This presentation by Dr Paul Reilly and Terese Bird shows case studies of research done and disseminated using social media. Presented at University of Leicester Research Seminar 11 June 2014.

1. www.le.ac.uk
Social Media
for Academic Profile and Networking
Terese Bird, Institute of Learning Innovation
Dr Paul Reilly, Media and Communications
Researchers’ Workshop, 11 June 2014
Image by Cristina
Costa, Flickr

2. What shall we talk about?
• Research cycle
and profiling
• Social tools
–How we used
–Ethics
• Tips to begin
Photo by Emma Taylor on Flickr

3. The academic research cycle
Social media: A guide for researchers (2011), p15

4. Historical
research tasks
ON THE INTERNET
•Community
•Digital materials
•Discover
•Disseminate
Sengaw.wordpress.com

5. Academic Digital Profile:
Cristina Costa on Flickr

6. Reilly (2013): YouTube, sousveillance and the
‘anti-Tesco’ riot in Stokes Croft
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpPM2NXLK-c
6

7. Overview of study:
• N=1018 comments left under four most commented-upon
videos showing eyewitness perspectives on policing of
disturbances
• Study examines whether commentators perceived this
footage as a form of hierarchical sousveillance (inverse
surveillance)
• Little rational debate about the broader issues e.g.
legitimacy of No Tesco campaign and media narratives
often reproduced by commenters
• Only a very small number of users perceived this footage
as hierarchical sousveillance

8. Reilly (2014) Ethical stance for the study
of the ‘Battle of Stokes Croft’
• There did not appear to be a public benefit in exposing these unaware
participants to potential harm through the use of their ‘semi-published’
comments as published artefacts
• Maximum level of disguise possible provided to participants via the
removal of usernames and direct quotes from academic publications.
• “This doesn’t mean that the default position should be to please
participants through the redaction of potentially harmful content from
datasets. [……] This paper has shown the importance of empowering
researchers to make informed ethical decisions that protect the right to
privacy for unaware participants when it is appropriate to do so” Reilly,
2014:13)

9. University
staff
from various
nations,
various
career stages
N=711
Academics’ use of
social media report
http://www.canberra.edu.a
u/faculties/arts-
design/attachments/pdf/n-
and-mrc/Feeling-Better-
Connected-report-final.pdf

10. Facebook page

11. Facebook
group

12. Blogs – open research notebook

13. Blog for research and teaching
http://pauljreillydot.com
http://pauljreillydot.com

14. Twitter – short messages call
attention to other platforms

15. Storify: curate tweets from conferences
• https://storify.com/PaulJReilly/media-for-social-change-
unconference-birmingham-ci

16. Professional social networking sites:
Linkedin Academia.edu

17. Scoop.it: Research, Curate, and Draw
readers to your project website

18. YouTube – power of video

19. Vimeo – YouTube alternative

20. Flickr & Pinterest– visual research

21. Pinterest – bookmarking (visual)

22. SoundCloud & AudioBoo - audio

23. Slideshare – elevate your presentations

24. Google Docs
– project collaboration

25. Kwiksurveys & SurveyMonkey

26. Tip for beginners:
Try one or two for 10 minutes a day
Task Tool
Show yourself as a presenter YouTube, Vimeo, AudioBoo,
SoundCloud, Slideshare
Show yourself as a writer Blog
Share your findings All (match the format!)
Keep up on hot news in your
field
Twitter, Facebook, Scoop.it
Collaborate with other
researchers
Google Docs, Google Hangouts,
Twitter, Facebook
Organise Storify, Pinterest, Scoop.it
Your online CV LinkedIn, Academia.edu

27. References
• Cann, A., Dimitrou, K., Hooley, T. (2011) Social media: A guide
for researchers. Research Information Network,
http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-
disseminating-research/social-media-guide-researchers
• Reilly, P. (2014) The ‘Battle of Stokes Croft’ on Youtube: The
development of an ethical stance for the study of online
comments., Sage Case Studies in Research Methods,
published online before print, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305013509209
• Reilly, P. (2013) Every Llttle helps? Youtube, sousveillance and
the ‘anti-Tesco’ riots in Bristol, New Media and Society.
published online before print, doi:
10.1177/1461444813512195.