Saturday, October 22, 2016

How Are Scientists Using Social Media in the Workplace? 


“People who are always praising the past
And especially the time of faith as best
Ought to go and live in the Middle Ages
And be burnt at the stake as witches and sages.”
– Stevie Smith, poet

“Of all the means by which wisdom ensures happiness throughout life, by far the most important is the possession of friendship.”
– Epicurus, Principle Doctrines, C300 BCE




 Future of Economy in The Chronicle of Higher Education  profiling Robin Hanson...



Four Trends In Understanding Audience: Measurement, Streaming and Politics 

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This Week: Is there a correlation between value and attention in the arts?… Data’s in: the plus/minuses of live-streaming… Some ideas from a researcher on measuring aesthetic experience… How might the arts weigh in on politics without being dismissed?

Client engagement: Diane Arbus cultivated a bond between subject and photographer. She propositioned strangers -- to take their pictures and to sleep with them...  Bohemian Babushka  


Collins K, Shiffman D, Rock J (2016) How Are Scientists Using Social Media in the Workplace? PLoS ONE 11(10): e0162680. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162680

“Social media has created networked communication channels that facilitate interactions and allow information to proliferate within professional academic communities as well as in informal social circumstances. A significant contemporary discussion in the field of science communication is how scientists are using (or might use) social media to communicate their research. This includes the role of social media in facilitating the exchange of knowledge internally within and among scientific communities, as well as externally for outreach to engage the public. This study investigates how a surveyed sample of 587 scientists from a variety of academic disciplines, but predominantly the academic life sciences, use social media to communicate internally and externally. Our results demonstrate that while social media usage has yet to be widely adopted, scientists in a variety of disciplines use these platforms to exchange scientific knowledge, generally via either Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or blogs. Despite the low frequency of use, our work evidences that scientists perceive numerous potential advantages to using social media in the workplace. Our data provides a baseline from which to assess future trends in social media use within the science academy.”



Using metadata actively, Colin Bird, Simon Coles, Iris Garrelfs, Tom Griffin, Magnus Hagdorn, Graham Klyne, Mike Mineter, Cerys Willoughby 2016, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 76-85 doi:10.2218/ijdc.v11i1.412
“Almost all researchers collect and preserve metadata, although doing so is often seen as a burden. However, when that metadata can be, and is, used actively during an investigation or creative process, the benefits become apparent instantly. Active use can arise in various ways, several of which are being investigated by the Collaboration for Research Enhancement by Active use of Metadata (CREAM) project, which was funded by Jisc as part of their Research Data Spring initiative. The CREAM project is exploring the concept through understanding the active use of metadata by the partners in the collaboration. This paper explains what it means to use metadata actively and describes how the CREAM project characterises active use by developing use cases that involve documenting the key decision points during a process. Well-documented processes are accordingly more transparent, reproducible, and reusable.”

 I have no idea what prompted this or why The Washington Post thinks Carlos Ruiz Zafón is The bestselling literary sensation you may struggle to name, but Manuel Roig-Franzia profiles the The Shadow of the Wind-author -- and the anecdote about the 'Dragon's Cave', a pretty fancy author-indulgence, is certainly weirdly interesting.

   Well, there have been some nice multiple-brief-reaction round-ups, such as:
       There are some pro and contra discussions:
       There were a few pieces arguing that it wasn't a good choice:
       Far more, however, were pleased by the choice, and wholeheartedly endorsed it:
       There are also a few pieces that look at this selection and what it signifies for the Nobel Prize, and for literature:
       Finally, Adam Langer offers lists of The Best and Worst Things About Bob Dylan Winning the Nobel Prize at Forward. ...via  complete-review.com saloon