Blogs, Twitter, wikis and other web-based tools

http://research20atimperial.wordpress.com

Jenny EvansMaths & Physics Librarian

Tools and Technologiesfound under ‘optional content’

BlogsEvaluation tools

MultimediaNetworks and networkingOnline collaborative tools

RSSSocial bookmarking & reference management

Wikis

Communicating online (online identity)Managing information

Keeping up-to-date

Inputs

Tom Phillips (2013)

Outputs

Tom Phillips (2013)

An online diary, with entries (known as posts) written in reverse chronological order. It is possible to post text as well as embed other content, such as images or videos or tweets from your Twitter account. Those reading a blog can often use the comments feature to interact with the blog writer, or blogger, and other people (though some blogs have comments disabled).

Structure of a blog

Also known as a web feed or news feed, an RSS feed is web content encoded in an xml format. It enables you to keep up to date with changes to regularly accessed web resources by delivering this information directly to your feed reader (also known as an aggregator). Feed readers can be browser based, web based or desktop based.

Activity: Create an account with a Feed

Readerand add some RSS feeds

http://feedly.com/index.html#welcome

Blogging Platforms

Why?

AudienceWhat to blog about / not blog about

Content

Why not?

Confidential dataTime

Information communication to a wide audience

Improve your writing

Think about communicating to non-specialists and/or members of the public

Easy to set up

Connect other social media accounts

Build your online presence/profile

Content (from Stephen Curry)

Legal / ethical issues

Embed links rather than content

Hosting

Licensing info about original content

License blog with appropriate CC license

Confidentiality

Complaints procedure

…use your common sense!

Activity – Workshop blog

1. Log in to the workshop blog www.imperiallibrarylab.co.uk/wordpressresearch/wp-login.php

- your username and password were emailed to you this morning

2. Write your first blog post – can be impressions so far or try the ‘flash blogging exercise’ or do both

3. Or set up your own WordPress.com blog and write your first post

“an online social networking service and microblogging service that enables users to send and read “tweets”, which are text-

based messages limited to 140 characters.”

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter [accessed online 1 December 2013]

What is it?

Twitter and Privacy

Privacy policy

Account settingsLocation information – off by defaulthttps://support.twitter.com/forums/26810/entries/78525#

Can delete tweets but not edit themMay still be found in Twitter Search for a while

Twitter apps and tools

Twitter for smart phones, tablets and desktop computers

Activity: Set up a Twitter Account or a

Hootsuite Account

A wiki is a website that anyone can add content to. It can be open to all or closed so that only invited

members of a community can use it. Pages can be quickly and easily edited and created in a web

browser. Those contributing to a wiki can discuss and comment upon each other’s work.

Enables collaborationWeb-based

Reduce emailKeep track of research

Using wikis in research

Electronic lab notebooksOpen Wet Ware

Disseminate dataisee – dissemination of structural biology

data

To support teachingChemistry@www.ch.imperial.ac.uk

For presentationsWikipedia and the Molecular Sciences

Which wiki software?

Imperial specificCentral Wiki Service (Confluence)Sharepoint

Freely availableWikiMatrix

Social bookmarking and your research

Web-based version of browser bookmarks – access wherever you are

Share with other researchers

Export and import links

Discover new information and research using tags to browse other peoples bookmarks

Organise, and search your bookmarks using tags

Delicious, Pinboard

http://pinboard.in/u:tomwphillips

Social reference management and your research

Discover new information and research

Access your references wherever you are

Organise, and search your references/bookmarks using tags

Share your references with others in your research area

Identify other potentially useful referencesMendeley, Zotero, Papers, Colwiz, readcube

Chemistry Research group using Mendeley

Evaluation toolsMany tools available – measuring qualitative or quantitative data or a combination of both

Can be free, paid for or a combination of both

Altmetrics – article level metrics – focus on the impact of a specific article

There are also tools connecting social media accounts and give you a score to measure your influence

No tool is perfect nor should not be used in isolation

Things to think about

What do I want to measure?Why am I measuring?Which tools am I using?How and what is the tool / service measuring?

College guidelines / advice

Social media guidelineshttp://www3.imperial.ac.uk/webguide/socialmedia

Social networking sites and personal internet presence http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/hr/procedures/socialnet

Use of collaborative internet environments http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/secretariat/collegegovernance/provisions/policies/infosystems/codes/cop16

Web based collaboration guidelineshttp://www3.imperial.ac.uk/WEBGUIDE/technologyservices/collaboration/webbasedcollaborationguidelinessupplement

Image attributionsTag cloud from http://www.tagxedo.com/Anne Helmand http://www.flickr.com/photos/7849372@N04/3582297307/ under CC BY-NC-SATom Phillips inputs and outputs from: http://blog.tomwphillips.co.uk/2013/02/tools-and-technologies-for-researchers/ Blogs, Read blogs, RSS, Write blogs, Why, Case Studies, Other Tools images generated by: http://metaatem.net/words/blogsBlogging platforms image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/67499195@N00/3273832615 reused under CC BY-NC 2.0Content from Stephen Curry (Science blogging workshop) http://sciencebloggingworkshop.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/stephencurrybloggingworkshop-jul12-v2.pdf Copyright image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/10361931@N06/4839454263/ reused under CC-BYThe role of Twitter in science publication and communication from : http://www.katiephd.com/twitter-and-science-publications/Prevalence of Twitter and use amongst scholars http://figshare.com/articles/Prevalence_and_use_of_Twitter_among_scholars/104629Why use Twitter? And Perceptions on why you might not use Twitter from: : http://prezi.com/f9ivxz4pkloj/twitter-for-researchers/