1. Social media tools
1. Managing RSS feeds using iGoogle
Finding RSS feeds
NOTE: Any site that has the following symbol has an RSS feed
· Go to www.mrc.ac.uk
· Click on the RSS link
· Click on a link you are interested in e.g. ‘Funding news’
· Copy the URL of the website (the website might look a little odd but don’t worry).
Add the feed to an RSS reader (This example uses iGoogle) using a test account
· Click on www.google.co.uk/ig
· Sign in using the email ‘emma.gillaspy@manchester.ac.uk’ and password ‘integrating2010’
· Click “Add Stuff”
· Click “Add feed or gadget” (bottom left of the screen)
· Paste in the URL you copied from the MRC and click “Add”
· Click “Back to iGoogle home” (top left of the screen)
Optional Extension Tasks
· Repeat the above process with feeds from one or more of the following:
o Upcoming courses on the Vitae website www.vitae.ac.uk/events
o A search on the CiteULike website for “Open Science”
o Blog posts by the Thesis Whisperer http://thethesiswhisperer.wordpress.com/
o A news section on the BBC or newspaper of interest
· Rearrange your ‘gadgets’ by clicking and dragging.
· Delete a gadget using the down arrow link in the top right corner of the gadget.
· Add a new tab using the down arrow link in the ‘Home’ section on the left.
· Change the theme using the link next to the ‘Add stuff’ link.
· Set up your own iGoogle account featuring your own favourite news areas
2. 2. Microblogging
Twitter (twitter.com/) is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and
read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the
author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.
Applications:
— Ask questions relevant to your practice
— Share links and resources you find interesting
— Find out what others are interested in
— Follow a conference (#tag)
— Receive news (e.g. TimesHighered, BBSRC)
— Collaborate and discuss with your network
How to use:
· Visit twitter.com/
· Create your own account or use the dummy account details below to sign in
o Username ‘techintraining1’ and password ‘integrating2010’.
What to practice:
· Enter a tweet using the ‘What’s happening’ box. You can also add your location or a photo to a tweet.
· Click the ‘Who to follow’ link and find a source you would like to hear from and follow them.
· Widen your network by clicking on someone you are following. Then view who they are following to
see if any of them are of interest to you too.
· Update your profile settings to include a bio, image and background.
· Retweet something of interest by hovering over someone else’s tweet and clicking the retweet link
(note: ALWAYS acknowledge the source of the retweet by entering ‘RT @username’ in your retweet -
this will be done for you if you use the retweet function on Twitter or other applications).
Tips:
· You can use other applications to manage your Twitter. A good simple example of this is Twhirl. This
shows tweets from people you follow via a pop-up message in the corner of your computer screen in
much the same way as an incoming email does. You can also use the Twhirl application to enter
tweets, retweet other people’s tweets and shorten URLs using bit.ly (see next tip):
· You can gather evidence of how many people (and from what country) click on the links in your
tweets by using a tracking URL shortener such as bit.ly (bit.ly). You can also collect how many times
your tweet was retweeted by others and view your clicking history over time.
· You can gather feedback and evidence about an event or resource by using the #tag in your tweets.
For more information see mashable.com/2009/05/17/twitter-hashtags/. If you would like to record the
evidence collected, you can set up an archive via Twapper Keeper (twapperkeeper.com).
· For example, on Twitter, search for #ted. This will show you all of the tweets in which people are
talking about the www.ted.com resource (which is a great website so check it out if you don’t know
about it!)
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 2
3. ·
rd
You can attach photos or videos to your tweets. This can be done using Twirl or the other 3 party
applications as well as through the Twitter website. For more details visit
help.twitter.com/entries/75603-how-to-post-photos-videos-on-twitter.
· You can tweet from many mobile phones via applications (on smartphones such as iPhone or HTC)
or SMS.
Examples:
· Times Higher: twitter.com/timeshighered
· Richard Dawkins: twitter.com/RichardDawkins
· MRC: twitter.com/MRCcomms
· Vitae NW Hub: twitter.com/vitaenwhub
Further information:
· ESSENTIAL READING: The Twitter guidebook (Mashable the social media guide)
mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
· JISC Web2practice Microblogging web2practice.jiscinvolve.org/microblogging/
· Using Twitter at academic conferences http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315451-341041/Using-
Twitter-at-academic-conferences.html
· Getting started on Twitter http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315451-332011/Getting-started-on-
Twitter.html
· Twitter in plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o
· 7 things you should know about microblogging
www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutMicro/174629
· 7 things you should know about Twitter
· www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutTwitt/161801
· Microblogging www.vitae.ac.uk/dr10
· Twitter on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
· 19 Twitter desktop apps compared mashable.com/2009/06/27/twitter-desktop-apps/
· URL shorteners: Which shortening service should you use?
searchengineland.com/analysis-which-url-shortening-service-should-you-use-17204
· How People are using Twitter during Conferences (Wolfgang Reinhardt, Martin Ebner, Gunter
Beham, Cristina Costa) lamp.tu-graz.ac.at/~i203/ebner/publication/09_edumedia.pdf
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 3
4. 3. Blogging
Applications:
· Disseminate information to your community
· Gather comments and feedback from your community
· Gather evidence of the impact of your research (via guest posts or other people’s blogs)
· Use as a personal or team record/diary
· Gather information from other blogs
How to use:
To view Blogger through a test account:
(advisable before setting your own blog account up)
· Visit www.blogger.com and click ‘sign in’.
· Enter the email address ‘emma.gillaspy@manchester.ac.uk’ and password ‘integrating2010’.
What to practice:
· Enter a new post by:
o Click ‘New post’
o Enter a title
o Enter some text into the text box
o You can practice inserting photos and videos by clicking on the icons. Try inserting an image
from a website or download an image to the desktop and insert it into your blog post.
o Try linking to other websites by highlighting the text you want to link and clicking on the link
button on the menu bar.
o Click ‘Publish post’
o Click the ‘View post’ button to see your post live.
· Embed a video from YouTube into a new post by:
o Select a video you would like to embed using the YouTube website.
o Click on the <Embed> button below the video.
o Copy the text in the box that appears.
o Go to your Blogger account and click ‘new post’
o Click on the ‘Edit HTML’ tab and paste the text you copied. Enter a title for the post and any
other information you would like to include and publish your post.
· Try using the same process to embed other items such as:
o a Google Maps location
o a video from Ted.com
o a Slideshare presentation (see tool 4)
· Try customising the blog, by changing the template, fonts and colours or rearranging the page
elements. You can also add more page elements and gadgets e.g. your live Twitter updates.
To create your own account:
· Visit www.blogger.com and click ‘Create a blog’
· If you already have a Google account, complete your Google email and password details. If you do
not have a Google account, Click ‘Sign up for a new Google account’ and click ‘continue’. Complete
the create a Google account page and click ‘continue’.
· Give your blog a title and URL (think about this carefully!)
· Choose a template and click ‘continue’.
· Click ‘start blogging’ and blog away!
Tips:
· Look at other people’s blogs and decide what you like and don’t like about them. Is it a particular blog
provider you like (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress, Posterous etc)?
· Try to design your blog to suit the needs of your audience and to reflect your own style.
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 4
5. · Decide on how formal/personal you are going to make the blog and stick to it.
· Decide what you are going to use the blog for e.g. is it going to be a reflective journal, to create an
online identity for your research area, to engage the public in your research etc.
· Try to blog regularly (at least once a fortnight) but not too much (not more than once a day) otherwise
you are risking ‘under- or over-selling’ to your audience.
Examples:
· University of Manchester (MHS Faculty) research training team: researchtraining.wordpress.com/
· Manchester Postgraduate Careers Blog manchesterpgcareers.wordpress.com/
· Tristram Hooley: adventuresincareerdevelopment.posterous.com/
· Cristina Costa: knowmansland.com/learningpath/
· Research blogs: exquisitelife.researchresearch.com
Further information:
· Tips for academic blogging http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315451-332861/Tips-for-academic-
blogging.html
· How to blog webpossibilities.pbworks.com/blogs
· Tutorial on creating a blog (Wordpress or Blogger) and using RSS
emtechspring2008.pbworks.com/Tutorials
· Blogs in plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI
· Blogging www.vitae.ac.uk/dr10
· Blogging as a tool for reflection and learning www.virclass.net/eped/index.php?action=static&id=29
· 7 things you should know about blogging
www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutBlogs/156809
· Why blog? www.microbiologybytes.com/AJC/whyblog.html
· 8 reasons why researchers should blog homelessinstoke.com/2010/02/22/8-reasons-why-
researchers-should-blog/
· Why do I bother? An academic's view of blogging steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-do-i-
bother.html
· Adventures in Researcher Development 2.0 pgrdocblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/adventures-in-
researcher-development-2-0/
· Top 100 blogs (updated daily) technorati.com/blogs/top100/
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 5
6. 4. Social referencing using CiteULike
Applications:
· Easily store references you find online
· Discover new articles and resources
· Automated article recommendations
· Share references with your colleagues
· Find out who's reading what you're reading
· Store and search your PDFs
· Build a collaborative library for your research team
How to use:
To view CiteULike through a test account:
· Visit www.citeulike.org and click ‘log in’.
· Enter the username ‘techintraining1’ and password ‘integrating2010’.
What to practice:
· Find and add a reference
o In a separate window, visit an online database and find an article
o Copy the URL of the reference e.g. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21360695
o On CiteULike, hover over ‘My CiteULike’ and click ‘Post URL’
o Paste the URL from PubMed and click ‘Post it!’
o In the tags enter several keywords for the article separated by a space e.g. osteoarthritis
genetics SNP
o Complete the rest of the options according to your preference and click “Post Article”
o Click ‘Library’ in ‘MyCiteULike’ to view your library
· Explore the social features
o Go to your ‘Library’
o The bottom line of the reference “Defrosting the Digital Library: Bibliographic Tools for
the Next Generation Web” will say something like “posted
to social citation by techintraining1 on 2011-03-02 17:15:51 // along with 349
people and 29 groups”. Click on the link that says “along with 349 people and 29 groups” (the
exact wording link may be different)
o Click on a group e.g. “eLearning in Leicester” (highlighted in pink)
o Scroll down and click on the title of any article of interest (if none are of interest just pretend!)
o Click [copy] to add this citation to your own library
To create your own account:
· Visit www.citeulike.org and click ‘Join now’ or ‘Join now with Facebook’.
· Complete the registration form and click ‘Sign up now!’.
· Click ‘Continue’.
Tips and next steps:
· Watch groups and other users and be alerted when they update their libraries
· Create a group and invite others to upload their reference
· Export lists to endnote and other reference software
· Look for any groups and users who have uploaded the same references as you to increase your
network
Further information:
· Social citation workshop slides from the Digital Researcher www.vitae.ac.uk/dr11live
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 6
7. · 10 ways to promote an academic article that you’ve just published using social media and the
web www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315451-347081/10-ways-to-promote-an-academic-article-that-
youve-just-published-using-social-media-and-the-web.html
· CiteULike and other social citation tools http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315451-
332831/CiteULike-and-other-social-citation-tools.html
· CiteULike blog http://blog.citeulike.org/
· Citeulike: A Researcher's Social Bookmarking Service www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue51/emamy-
cameron/
· CiteULike: Keeping your bibliography on the web http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/156431-
205731/Citeulike---keeping-your-bibliography-on-the-web.html
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 7
8. 5. Presentation sharing using SlideShare
Applications:
· Share your PowerPoint presentations, pdf or Word documents with selected people or the public
· Keep a private record of your presentations
How to use:
To view SlideShare through a test account:
· Visit www.slideshare.net
· Click Login and enter the username ‘techintraining1’ and password ‘integrating2010’.
To create your own account:
· Visit www.slideshare.net and click ‘Sign up’ (you can use your Facebook login if you have one)
· Complete the registration form and click ‘SIGN UP’. Remember to deselect the newsletter option if
you do not want to receive news from SlideShare.
· Click ‘Skip this’ when asked if you would like to upgrade.
What to practice:
· Create and upload a presentation
o Create a short test presentation in PowerPoint and save to the desktop.
o Visit www.slideshare.net and login.
o Click ‘UPLOAD’ in the top menu bar.
o Select the presentation you created.
o Ensure the title is correct and enter a short description of the presentation.
o You can add tags (keywords) to make your presentation more searchable by yourself or
others. For more details on tagging, visit www.wolf-howl.com/blogs/how-to-use-tagging/
o Select a category for the presentation.
o Untick ‘Allow file download’ unless you would like people to be able to download the
presentation.
o Click ‘Save changes’ and wait for the upload to complete so you can view it.
· Embed the presentation in your blog by:
o Copy the ‘Embed’ code to the right of your presentation.
o Open a new window and log into your blog. To use the test blog, visit www.blogger.com and
click ‘sign in’. Enter the email address ‘emma.gillaspy@manchester.ac.uk’ and password
‘integrating2010’.
o Click ‘New post’, enter the title of your form and ensure you have the ‘Edit HTML’ tab
selected.
o Paste the code you copied from Google Docs into the main body of the post.
o Click ‘Publish post’
o Click the ‘View post’ button to see your post live.
· Share the presentation via Twitter, Facebook or Email using the links to the right of your presentation.
· Edit your profile to include additional information about yourself or your team.
· View your uploaded presentations via the ‘My uploads’ link.
· Find a person that is of interest to you and follow them.
· Find a presentation you like and add it to your favourites.
Tips:
· If you have a LinkedIn professional profile, your SlideShare presentations can automatically be seen
on your profile. For more details, visit www.slideshare.net/apps/linkedin/faqs
· You can upload videos or slidecasts to SlideShare.
· You can sync an audio file with a presentation you have uploaded.
· You can join a group of members with similar interests.
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 8
9. Examples:
· Alex Hardman www.slideshare.net/actualal
· Vitae NW Hub www.slideshare.net/vitaenwhub
· Manchester PG Careers www.slideshare.net/ManchesterPGCareers
· University of Sussex www.slideshare.net/universityofsussex
· Steve Wheeler www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth
Further information:
· Using Slideshare And 5 Great Social Media Presentations
www.simplyzesty.com/brands/slideshare-5-great-social-media-presentations
· Top 100 tools: SlideShare www.c4lpt.co.uk/Top100Tools/slideshare.html
· Using SlideShare to share presentations www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/crossmedia/advice/slideshare/
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 9
10. 6. Social networking using LinkedIn
Applications:
· Maintain your professional profile
· Participate in group discussions
· Extend your research connections
How to use:
To create your own account:
· Visit www.linkedin.com and sign up by completing the relevant fields and searching your email
contacts to see if they are on LinkedIn
What to practice:
· Search for colleagues by clicking the relevant link at the bottom of the page
· Click the ‘Profile’ tab. Add details to your profile using the profile completion tips
· Find a group you may like e.g. Medical Research Council
· Extend your networks by viewing who your connections are connected to. Also look at what groups
they are part of.
Examples:
· Emma Gillaspy http://uk.linkedin.com/in/emmagillaspy
· Cristina Costa http://uk.linkedin.com/in/cristinacost
· Sarah Blackford http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-blackford/10/b72/968
· Iain Cameron http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/iain-cameron/13/711/219
Further information:
· 7 ways to get more out of LinkedIn http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/linkedin-tips/
· Social networking software for researchers http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315451-
341701/Social-networking-software-for-researchers.html
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 10
11. 7. Collaborative writing using GoogleDocs
Applications:
· Create private documents you can access from anywhere
· Create documents on a public or semi-public basis
· Create and amend collaborative documents e.g. funding proposals, journal articles, presentations
· Create online questionnaires to gather feedback from students or the public
How to use:
To view Google Docs through a test account:
(skip this step if you already have a Google account or would like to set one up)
· Visit docs.google.com.
· Enter the email address ‘emma.gillaspy@manchester.ac.uk’ and password ‘integrating2010’.
To create your own account:
· Visit docs.google.com.
· If you already have a Google account, complete your email and password details and click ‘Sign in’. If
you do not have a Google account, click ‘Create an account’ and complete the relevant fields.
What to practice:
· Create a document by:
o Click ‘Create’ and ‘Document’
o Add a title and some text.
o Click ‘Save now’
· Share a document by:
o With the document open, click ‘Share’. Enter your own email address and click close. (you
will be sent an invite by email to edit/view the document)
o Alternatively, from the GoogleDocs main page, tick a document and click the share icon (a
person with + next to it)
· Create a folder to store items by clicking ‘Create’ and ‘Collection’. You can share a whole collection
by clicking the down arrow next to the collection in the left hand menu, then ‘Share’.
· Upload a document by:
o Create a document in Word, Excel or Powerpoint and save it to your desktop.
o In GoogleDocs, click the upload icon (next to Create) and File.
o Select the file you have created and ensure the convert button is ticked.
o Click ‘Start upload’.
o Move the file to a collection by ticking next to the file name and clicking the organise icon (a
folder)
· Create a form by
o Click ‘Create’ and ‘Form’.
o Add a title (include your initials on the test forms to distinguish them from others created
during this training session). Add some background information then enter some sample
questions. Try selecting different question types to view what is available.
o Try deleting and/or reordering a question (drag and drop the questions to move them).
o Add a section header or page break using the ‘Add item’ button.
o Change the theme of the form.
o Edit the confirmation text that responders to the form see by clicking ‘More actions’ then ‘Edit
confirmation’.
o At any point, you can view the form by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.
o Once you are happy with the form, click ‘Save’. N.B. If you change your mind and want to
amend your form later just hover over the relevant question/section and click the edit icon.
o Send the completed form by clicking ‘Email this form’. This sends the form via your Google
email account. If you would like to send the form via your university or other account, just
send the form to yourself then forward it on in your usual email client.
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 11
12. · Embed the form into your blog by:
o Click ‘More actions’ then ‘Embed’. Right click the highlighted code text and click ‘copy’.
o Open a new window and log into your blog. To use the test blog, visit www.blogger.com and
click ‘sign in’. Enter the email address ‘emma.gillaspy@manchester.ac.uk’ and password
‘integrating2010’.
o Click ‘New post’, enter the title of your form and ensure you have the ‘Edit HTML’ tab
selected.
o Paste the code you copied from Google Docs into the main body of the post.
o Click ‘Publish the post’
o Click the ‘View post’ button to see your post live.
· View and export form data by:
o Complete one of the forms you have created a number of times using test data (via the blog
or form website directly).
o Visit docs.google.com. Click on the title of your form to view the responses.
o To view the data in a graphical format click ‘Form’ and then ‘Show summary of responses’.
o To export the data as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet click ‘File, ‘Download as’ and then select
‘Excel’.
Tips:
· Set up your collections (folders) with relevant sharing settings before adding your documents. This
means you don’t have to share each individual file you create, it will be done for you by being located
in the relevant collection.
· You can upload files without converting them in case you want to store original files or other files such
as PDFs or audio/video.
· By embedding your forms into your blog, you direct traffic from users who may not visit it otherwise.
· If you'd like to track responses on your form(s), you can add the Forms gadget to your iGoogle page
(see docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=87805).
Examples (forms):
· Creating highly successful PhD students: The 7 secrets of success for supervisors (feedback form)
spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFJKUmNjZFhkS0JLejljOEJkbmRRd3c6MA
· Evaluation questionnaire for Turbocharge your writing workshop (embedded in a blog)
vitaenwhub.posterous.com/evaluation-questionnaire-for-turbocharge-your
Further information:
· Google Docs 'widely used' at 1 in 5 workplaces www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-docs-
widely-used-1-in-5-workplaces-132
· Using forms in Google Docs www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzgaUOW6GIs
· Google Docs in plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA
· 100 Great Google Docs Tips for Students & Educators
http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2009/100-great-google-docs-tips-for-students-
educators/
· GoogleDocs blog http://googledocs.blogspot.com/
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 12
13. Additional tools and resources
Prezi
Applications:
Dynamic presentation software as an alternative to PowerPoint
What to practice:
· Enter a title and short description of a test presentation.
· Choose one of the themes and click ‘Create’.
· Click ‘Open me’ and select whether you would like to make your Prezi public or private. Click ‘Open’.
· View the getting started video then close the video window to leave your canvas.
· Double click on the canvas and write the title of your presentation. Brainstorm a few ideas for your
presentation and enter these around the canvas by double-clicking to write.
· Click once on each part of your text and move it around using the centre of the ‘zebra’, change the
size using the inner circle of the ‘zebra’ and rotate using the outer circle.
· Try uploading an image or video using the ‘Insert’ menu.
· Once you are happy with the layout of your canvas, start grouping items together using the ‘Frames’
menu. N.B. You can use invisible frames to group items without showing a frame.
· Next draw a path around your canvas using the ‘Path’ menu. You can select individual items or
frames in your path.
· View your presentation using the ‘Show’ menu.
· Exit the presentation then click on it in your ‘My Prezi’ page. Download the Prezi for use on
computers which have no internet access.
Tips:
· There is a whole host of help on the ‘Prezi learn’ site at prezi.com/learn
· You can adapt other people’s Prezi presentations rather than creating them from scratch. To do this,
click on ‘Showcase’ and tick ‘Show only reusable’.
· Prezi is a difficult tool to ‘teach’ so just have a play around and see what works for you. Your first
presentation may take some time but once you learn the system, it’s incredibly easy and intuitive.
Examples:
· About perspective prezi.com/jipjiqvj6dsc/about-perspective/
· Discover IE University prezi.com/wxv6uhgee4sr/discover-ie-university/
· Singing Bridges prezi.com/io1sgtwwkg5v/singing-bridges/
Further information:
· Toolkit: Prezi effectivenesscoach.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/toolkit-prezi/
· Prezi blog blog.prezi.com/
· Prezi: A new presentation tool that lets you see the big picture and the nitty gritty details
techrav.blogspot.com/2009/05/prezi-new-presentation-that-lets-you.html
Screenr
screenr.com
Screenr is a web-based tool that lets you create screencasts without installing any software. You just click
the record button and your screen activity is recorded along with narration from your microphone. Screenr
then publishes your screencast in high-definition Flash format. Screenr makes it easy to share your
screencast on Twitter, YouTube or anywhere else on the web.
Diigo
www.diigo.com
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 13
14. Diigo allows you to take personal notes and highlight text information on web pages just as you would on
a piece of paper. You can then bookmark and save this information for further review, while adding tags
to keep everything organized. In bookmarking this information, you can also choose to share with
colleagues and friends to allow them to access the web page, view your notes and highlights, and add
their own annotations. All of this information is also saved online and can be accessed by any computer
or browser, including mobile phones with browsing capabilities.
Delicious
delicious.com
Delicious is a web service created to help you store, manage and share all or some of your collection of
bookmarks. Two of its powerful features are tagging and its ability to allow access to all of your
bookmarks from any computer with an internet connection.
Lefora
www.lefora.com
Lefora is a free discussion forum tool with no limits on the amount of posts or members in your forum.
Lefora allows you to run a public or fully private forum. On public forums, every topic has a button that will
allow your members to share a link to the topic on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. They can
even share links over email or IM. You can also easily add videos and photos to the forum.
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 14
15. Links
WORKSHOPS (SLIDES & HANDOUTS)
The Digital Researcher (Vitae)
A workshop for researchers exploring the use of Web 2.0 in research, networks and building researchers
own profiles. Interactive sessions included microblogging, RSS feeds, social networking and social
citation sharing. Read or comment on the blog, catch up with the tweets (#DR10 hashtag) or download
the slides:
www.vitae.ac.uk/dr10 and www.vitae.ac.uk/dr11
Using Technology to Enhance Your Research (MHS Training Blog)
Explores the digital world and how researchers can use it to develop reputations through a digital identity,
literature managing and extending research connections.
researchtraining.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/using-technology-to-enhance-your-research/ and
researchtraining.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/21st-century-research-profiles-workshop/
Using Technology to Enhance Your Teaching (MHS Training Blog)
Explores how technology can be used in teaching and an evaluation of these tools.
researchtraining.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/using-technology-to-enhance-your-teaching/
Social Media Tools and Resources (University of Nottingham)
Explore the social, participatory and collaborative qualities of social media technologies. Includes a
summary of social media tools for publishing, content sharing, networking and collaboration, and an
extensive set of resources including tutorials, guides, videos, references and examples.
www.nottingham.ac.uk/jubileegraduatecentre/training-and-events/events-resources.phtml
ONLINE GUIDES & HOW TOS
Vitae PGR Tips – Using online resources in your research (issue 40) and Digital networking (issue
51)
One page monthly ebulletin offering tips and advice to PGR students on a host of topics. Advice often
relevant for all researchers.
www.vitae.ac.uk/pgrtips
JISC Web2.0 Practice Guides
Explains how technologies like Social Media, RSS, Collaborative Writing, Podcasting, can enhance
working practice. Each guide consists of a video explaining key concepts, supported by a more in-depth
overview of the topic, covering the potential uses, risks and how to get started.
web2practice.jiscinvolve.org/
A beginners guide to social media (Universities Affairs)
Advice from tech-savvy professors to give you the resources you need to start incorporating social media
into your teaching.
www.universityaffairs.ca/a-beginners-guide-to-social-media.aspx
7 Things You Should Know About Microblogging
Provides information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and
describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters.
www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutMicro/174629
Tutorial on creating a blog (Wordpress or Blogger) and using RSS
emtechspring2008.pbworks.com/Tutorials
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16. Plain English Resources (CommonCraft)
A series of short introductory videos to getting started with social media tools such as RSS, Twitter, social
media, and social networking.
RSS in Plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
Twitter in Plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o
Social Media in Plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE
Social Networking in Plain English www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc
Podcasting www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMgemQahuFM
Citeulike: A Researcher's Social Bookmarking Service
An academic guide to using Citeulike a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references
online.
www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue51/emamy-cameron/
The Twitter Guidebook (Mashable the Social Media Guide)
Everything you need to know about getting started with Twitter and using it to build communities.
mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
RESEARCH PRACTICE
JISC: Research 3.0 - How are digital technologies revolutionising research?
A year long project by JISC to debate how digital technologies are changing research practice.
www.jisc.ac.uk/Home/news/stories/2009/11/res3.aspx?utm
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES
Why blog? (Dr Alan Cann)
www.microbiologybytes.com/AJC/whyblog.html
Why I'm keen on getting researchers to be more digital (Dr Tristram Hooley, Vitae Digital
Researcher Blog)
www.vitae.ac.uk/dr10blog
8 reasons why researchers should blog (Gareth Morris)
homelessinstoke.com/2010/02/22/8-reasons-why-researchers-should-blog/
Why do I bother? An academic's view of blogging (Learning with ‘e’s Blog)
steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-do-i-bother.html
Keeping your bibliography on the web (Vitae Research Staff Blog)
www.vitae.ac.uk/rsblog
Using Blogging as a Research Tool (David Harrison)
www.stress-free.co.nz/using_blogging_as_a_research_tool
Adventures in Researcher Development 2.0 (Hum PGR Doc Blog)
pgrdocblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/adventures-in-researcher-development-2-0/
Blog Recommendations (Manchester Postgraduate Careers Blog)
manchesterpgcareers.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/blog-recommendations/
You are online even if you think you are not… (PGR Salford Blog)
www.pg.salford.ac.uk/blog/?p=506
Connect Project: How do you connect to people online? (Darcy Norman)
connect.darcynorman.net/
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17. Digital Scholarship (Gideon Burton)
www.academicevolution.com/
PUBLICATIONS & ARTICLES
It’s good to blog (Nature)
bit.ly/4sMUvv
From the Blogosphere (Nature)
www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7231/full/7231762c.html
Should you be tweeting? (Laura Bonetta)
tinyurl.com/yaj9cnh
How People are using Twitter during Conferences (Wolfgang Reinhardt, Martin Ebner, Gunter
Beham, Cristina Costa)
lamp.tu-graz.ac.at/~i203/ebner/publication/09_edumedia.pdf
By the blog: academics tread carefully (THE)
www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=403827
Web 2.0 fails to excite today's researchers (Research Information)
www.researchinformation.info/features/feature.php?feature_id=236
Universities use social media to connect (NY Times)
www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/education/31iht-riedsoc.html
Social networking in academia (Research Trends)
http://www.info.scopus.com/researchtrends/archive/RT16/09084_RT16lowres.pdf
The Conversation Prism: Making Sense of Social Media (Wikinomics)
http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/27/the-conversation-prism-making-sense-of-social-
media
Defrosting the Digital Library: Bibliographic Tools for the Next Generation Web
PLoS Comput Biol, Vol. 4, No. 10. (31 October 2008)
By Duncan Hull, Steve R. Pettifer, Douglas B. Kell
http://bit.ly/1dz7JT
TOOLS
PRESENTATION TOOLS
www.slideshare.net/
www.prezi.com
http://www.scivee.tv/ SciVee – Rich Media Scholarly Communication
BLOG & MICROBLOGGING TOOLS
wordpress.org/
twitter.com/
technorati.com/ (blog search engine)
blogs.nature.com/ (compile lists of blogs)
www.researchblogging.org/ (blogs about peer reviewed research)
scienceblogs.com/ (blogs about science)
RSS READERS
www.google.co.uk/ig
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 17
18. www.netvibes.com/
SOCIAL NETWORKS
www.linkedin.com/ (business-oriented social networking site)
www.academia.edu/ (find out who's researching what)
www.graduatejunction.net/ (early career researcher network)
https://www.researchgate.net/ (scientific network)
www.cos.com (Communities of Science: Free online professional profile, funding search, collaborator
search)
http://network.nature.com/ Nature Network
http://www.methodspace.com/ Method Space
www.ning.com Want your own social network? See
ONLINE REFERENCE TOOLS
www.citeulike.org/
www.mendeley.com/
www.2collab.com
www.connotea.org/
www.bibsonomy.org/
MISCELLANEOUS
www.getdropbox.com (Dropbox: Free online storage accessible in a Windows Explorer format, share and
edit files/folders with others without having to download them locally, great for collaboration)
www.google.com (More than just a search engine: Google Scholar, Google Docs, iGoogle homepage,
Picasa)
www.ted.com (World’s leading researchers and thinkers, great for inspiration and motivation, pick up tips
for public speaking)
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books (PubMed bookshelf - Free online versions of many biomedical books)
www.jiscmail.ac.uk (enable groups of academics and support staff to talk to each other and to share
information)
http://www.jove.com/ Journal of Visualised Experiments (JoVE)
AND REFERENCES TO MORE TOOLS…
Web 2.0: Academic Research & 10 Useful Tools
scholarspace.jccc.edu/sidlit/23/
Web 2.0 for Academic Researchers
www.scribd.com/doc/22603454/Web-2-0-for-Academic-Researchers
Social Media Tools (University of Nottingham)
www.nottingham.ac.uk/jubileegraduatecentre/training-and-events/tools.phtml
Digital researcher 20/02/2012 Page 18