Episode 17 – Social Media and Science Communication
In the latest instalment in our Survivor’s Guide to Academia, we discuss how researchers can use social media to connect with other scientists, and more importantly, the general public. Shaun Killen asks James Grecian, Jim Caryl, and Jamie Gallagher about their experiences with using social media, the various platforms that are available, and how the aspiring social media mogul can get started. We also chat about some common mistakes when first venturing on-line, and ways that using social media can help your time budget instead of hindering it.
There are also a range of additional resources for finding out more about the basics of social media in academics:
- The British Ornithologist’s Union’s Guides on Social Media
- A great journal article by David Shiffman on how to use Twitter in a conference setting.
- The Oregon State University Superfund Research Program has a comprehensive set of resources for social media for scientists.
- Jim Caryl has an excellent resource on developing a digital footprint covering social media and research profiles as well.
There are also some high profile and useful social media phenoms that are worth checking out:
- Biotweeps
- Realscientists
- #realtimechem, showing the day to day live of chemists
- I F*cking Love Science
- Our own Sjurdur Hammer, who has done a great job of setting up and promoting #seabirdsaturday, which acts to bring seabird researchers from across the globe together to talk about their research.
And, of course, Jamie Gallagher’s famous periodic table.
Intro and outro music sampled from:
“The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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