Wow!! I have completed the 23 Research things and my first blog on something useful!! This has been a great way to learn and pick up on some of the nifty tools and strategies to help research students or researchers. Some of the tools mentioned will also help me in my professional practice, although I am not an active researcher, this has helped me as a step in my mission as a life-long learner!
A special thank you to Kate Bunker for what I felt was making the impossible (me ever writing and publishing a blog) possible! :)
Wednesday 24 February 2016
Thing 22 - On the Horizon & Thing 23 - Library as a Research Tool
Is there any
tool/trend/*thing* out on the horizon that you would like to share or
discuss? If not pick one of the links above and read/reflect/discuss.
As I mentioned in a previous post, perhaps we could look at:
Library as a Research Tool
The blog has highlighted a wide range of visual support material online to help researchers, along with now completing the 23 Research Things, I think we have a great pool of knowledge to also tap into and offer our researchers.
I believe that a Research Librarian or Liaison Librarians can take a more proactive approach to research support. There should be dedicated programs / workshops offered to cross-disciplinary researchers and they could presented in collaboration with the ACU Research Services Division. These workshops can be themed and can be strategically plotted around key Research cycle times - i.e. towards the beginning of the year provide sessions on
As I mentioned in a previous post, perhaps we could look at:
- 23 Research Data things
- 23 Digital Literacy things
- Copyright & Licencing awareness sessions in practical academic teaching and learning (incorporating aspects of it into our information literacy classes.
- Digital Technology 'speed dating' sessions with Librarians and academics where Librarians could meet with Faculty to show them interesting apps / programs / directly relevant to their teaching, learning or research
- Augmented reality is something that can be a tool to be explored by the Library, it would require major investment costs though. I was thinking something along the lines of a recent "trend' session I had attended at Deakin University. One of the speakers at the session - Sarah Kenderdine showed us how they were using augmented reality to enhance museum visitor experience. She termed the AR as "immersive visualisation technology". Here is a TEDTalk she had given "How will museums of the future look?"
Library as a Research Tool
The blog has highlighted a wide range of visual support material online to help researchers, along with now completing the 23 Research Things, I think we have a great pool of knowledge to also tap into and offer our researchers.
I believe that a Research Librarian or Liaison Librarians can take a more proactive approach to research support. There should be dedicated programs / workshops offered to cross-disciplinary researchers and they could presented in collaboration with the ACU Research Services Division. These workshops can be themed and can be strategically plotted around key Research cycle times - i.e. towards the beginning of the year provide sessions on
- "Beginning your research journey - highlight library services and facilities and resources", "
- Searching using Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus / Tracking key authors and papers
- Using Reference management software - advanced EndNote sessions
- Getting Published - this can be where Guest speakers from Faculty or outside can come and talk about their experiences around their research and publishing journey(s), Publishers can come and talk about choosing papers for getting published - the whole process behind this aspect
Thing 21 - Managing Video and Audio Posts
I think the tips provided in the post along with Tatum's very useful additional tips are key to achieving good audio/video managing practices.
What I would like to add is based on personal experience and personal fears of what I have faced when asked to review audio/visual material and perhaps edit it. I guess my suggestions would fit into the 'production' aspect of managing the material.
The main suggestion being - use a user-friendly program / app / format to create the material so that its easy for someone to pick up where you left off! please :) For instance, by considering licencing aspects of software such as Captivate, considering that you need a "good quality microphone" to record, acquiring these may take time and sometimes the software used is not as intuitive as you would like it to be.
What I would like to add is based on personal experience and personal fears of what I have faced when asked to review audio/visual material and perhaps edit it. I guess my suggestions would fit into the 'production' aspect of managing the material.
The main suggestion being - use a user-friendly program / app / format to create the material so that its easy for someone to pick up where you left off! please :) For instance, by considering licencing aspects of software such as Captivate, considering that you need a "good quality microphone" to record, acquiring these may take time and sometimes the software used is not as intuitive as you would like it to be.
Thing 19 - Screen Capture Tools & Thing 20 - Making and Sharing Podcasts and Videos
Top 5 tips for using a screen capture tool:
I really enjoyed reading Tatum's tips on this topic!
1) Storyboard
2) create the script before using the screencapture tool. This would cut out the necessity to record / edit / re-record.
3) Make sure you are in a quiet room, cut off from the rest of the world! It's the worst to get background noise and creating a distracting experience!
4) Beware: To our shock and surprise interfaces do change! (sarastic note :)) I may disagree a bit to Tracey's recommendation to 'describe' where you are clicking as this was the very problem why we had to change one of the LiL videos and re-do them. The interface changed, so 'click on the top right hand side' was completely useless as one of the databases had switched their search to the left after an upgrade!
5) Always attach the transcript to your screen-capture
In terms of podcasting and videosharing, I have never listened to podcasts, but have watched a lot of videos via youtube and TedTalks.
I was exploring the theme of 'digital literacy' and really liked the sense of humour of the following TED Talk on:
"What my 71-year-old mother-in-law taught me about technology - Jen Lee Reeves"
Nearly coming towards the end of the 23 Research things, I think we should embark on the "23 Digital Literacy Things" and "23 Research Data Things"!
I really enjoyed reading Tatum's tips on this topic!
1) Storyboard
2) create the script before using the screencapture tool. This would cut out the necessity to record / edit / re-record.
3) Make sure you are in a quiet room, cut off from the rest of the world! It's the worst to get background noise and creating a distracting experience!
4) Beware: To our shock and surprise interfaces do change! (sarastic note :)) I may disagree a bit to Tracey's recommendation to 'describe' where you are clicking as this was the very problem why we had to change one of the LiL videos and re-do them. The interface changed, so 'click on the top right hand side' was completely useless as one of the databases had switched their search to the left after an upgrade!
5) Always attach the transcript to your screen-capture
In terms of podcasting and videosharing, I have never listened to podcasts, but have watched a lot of videos via youtube and TedTalks.
I was exploring the theme of 'digital literacy' and really liked the sense of humour of the following TED Talk on:
"What my 71-year-old mother-in-law taught me about technology - Jen Lee Reeves"
Nearly coming towards the end of the 23 Research things, I think we should embark on the "23 Digital Literacy Things" and "23 Research Data Things"!
Thing 17 & 18- Visualisation Tools & Text Mining Tools
Think about the role of data in your research, and what formats
you’re expected to present it in. Will any of these tools be useful
This is something new that I have come across. Of course I knew about the importance of data visualisation in research, but getting an insight into the various data visualisation tools is central to be able to choose the most appropriate one.
Data visualisation can be in many formats, some of the most common formats include graphs, and interactive graphs. For the mathematically disoriented, I always prefer interative visualisations :)
Recently, infographics have gained momentum in terms of presenting data in a fun and consice manner. Hence, Visual.ly is a fantastic option.
It was very informative to see there are publicly available data visualisation generators, I am certainly going to promote these to our researchers when I have the chance!
I really liked the post on text mining tools. I explored using 'Voyant Tools' and loved the simplicity of the interface! I may even incorporate using this in some of my formal presentations. I think its a great tool for emphasising aspects of your research project when presenting to an audience. It enables the viewers to get the main gist of a message beautifully in what I call the "key message / key word jumble"! As an experiment, I put in the mission statement of ACU and had to edit it to remove the most recurring generic words i.e. 'the, of, etc..' I found that Hannah Shelly had the same experience as I did which was reassuring!
This is something new that I have come across. Of course I knew about the importance of data visualisation in research, but getting an insight into the various data visualisation tools is central to be able to choose the most appropriate one.
Data visualisation can be in many formats, some of the most common formats include graphs, and interactive graphs. For the mathematically disoriented, I always prefer interative visualisations :)
Recently, infographics have gained momentum in terms of presenting data in a fun and consice manner. Hence, Visual.ly is a fantastic option.
It was very informative to see there are publicly available data visualisation generators, I am certainly going to promote these to our researchers when I have the chance!
I really liked the post on text mining tools. I explored using 'Voyant Tools' and loved the simplicity of the interface! I may even incorporate using this in some of my formal presentations. I think its a great tool for emphasising aspects of your research project when presenting to an audience. It enables the viewers to get the main gist of a message beautifully in what I call the "key message / key word jumble"! As an experiment, I put in the mission statement of ACU and had to edit it to remove the most recurring generic words i.e. 'the, of, etc..' I found that Hannah Shelly had the same experience as I did which was reassuring!
Monday 22 February 2016
Thing 16 - Mapping Tools
The best context I could put my understanding of 'geotagging' is when you upload photos on facebook and it asks you where the picture was taken and you put in the geographical pinpoint reference to that photo. When you later review the locations where you took photographs, it becomes an interesting visual display of places you have been to and the photos that made them memorable.
I have used Google Maps and Google Earth tools. I have also looked at using the "Map my Walk" app on the iphone to see what routes I have taken on my daily (ahem!) walks :)
I have used Google Maps and Google Earth tools. I have also looked at using the "Map my Walk" app on the iphone to see what routes I have taken on my daily (ahem!) walks :)
Thing 15 - Managing Research Data
As mentioned in the post, this is the most critical aspect of a research project. I agree with Tatum's view on the fact that a lot about this aspect is determined by what the researcher sees as 'future' use of the data, this would in turn determine how and where research data is stored.
Due to privacy and security reasons, I know that institutions increasingly encourage researchers to store their research and research data in Institutional repositories. I believe that this is very good practice, but researchers can also control what aspects of their research data management is available for viewing by institutional members i.e. the research papers, but the data although stored in the instituional repository, can be secure-accessed only. i.e. only certain people can have access to data .
Although a tiny bit dated, the tutorials on Mantra are useful to look at. Also, would consider looking at additional tips or advice given through other University / Institutions about research data management.
Due to privacy and security reasons, I know that institutions increasingly encourage researchers to store their research and research data in Institutional repositories. I believe that this is very good practice, but researchers can also control what aspects of their research data management is available for viewing by institutional members i.e. the research papers, but the data although stored in the instituional repository, can be secure-accessed only. i.e. only certain people can have access to data .
Although a tiny bit dated, the tutorials on Mantra are useful to look at. Also, would consider looking at additional tips or advice given through other University / Institutions about research data management.
Thing 14 - Reference Management Tools
Depending on the field of research, Researchers may have a referencing tool of choice or of established, pre-determined norm. For instance, I am aware that researchers in the Sciences and Life Sciences prefer using Mendely, LaTeX (which is also a document management system).
However, the software of personal preference for research in the Social Sciences for instance is the automatic referencing that MS Word provides or using EndNote.
Yes, EndNote has its fair share of trials and tribulations, but I have used it for a few years now and swear by it :)
The newest version of EndNote allows users to share libraries which would be of great benefit to researchers who work collaboratively. Alternatively, in order to have a sustainable library of research resources, EndNote Web is another option.
However, the software of personal preference for research in the Social Sciences for instance is the automatic referencing that MS Word provides or using EndNote.
Yes, EndNote has its fair share of trials and tribulations, but I have used it for a few years now and swear by it :)
The newest version of EndNote allows users to share libraries which would be of great benefit to researchers who work collaboratively. Alternatively, in order to have a sustainable library of research resources, EndNote Web is another option.
Thing 13 - Presenting Your Research
There is a plethora of up and coming presentation software available. As a researcher, it depends how you wish to present your research process or findings, it never hurts to stick with the basic - PowerPoint! However, to "spice" up the viewer experience, I like the look and feel of an app available called "Sway".
It's an easy-to-use digital story telling app, which I plan to incorporate in some of my presentations this year (will see how intuitive it is!)
It's an easy-to-use digital story telling app, which I plan to incorporate in some of my presentations this year (will see how intuitive it is!)
Thing 12 - digital (social media) curation and content aggregation
One of the good content curation and content aggregation tools I have used is Scoop.it. As the post mentions it "is a social media curation tool that allows you to create a topic & “scoop” material from anywhere the web".
It had been challenging to use across mobile devices, I found it best to use it on PC as the "bookmark" widget is easily accessible and implement. It was a resource that was used to aggregate content on a particular topic and one of the benefits that I saw was that users who viewed the content could choose to comment on the shared content and like Facebook "like" or "share" your post.
In terms of limitations, you can freely post on up to 2 topics of your choice, (it used to be 5 topics freely available) but with institutional or private paid access, you get access to post on more topics.
In terms of research, this tool may be useful to collate, curate on research topic areas and collaborate thoughts on such current awareness.
It had been challenging to use across mobile devices, I found it best to use it on PC as the "bookmark" widget is easily accessible and implement. It was a resource that was used to aggregate content on a particular topic and one of the benefits that I saw was that users who viewed the content could choose to comment on the shared content and like Facebook "like" or "share" your post.
In terms of limitations, you can freely post on up to 2 topics of your choice, (it used to be 5 topics freely available) but with institutional or private paid access, you get access to post on more topics.
In terms of research, this tool may be useful to collate, curate on research topic areas and collaborate thoughts on such current awareness.
Thing 11 - Web Conferencing and Communication Tools
I have used a few web-conferencing and communication tools, mainly as a participant. In order to host web-conferencing, I have used e-Live/ I believe perhaps now its called "go to meeting".
I have participated and presented using AdobeConnect, I found this very similar to using e-live. Its a great collaboration meeting space where presentations can be given live and moderators can make notes live during the presentation.
I have participated and presented using AdobeConnect, I found this very similar to using e-live. Its a great collaboration meeting space where presentations can be given live and moderators can make notes live during the presentation.
Thing 10 - Using Images
A picture is definitely worth a thousand words! For visual learners, having images in your research to explain difficult (or easy!) concepts is great. However, as mentioned, there are copyright and licencing pros and cons to be aware of.
Google Images is also great to get a hold of Creative Commons / free-to-use / share images for your research! The option to choose the usage sharing rights is very useful especially if you are more comfortable using the Google interface.
In addition to following researchers on instagram and flickr, you may also choose to follow research / big data companies and corporates i.e
I found an interesting article on how researchers use instagram / social media to determine outcomes for certain studies - great way to gather data!
Google Images is also great to get a hold of Creative Commons / free-to-use / share images for your research! The option to choose the usage sharing rights is very useful especially if you are more comfortable using the Google interface.
In addition to following researchers on instagram and flickr, you may also choose to follow research / big data companies and corporates i.e
I found an interesting article on how researchers use instagram / social media to determine outcomes for certain studies - great way to gather data!
Researchers At UR Use Instagram To Track Teen Drinking
I believe that there are fewer "researchers" using social media photo sharing or imaging websites, as they may be concerned about image privacy and sharing. However, the above article illustrates how researchers could certainly 'utilise' such graphics available to them while adhering to the ethical use of such resources.
Thing 9 - Survey Tools
SurveyMonkey is a great tool to create online surveys quickly and easily. This was however, through institutional licenced access to surveymonkey. You have access to templates of surveys or can create surveys from scratch on the website. I highly recommend this site as its easy to navigate and follow through if you are new to online survey tools.
Another good site which has dual functionality is http://doodle.com/
This has features where you can schedule meetings with fellow-researchers that syncs calendars and availability, but you can also create online polls on this website to get a quick opinion on a topic you are researching.
I wasn't aware of the ACU qualtrics! I have hence asked for a login :)
Another good site which has dual functionality is http://doodle.com/
This has features where you can schedule meetings with fellow-researchers that syncs calendars and availability, but you can also create online polls on this website to get a quick opinion on a topic you are researching.
I wasn't aware of the ACU qualtrics! I have hence asked for a login :)
Thing 8 - Mindmapping and Brainstorming Tools
Whether its Undergradutate, Postgraduate or Researchers, I have always been an advocate for mindmapping and brainstorming.
For research purposes, I find the information search planners from the "Advanced Database Searching" subject guide really helpful. Here is a link to one that I find the most useful as I have used it personally for research - http://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0011/267149/search-planner.docx
This is a very effective and comprehensive manner in which to set out your research journey, becoming aware of the array of resources that can be accessed.
I found Padlet.com also very useful in terms of brainstorming ideas. This is especially effective when you wish to collaborate with other researchers on a particular research area and would like to collect all their ideas and your ideas creating a smogarsboard of your ideas and actioning it into your research.
For research purposes, I find the information search planners from the "Advanced Database Searching" subject guide really helpful. Here is a link to one that I find the most useful as I have used it personally for research - http://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0011/267149/search-planner.docx
This is a very effective and comprehensive manner in which to set out your research journey, becoming aware of the array of resources that can be accessed.
I found Padlet.com also very useful in terms of brainstorming ideas. This is especially effective when you wish to collaborate with other researchers on a particular research area and would like to collect all their ideas and your ideas creating a smogarsboard of your ideas and actioning it into your research.
Monday 1 February 2016
Thing 7 - Researcher Identifiers
Researcher ids are of great benefit to researchers as the post has highlighted. I would certainly promote and encourage ACU researchers to create and manage their researcher ids. I have been aware of instances where there have been researchers that have used different e-mail addresses, abbreviated names, full names, in other words, they havent been consistent with how they have authored papers. This could be due to many reasons, however, if the reseachers have their researcher ids this would enable them to streamline their publications and promote them.
Often researchers also worry about the level of sharing / privacy restrictions if people come across their profile. I am aware that an ORCID would provide the researcher with control over their privacy settings for their record. Because of the range of researcher id platforms, the table would be a great way of showcasing the differences in researcher id platforms in addition to the ACU Research subject guide.
- Why Some Publishers are Requiring ORCID iDs for Authors: An Interview with Stuart Taylor, The Royal Society
- Requiring ORCID in Publication Workflows: Open Letter
Sunday 31 January 2016
Thing 6 - Managing Your Online Research Networks
As an alternative to blogging and tweeting about research, online social or professional research network sites are excellent for collaboration.
LinkedIn is the profile platform that suits my personal needs. I agree with some of the other bloggers/commenters that it would be considered as an online CV platform, but I find that its a great platform to keep up-to-date with trends in your community, participating in interest group forums where researchers can use the space to spruke views, discussions and ideas on their papers/ research. There could be instances where the researchers could add their publications on their LinkedIn profile. I am aware of instances where researchers link directly to their publications, or even directly to their chosen research collection platform to boost their discovery. For example:
Hence I believe LinkedIn is a great research networking and current awareness tool.
Academia.edu I have come across to acces open access papers, but also weary about the privacy and security features of the site as some others have mentioned. Recently, in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, (29th January 2016) this platform was criticised for its marketting ploy to charge authors for a fee for each time their articles were recommended. Check out http://bit.ly/1NN7cEO.
It was stated that "In fact, the controversy has led some Twitter users to cite the hashtag #DeleteAcademiaEdu and post messages that they were deactivating their accounts."
I think that researchers need to establish which of the profile platforms is best suited and accessed by other researchers in the field. The danger is that it could be a niche field of research, hence may have a niche platform to collaborate and promote their research.
I think that the motivation behind managing your presence on any particular research network / platform is how you view the importance of research community engagement.
LinkedIn is the profile platform that suits my personal needs. I agree with some of the other bloggers/commenters that it would be considered as an online CV platform, but I find that its a great platform to keep up-to-date with trends in your community, participating in interest group forums where researchers can use the space to spruke views, discussions and ideas on their papers/ research. There could be instances where the researchers could add their publications on their LinkedIn profile. I am aware of instances where researchers link directly to their publications, or even directly to their chosen research collection platform to boost their discovery. For example:
Hence I believe LinkedIn is a great research networking and current awareness tool.
Academia.edu I have come across to acces open access papers, but also weary about the privacy and security features of the site as some others have mentioned. Recently, in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, (29th January 2016) this platform was criticised for its marketting ploy to charge authors for a fee for each time their articles were recommended. Check out http://bit.ly/1NN7cEO.
It was stated that "In fact, the controversy has led some Twitter users to cite the hashtag #DeleteAcademiaEdu and post messages that they were deactivating their accounts."
I think that researchers need to establish which of the profile platforms is best suited and accessed by other researchers in the field. The danger is that it could be a niche field of research, hence may have a niche platform to collaborate and promote their research.
I think that the motivation behind managing your presence on any particular research network / platform is how you view the importance of research community engagement.
Thing 5 - Social Media for Researchers / Article "The verdict: is blogging or tweeting about research papers worth it? - Melissa Terras"
I chose to read "The verdict: is blogging or tweeting about research papers worth it? - Melissa Terras" mainly because intuitively I felt the answer was YES of course it is!" and after reading this post it confirmed my thoughts. Altmetrics is a buzzword when it comes to blogging / tweeting or using any social media platform to help the researcher understand the popularity of their work through the number of 'likes', 'shares', 'tweets/re-tweets', and such indicators of reading and sharing or using the information.
The author chose to study what the impact of blogging about each of the articles written and tweeted followers with links to the original article. Traditional academic researchers may on the contrary find this a time-consuming excersise, in addition with the lack of technological know-how support. This is perhaps an opportunity for Research advisors/Librarians / Liaision Librarians / who may be on-board and offer such training to kick-start the traditional academics on this journey. It may be an idea for having 'researcher-hubs' in institutions for cross-disciplinary researchers to get together and share how they have been dealing with traditional versus alternative engaging methods of disseminating their research.
A couple of points of interest in this article to consider were:
- Upon blogging and tweeting, within 24 hours, there were, on average, 70 downloads of my papers.
- As an example of the author's blog posts, there were 2000 visits per month, 70% new with an average time on the site of 1 minute and 5 seconds
- It's all about the timing - Don’t tweet things at midnight; don’t tweet important things on a Friday, especially not late; The best time is between 11am and 5pm GMT, Monday to Thursday in a working week.
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