . more . . . more (again) iGoogle
15.
16.
17. Tool #1 = Library databases updated by social networks Tool #2 = RSS feeds read with RSS readers Tool #3 = iGoogle RSS reader & research page Tool #4 = Twitter & research strategies
18. Twitter for research http://twitter.com Subscribe and begin to collect the people and sites you would like to know more about. Tool # 4
19. Twitter Follow Twitter has so many features that I must separate the ones I use daily from the lot
20.
21. Start close to home and build a local community For example
22.
23.
24. Blogs, of course Use the tools within the blogging software to enhance and update information
25. Post to our blog the info found at KU News Twitter Abstract / Full text
26.
27. I searched for a free copy of the SpringerLink article and found it. . .but why was it free? More research took me here: the author is associated with this foundation and full text was here—a citable site with more excellent resources to use.
28.
29.
30. From KU News I posted the story on our blog . Twitter Feed sent the summary to our Twitter site .
31. Tool #1 = Library databases updated by social networks Tool #2 = RSS feeds read with RSS readers Tool #3 = iGoogle RSS reader & research page Tool #4 = Twitter & research strategies Tool #5 = Blogs & research strategies & Twitter Feed Tool #6 = Google Scholar strategies
58. Ted.com is the place for information providers to go if they are looking for presentations by creative folk talking about the work they are passionate about. This fascinating site covers an array of topics that we could use for our own edification, to share at staff retreats, classes. I wanted to find a multimedia resource that relates in some way to the recovery of Greensburg. I found Jamie Oliver. The world of rural Greensburg, Kansas is certainly open for Mr. Oliver’s insight on food education.
59. MIT Open CourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world. Get Started with OCW VIEW ALL 2000 COURSES Most Visited Courses Editor's Picks
68. “ I’ve learned to follow the hunch but never assume where it will go.” Even Williams Tool #15 a good quote
Notas del editor
One year after this F5 tornado nearly wiped a small Kansas town off the face of the earth, there were no articles or even mentions to be found in the databases of scholarly information. In May of 2008, I was invited to present a research instruction session for a class in Public Administration and Urban Development (PAUD). The topic of their research was to follow the recovery of Greensburg, Kansas. The remaking of its administration, educational, institutional, community and social identity after this disaster. This class and their topic became a tipping point for change in the way I teach research skills to university students. Social networking, in its various and evolving forms, has become the major tool I use for nearly all my of research and investigation into primary sources. Hence, my inclusion of quotes from the Tao de Ching which means the way or the journey. It is all about simplicity and following your lead. Today, in 2010, my lead takes me back to where I started—the library. I use databases to search and find as much as I can from published journals, and I use Web 2.0 tools to take me beyond print but not beyond primary resources. Tao 1—Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding Cite: May 4th 2007 Greensburg Kansas Tornado. Incredible footage of the EF-5 tornado up close. Sean Wilson of Blown Away Tours along with Tim Andrews video taped this monster as they were traveling down hwy 183 with debris falling all around. Get ready for this wild ride. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6U7OBA2fUI seanwilson7 | August 04, 2007
15 Strategies
After graduation, how can our students continue to research at the scholarly level? What is the where and how of serious study when you are not connected with an academic library? Public Libraries. This is news to many of us which is why I’ve listed Public Libraries as the place to go and Library Databases as Tool #1 . Public access / library card Cloud computing From home
http://www.kclibrary.org/databases What is the where and how of serious study when you are not connected with an academic library? The Public Library is the place to go and Library Databases are Tool #1 .
Kansas City Missouri Public Library http://www.kclibrary.org/?q=databases 1000122439416 4949 P = proquest research database Search = greensburg kansas tornado Select “narrow results by topic” Greensburg tornado and disaster recovery 9 documents
A good start. Which leads us to even more with social networking tools.
Set Up Alert? Saves your search / Emails updates to that search directly to you—like having a good research assistant. RSS? Definitely a must for using research and for social networking. You have probably seen the
If our search in the Proquest database is updated with more articles we will be notified because of the RSS feed sent to our RSS reader. Google has two places to set up these RSS feeds: Google Reader and iGoole (homepage).
RSS = http://rss.proquest.com.proxy.kclibrary.org/rss?rss_id=861232 Have you seen this before? Yes. What does it mean? I don’t know, and I’m too embarrassed to ask. Why would you use it? I’ve been told it updates my topic. Social Networking? Yes!
The ProQuest search: greensburg kansas tornado Will be monitored and as new results become available your RSS Reader (Google, Bloglines, Firefox, etc.) will add them to your list of articles found through this database. Free from the library.
My iGoogle (Google Homepage) as it looked on July 14, 2010. Notice: RSS for Proquest database to send me updates on the search on Greensburg disaster recovery—new articles will come into this little box, widget/gadget I could make this handy search filled page my homepage, couldn’t I. Even though this is exactly what Google wants me to do, no other service does it better. Sorry, other services. Notice the search updates from Google Blog Search---How did this happen? Notice the update from Dissertation Research Blog --- How did I do this? Bring the updates from my favorite blog into my iGoogle page? Notice the Twitter search for “academic libraries” ?
Twitter has so many features that I must separate the ones I use daily from the lot. Those who use Twitter know this but those who don’t use Twitter as a work tool may not know how to use the follow feature to your research interests. How? Once you have signed on to Twitter you start selecting people and sites you want to follow . . . Which means you have an interest in what they are posting. Most universities, libraries, information professionals, associations, publishers, news media, academic journals, newspapers, etc. do well in keeping their Tweets up to a casual professional level. Using social networking for academic research is like wearing jeans to work. You are more comfortable and get a lot done, usually. Yes, the “usually” can be a stretch but you have “stumbled upon” something wonderful when a second before you were in outer space with glazed glazed. Then WOW, there it is. Something new to you that may be useful to your work.
Regents Center Library has a Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LibraryKUEC we follow over 200 people and over 200 people follow us.
I was reading through some of the Tweets—this is what I do—”read through some.” No way do I read all of them. But, I read enough. KUNews had a post about a KU professor who was the lead author of a research article explaining a breakthrough in what is know about Autism. My interest here is: KU professor and research; Autism because we have the nation’s finest special education program in the nation. . .at Edward’s Campus. This is the making of a librarian’s day—sharing information, academically important information. Most Tweets of professional interest include a link to what they are describing. Click and I’m reading the News Release.
There are many leads on this page and here are the top ones for me. “More Information” gave me the name of the scientist and a link to the research. This page has an RSS subscription, email subscription, a link to its sites on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Share selections which include some social networking sites you may use. For me, there is email which I use to send myself the news so I can later write a blog post on the subject. As you can see, this news site for KU has so much more that is or maybe interesting. No matter your connection with a university, other universities have departments and staff with whom you could learn, read and communicate with. I did write a blog entry and here it is:
Read a Tweet, follow through by clicking deeper into research fullness. This particular post is packed with information. KU scientist / http://dissertationresearch.blogspot.com/ Technology for autism research / Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Abstract / direct Full text for KU students! 1. Follow Twitter 2. Get research news 3. Post to your Blog 4. Send to your Twitter
It becomes necessary to use small pieces of software wizardry to provide you and your networking community with information http://twitterfeed.com/ Communication between your blog and your Twitter site: helps you get the word out; helps those who follow you
And, then there is another big deal. I did post information on the Autism news and KU’s research scientist on our library blog and the notice of the blog post linked to the library’s Twitter site. So, for every blog posting on our Dissertation Research Blog there is a mirror Tweet on our Twitter site. Why a Web 2.0 tool. But first the blog. This is our Twitter Home page. . .the I can see but subscribers cannot. What I see are all the Tweets of those I follow. This screen was captured a week ago on Thursday. It was just a few days before this I saw a Tweet from KU News about research and autism. I ReTweeted to all of our followers so they could 1) read new research on Autism 2) know that a KU researcher the lead author of the scholarly article announcing the results of the research.
Visitors to our blog have numerous ways to find information. RSS feed and Email subscription. From Twitter, visitors can follow our news and our followers’ news.
Plugging into scholarly communication if you can get the keywords just right
Good results for following educators interested in this topic of Greensburg from .edu domains . . . We’re looking for those scholarly inroads See what you get for a simple search on Google Blog Search? Results from blogs around the world that contain your search terms The ability to be automatically updated on recent activity (hits) from this search All results contain your search and only the most recent are sent to your RSS reader or your email. Notice that you can use the same search for Google News --- pretty cool, eh?
Truncation (*) allows the term to be extended—rebuild rebuilds rebuilding Putting two or more terms in (…………) separates the process from the rest of the search And– site:edu is the major factor that keeps all of the results to educational institutions. . .usually
One of the most efficient sites I use http://worldcat.org
WorldCat wins the hunt for research material! A Library Catalog, no less.
http://www.bibme.org/ A nice cite. I haven’t used it too much but I like what I see
Talk about research using Twitter. These 4 search engines are top of the line as far as the technology of design goes. Lets look at Topsy.com Crowdeye.com is current awareness. Search: healcare Look at the Web 2.0 extras (RSS, Alerts, Twitter) and you can sort by date or revelance. The Link feature pulls out links that people have added to their Tweets – very helpful. Collecta.com is real time searching. If you have a popular search like SIDLIT you can watch the action as it comes up second by second. Handy if you’re following a ballgame virtually.
The topsy.com search turned up exactly what the topic of our research is: Three Years Later Any “primary documents” in the results? The first result is a video report on a man’s return to Greensburg, 3 years after the tornado. What could be more immediate, more primary than watching this video? Yes, this is primary research material. Define “primary research”
Collecta searches Twitter real time. True. Watch http://collecta.com/#q=web%202.0%20AND%20scholarly We’re finding scholarly articles and dissertations with this simple twitter search.
Ted.com is the place for information providers to go if they are looking for presentations by creative folk talking about the work they are passionate about. This fascinating site covers an array of topics that we could use for our own edification, to share at staff retreats, classes. I wanted to find a multimedia resource that relates in some way to the recovery of Greensburg. I found Jamie Oliver. The world of rural Greensburg, Kansas is certainly open for Mr. Oliver’s insight on food education.
MIT Open CourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world. I subscribe by email.
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/ At this website we provide details of our consultancy services - as well as the free resources about new trends, technologies and tools. You can keep to date with what's new in this area, by reading my Pick of the Day blog as well as my Social Media for Working and Learning blog.
ETDs are included in collections of universities and colleges. Collections of these collections are called Union Catalogs.
http://www.ndltd.org/find Notice the two options for Searching ETDs VTLS Visualizer http://thumper.vtls.com:6080/visualizer/ Scirus ETD Search . . . A comprehensive research tool focused on the scientific community. It works well with the social sciences.
http://thumper.vtls.com:6080/visualizer/
http://www.ndltd.org/serviceproviders/scirus-etd-search We’re searching only ETDs so “greensburg kansas” is a full search. Since we found 56 records we could limit by date after 2006