A Few Thoughts on Academics and Social Media by Donna Yates

"You can totally do this"

A few thoughts on academics and social media as a means of interaction with the public by Dr Donna Yates ('Grotesque Idols'): 'Do what you do well already, but in public: thoughts on academic communication and knowledge exchange', 24th Jan 2015. Some interesting ideas here.

Think about the information you collect on a daily basis, think about the stuff you aggregate for yourself, and think about the data artefacts that you generate. Is there something that you do already that could go public with very little effort? I think probably so. Is that thing useful or interesting to other people? Very likely if it is interesting and useful to you. Will sharing it help your career/research/life? In my experience, yes, but you’ll have to consider that for yourself. And be bold! Absolutely no one notices when a digital knowledge sharing project fails. I’ve tried so many projects that I have later abandoned because they were unpopular, they were too much work, or they didn’t have the expected benefits for me.