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Presentation by Miggie Pickton, University of Northampton. ALISS Summer Conference 20th July 2011
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Guiding researchers to the web tools they need
The rationale behind a ‘Web tools for researchers’ guide
ALISS Summer Conference
20th July 2011
Miggie Pickton
Outline
• Introduction
• The research process
• Web tools and the research process
– Tools for searching
– Tools for communication
– Tools for collaboration
– Tools for dissemination
– Tools for keeping up to date
– Tools for managing the research project
“The services most likely to succeed are those where researchers are actively involved in uncovering, exploring and exploiting new capabilities, and adapting them to their own purposes, in accordance with the broader cultures and contexts in which they undertake their work”
Research Information Network (2010) If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0., p.9. Available from: http://www.rin.ac.uk/web-20-researchers
The research process
Identify new research area
Produce research proposal
Bid for funding
Conduct literature
review
Collect and analyse data
Write up
Disseminate
Evaluate performance
How can web tools support the research process?
Tools to support the research process
Web tools can support researchers in:
• Finding stuff (people, resources, policy... etc)
• Keeping in touch with each other
• Working together
• Disseminating their work
• Keeping up to date
• Planning and organising their research project
Searching (and finding)
• Scholarly resources
• People
• Conferences
• Funding opportunities
• Images and video
• Public policy
• Statistics
• Government and business
• ...and much more
Identify new research area
Produce research proposal
Bid for funding
Conduct literature
review
Collect and analyse data
Write up
Disseminate
Evaluate performance
Searching the visible web
• Different search engines give different results - Thumbshots
• Try out several search engines – TurboScout, Trovando
• Categorise the results – Yippy
• Limit to scholarly content – Google Scholar, Scirus
• Search visually – Search-cube, Quintura, oSkope
• Search the blogosphere – Technorati or IceRocket
• Find images or video – Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Vimeo
Searching the ‘invisible’ web
• ‘Invisible’ web - beyond the reach of search engines
• Directories:
– Infomine – US based ‘virtual library of internet resources’ gathered by librarians
– CompletePlanet – browseable categories, includes content from dynamically searchable databases
– Intute – UK based collection of subject resources selected by subject experts (but closing soon)
• Search engines:
– OAIster or BASE – harvested from open archives using OAI-PMH e.g. digital repositories
Communication
• With research colleagues
• With current and potential research partners
• With potential employers
• With project participants
• Between supervisor and student
Identify new research area
Produce research proposal
Bid for funding
Conduct literature
review
Collect and analyse data
Write up
Disseminate
Evaluate performance
Tools for communication
• Email is out. ‘Social’ media are in.
– Join a social (or professional?) network – ResearchGate; Academia.edu; Graduate Junction; LinkedIn
– Arrange a web conference – Google Plus, Adobe Connect; GoToMeeting (not all are free)
– Chat one-to-one – Skype; Windows Messenger
• Join an existing network or start a new one.
• ‘Network effects’
Collaboration
• Generating ideas
• Project planning
• Gathering and sharing data
• Working on documents and presentations
• Sharing resources
Identify new
research area Produce
research proposal
Bid for fundin
g
Conduct literature reviewCollect
and analyse
data
Write up
Disseminat
e
Evaluate perform
ance
Tools for collaboration
• Use Google docs to collaboratively create, store and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations online
• For mind mapping try Bubbl.us, Freemind, Mind42 or Mindmeister
• Share favourite websites using Delicious, StumbleUpon or Diigo
• Organise and share bibliographic references with CiteUlike, Mendeley, Zotero or Connotea
Dissemination
• Report ongoing progress
• Publicise research outputs
• Build a body of knowledge
• Publish in an open access journal
• Keep permanent copies of research outputs in an open access repository
Identify new
research area Produce
research proposal
Bid for fundin
g
Conduct literature reviewCollect
and analyse
data
Write up
Disseminat
e
Evaluate perform
ance
Tools for dissemination
• Create a blog or wiki using Wordpress or Wetpaint
• Contribute to Wikipedia (and drive more traffic to a personal or research group website)
• Share project news or follow others on Twitter or Tumblr
• Submit an article to an open access journal or publish a new one using Open Journal Systems
• Deposit research outputs in an institutional or subject repository such as NECTAR or ArXiv (also available as an iPhone app)
Keeping up to date
• Receive the latest news by email or RSS feed
• Tables of contents
• Subject specific mailing lists
• Funding opportunities
• Search alerts from scholarly databases or search engines
Identify new
research area Produce
research proposal
Bid for fundin
g
Conduct literature reviewCollect
and analyse
data
Write up
Disseminat
e
Evaluate perform
ance
Tools for keeping up to date
• Receive up to date information by email or RSS feed:
– Search alerts from scholarly databases e.g. Science Direct, Proquest or search engines e.g. Google alerts
– Tables of contents e.g. ZETOC, TicTOCs
– Publisher alerts e.g. Sage ‘My Tools’
– Subject community mailing lists e.g. JiscMail
– RSS feeds from favourite web pages e.g. JISC, AHRC
• Gather RSS feeds through website or browser e.g Google Reader, Bloglines
Organising and managing
• Project management
• Visualising the research
• Data collection
• Arranging meetings
• Presentations
• Manipulating data
• Writing
• Personal development
Identify new
research area Produce
research proposal
Bid for fundin
g
Conduct literature reviewCollect
and analyse
data
Write up
Disseminat
e
Evaluate perform
ance
Tools for organising and managing the research project
• Set a meeting date using Doodle or Meet-o-matic
• Run an online survey using SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang
• Create a different type of presentation using Prezi, or share a powerpoint on Slideshare
• Summarise text in a word cloud such as Wordle or TagCrowd
• Personalise your web browser with iGoogle, Pageflakes or Netvibes
• ...the list is endless!
Health warning
• Web tools come and go – or get taken over by other providers (think of Google Wave, Viewzi, Bloglines...)
• Users (usually) have no control over their development or their longevity
• Important to have an exit strategy for when they cease operating
• ... but in the meantime, there are some really useful tools for research!
And if you’re not convinced of the value of web tools...
see Gary Hayes’ social media counts
Contact details
Web tools for researchers guide is available at
http://www.northampton.ac.uk/download/2311/web-tools-for-researchers
Miggie Pickton
Research Support Specialist
Department of Information Services
The University of Northampton
Tel: 01604 892245