Social Media and Web 2.0 Pathwaysto Research Uptake

How the CGIAR is leveraging Social Media and Web 2.0 to enhance availability, accessibility and applicability

of agricultural research outputs

Social media for research uptake

‘Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies.’

Wikipedia

Social media for research uptake

Agricultural research and development organizations stand to benefit greatly from using social media tools as vehicles to get their message across.

Social media for research uptakeSocial media is about:

‘Spaces’ where people interact

User-generated and ‘re-mixed’ content - anyone can be an author, publisher, or broadcaster;

Tools that enable interaction and collaboration;

Redefinition of established roles

Social media for research uptake

Social media is about conversations enabled by tools such as blogs, microblogs, wikis, social networks, newsfeeds, photo and video sharing platforms.

Social media for research uptake

The true value of social media lies in the

social networks or communities

that form within these social media tools.

Social Media > Blogs

Blogging is a good way for researchers to share their research ideas with others and gain feedback from a wider, online audience.

Social Media > Blogs

Blogs can attract people with similar thoughts and questions, people who can validate your ideas and also challenge you by sharing varying opinions.  

Definition

A blog (or "web log") is a type of website with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.

A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (Video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting).

Source: Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogs

Who use blogs in the CGIAR

Almost all Centers Programs Partnerships

Blog anatomy: Main elements

Most blogs contain the following elements:

a main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top;

an archive of older articles, to browse by month and/or category

an option for people to leave comments about the articles;

a "blogroll“ listing links to other related sites

a tagcloud of the tags used in the posts

one or more RSS feeds

ICARDA http://icardablog.wordpress.com/

CG Rural Climate Exchange http://cgiarclimatechange.wordpress.com/

CIAT DAPA Blogs http://gisweb.ciat.cgiar.org/dapablogs/

How you blog

Decide on type of content and what topics you want to post about Think about who you want to write for Assign time and responsibilities for creating quality content Create linkrolls (lists of your favorite links) and tagrolls (links of your

most commonly used keywords). Make sure your blog is on local or thematic blog directories Use RSS feeds Create a readership

Source: iMark - Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development

Sources, resources and credits

KSToolkit - http://www.kstoolkit.org/Blogs iMark - Web 2.0 and Social Media for DevelopmentICT-KM Blog - http://ictkm.cgiar.org/tag/blogging/ ODI - Toolkit

Social media > Microblogging

Microblogging involves posting short sentences to promote your journal article or a useful website, act as a reminder for an activity, or even ask questions.

When and why to use microblogs

Updating ‘status’ Supporting communities of practice, distribute questions to a large

group of people Getting instant feedback about issues common to your network Reporting live from events, and engaging remote participation Promoting promote articles, blog posts, new publications and content

from your website(s) Discussing ideas, posting news, asking questions, and sharing links

and other information with co-workers Connecting to and engaging with like-minded colleagues outside your

organization Discovering upcoming events, new happenings, interesting sites/links

and tools

Who uses microblogs in the CGIAR

Almost all Centers are using Twitter

Several Centers use also Yammer CIAT CIMMYT IFPRI ILRI

How you use twitter Register a free account at http://twitter.com

• Use a simple, short name

Set up your profile and share a link to more about yourself

Share your location

Share a photo

Follow to be followed• You can start by following the different CG Centers

Build your network• Clean it up regularly

Ask questions and share the things you are doing

Re-post valuable messages

Don’t spam

Embed/reuse feed information in other websites

How you use Yammer

Yammer is a private network within the firewall of an organization

If you have a valid @cgiar.org email address, sign up to join the growing cgiar network on Yammer

Follow other CGIAR users

Create your network and communities

Sources, resources and credits

KSToolkit - http://www.kstoolkit.org/Microblogging/

iMark – Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development

ICT-KM Blog - http://ictkm.cgiar.org/tag/microblogging/

CIARD Pathways - http://www.ciard.net/

Newfeeds Definition

A feed is a regularly updated summary (“syndication”) of contents – blog entries, headlines, publications, multimedia – in the form of metadata about the source and the contents. It includes links to the full versions of those contents at their original location.

Source: http://www.ciard.net

Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss

When and why to use newsfeeds

To keeping the users of your website and repository up to date with the latest developments (feeds are also particularly useful in low bandwidth environments)

To publish your content on other web sites and services you have a presence on

To let other services re-publish your content

Who use newsfeeds in the CGIAR

Who’s using feeds in the CGIAR: ILRI IFPRI IWMI and many blogs…

Newsfeeds anatomy: Main elements

Rural Climate Exchange http://cgiarclimatechange.wordpress.com/

ILRI Newsfeeds http://www.ilri.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=116

ILRI Clipping Feed re-published on the cgiar.org network on Yammer

IFPRI RSS Feeds http://www.ifpri.org/rss

IWMI News Feeds http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/News_Room/RSS/index.aspx

How you produce newsfeeds from your site

If you have a website already:

Some platforms, Content Management Systems, library/document management systems allow you to create feeds automatically from the contents stored in the system

If you are not using this kind of tool, you have to implement feed creation in your in-house developed website/platform (you need competencies in programming and XML and you need to know the RSS/Atom specifications)

The use of third-party libraries for creating feeds such as Feedcreator or Rome is strongly recommended

How you produce newsfeeds from your site

If you don’t have a website…

Post your articles/announcements to an existing blog

Use tools that create feeds such as WebRSS (http://www.webrss.com/) or Webreference (http://www.webreference.com/cgi-bin/perl/makerss.pl)

Create an account with platforms like delicious (http://delicious.com) or twitter (http://twitter.com), which produce feeds of posts

Consider creating a blog on an online platform (Blogger, Wordpress).

How you produce newsfeeds from your site

Offer separate feeds for different content types (news, events, publications, vacancies, blog entries...)

Offer different feeds for different topics

Give high visibility to the RSS icons in your website, tell your partners whenever you make a new feed available, and agree on exchanging feeds with them

Publish your RSS across the different web platforms you are using

Submit your feeds to popular online aggregators (AgriFeeds; GFIS; NewsforDev)

Sources, resources and credits

KSToolkit - http://www.kstoolkit.org/RSS/

iMark – Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development

ICT-KM Blog - http://ictkm.cgiar.org/tag/rss/

CIARD Pathways - http://www.ciard.net/index.php?id=624

Want to know more about social media and Web 2.0?

1. Sign up for the open spaces on Wednesday pm

2. Join the open space on social media for information

specialists on Thursday pm

3. Shadow a social reporter

4. Talk with us at the CGIAR stand

during the breaks