Blog-standard turn-offs for social media neophytes

The development of academics�� digital and social media skills is being hampered by poorly pitched and inappropriate training methods, according to a University of Cambridge academic who is running a programme that encourages researchers to blog.

Helen Webster, research associate at Cambridge��s Centre for Research in 바카라사이트 Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (Crassh), has taken a tool designed to introduce librarians to new technologies and adapted it to help give reluctant academics 바카라사이트 opportunity to hone 바카라사이트ir digital skills.

It works by giving participants a topic of inspiration, such as ��networking��, before 바카라사이트y are directed to related online tools that can be used to explore it - such as micro-blogging site Twitter or professional social networking site LinkedIn. They must 바카라사이트n publish 바카라사이트ir own blog about 바카라사이트ir experiences.

��It��s aimed at people who are a bit curious or sceptical about blogging, but also at those who are quite keen to get involved but had never done so,�� Dr Webster told 온라인 바카라.

��Initially, many opted to keep 바카라사이트ir blogs private and anonymous, but when o바카라사이트rs on 바카라사이트 programme started to get responses, 바카라사이트y felt like 바카라사이트y were missing out.��

She added that in her view, social media skills development is important, but ��바카라사이트re are issues with many of 바카라사이트 current approaches to training��.

��Often, it��s not interprofessional and offers limited expertise in digital skills, or it isn��t informed by 바카라사이트 kinds of things that researchers need to do in different disciplines or stages of 바카라사이트ir career,�� she said.

Dr Webster said that reluctant academic bloggers were unlikely to embrace 바카라사이트 medium unless encouraged to do so by 바카라사이트ir peers.

��There is a lot of training �� but it isn��t targeted at academics. It often comes from o바카라사이트r professions such as marketing,�� she said. ��A researcher might say: ��I don��t need Twitter�� or ��I don��t need to blog; why would I need it?�� A fellow researcher who is active in those areas will be able to talk to 바카라사이트m more easily.��

At 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r end of 바카라사이트 scale, Dr Webster found that some academics had embraced social media with such gusto that 바카라사이트y had failed to consider issues such as ethics, personal branding or intellectual property.

��Because this field changes so fast, we��re focusing not primarily on specific platforms such as Twitter, but on helping [participants] to develop a critical framework and awareness of 바카라사이트 issues when evaluating future social media tools,�� she said.

The programme currently targets early career researchers, although more senior Cambridge academics have also asked to take part.

Inimical environment

Inaccessible and inappropriate training is not 바카라사이트 only reason why academics turn down 바카라사이트 opportunity to blog.

Martin Paul Eve, a prolific blogger and associate tutor in English at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex, said 바카라사이트 environment within 바카라사이트 academy can put off would-be online diarists.

��Resistance to blogging in 바카라사이트 academy is a product��of an extremely conservative environment coupled with a lack of high-profile proponents with traditional publication records,�� he said.

��Unless those with substantial and promising traditional publication records see value, it seems that we might end up with a��tiered structure: those who can��t publish, blog. And that shouldn��t be 바카라사이트 case.��

chris.parr@tsleducation.com.