Networked Participatory Scholarship: Empirical perspectives on scholars use of social media

Social Media & Society, Toronto, ON, September 2014

Networked Participatory Scholarship: Empirical perspectives on scholars use of social media

George Veletsianos, Associate Professor,

Canada Research Chair, Royal Roads University,

@veletsianos

To examine issues associated with scholars’ participation in online networked spaces.

Objective

What characterizes online scholarly networks?

Networks of knowledge creation & dissemination

Networks of tension & conflict Networks of care & vulnerability Fragmented networks Transparent networks

Network characteristics

•  Crowdsourcing

Knowledge creation & dissemination

•  Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything)


•  Blog debate and commentary


•  Navigating personal-professional boundaries (e.g., friending)

•  Navigating copyright restrictions (e.g., Elsevier

takedown notices, #icanhazpdf, dropbox sharing)

•  Lack of frameworks to evaluate legitimacy or quality of networked/digital activities & pressure to engage in activities traditionally valued by academia

•  Institutional surveillance (e.g., Salaita, Kansas Board of Regents policy)

Tension & conflict

“I made it [Facebook] this hybrid space ... and sometimes it's really annoying. … I keep thinking I should be writing or looking at data, and I'm doing this! … I think that I created the conundrum that I live in now.”

Tension & conflict

•  Navigating personal-professional boundaries (e.g., friending)

•  Navigating copyright restrictions (e.g., Elsevier

takedown notices, #icanhazpdf, dropbox sharing)

•  Lack of frameworks to evaluate legitimacy or quality of networked/digital activities & pressure to engage in activities traditionally valued by academia

•  Institutional surveillance (e.g., Salaita, Kansas Board of Regents policy)

Tension & conflict

Social media functions as a place where (some) academics make themselves

vulnerable and where they express and experience care.

Networks of care & vulnerability

•  Caring for one another online takes many forms – Advising students at an institution different than

their own – Sharing personal struggles – Taking a stand and speaking out about

injustices – Commiserating about experiences (e.g.,

doctoral work)


“Since she passed away, I’ve wondered what I could have said differently to her during our last call. I told her that I loved her, that I missed her very much, and that I would see her very soon.”


Fragmented identity Acceptable Identity Fragments theory (Kimmons & Veletsianos, 2014).

Fragmented participation (e.g., dispersed across networks)

Fragmented networks

Transparent networks

They need to be able to •  talk about social media/networks •  understand the relationship between social

media and scholarship •  criticize social media/networks

What do scholars need to know?

Problem: lack of curricula to prepare students and academics for networked scholarship

Networked Scholars open online course (October, 2014) - #scholar14https://learn.canvas.net/courses/413 Networked Scholars book (Spring, 2015)

What do scholars need to know?

Related work Available at http://tinyurl.com/nps-papers

Kimmons, R., and Veletsianos, G. (2014). The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites,

acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation. Computers & Education Veletsianos, G. (2013). Open Practices and Identity: Evidence from Researchers and Educators’ Social

Media Participation. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(3), 639-651.

Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2013). Scholars and Faculty Members Lived Experiences in Online Social Networks. The Internet and Higher Education,16(1), 43-50.

Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2012). Assumptions and Challenges of Open Scholarship. The

International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning,13(4), 166-189 Veletsianos, G. (2012). Higher Education Scholars’ Participation and Practices on Twitter. Journal of

Computer Assisted Learning, 28(4), 336-349. Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2012). Networked Participatory Scholarship: Emergent Techno-Cultural

Pressures Toward Open and Digital Scholarship in Online Networks. Computers & Education, 58(2), 766-774.

Thank you!

www.veletsianos.com @veletsianos on Twitter [email protected]

This presentation:

www.slideshare.com/veletsianos

Networked Participatory Scholarship: Empirical perspectives on scholars use of social media

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