Form and Function of Digital Genres of Academic Communication
Cornelius Puschmann, Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinMerja Mahrt, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
International Conference on Science and the Internet (#cosci12)August 3rd, 2012
Düsseldorf, Germany
1. How do ICTs/the Internet reshape scholarship?
2. How is scholarly communication reconfigured?
3. How do scholarly blogs fit in?
Prior research on scholarly blogging
•Mortensen and Walker (2002):blogs as tools for writing and knowledge management•Walker (2006): change of usage over time•Gregg (2009): blogs as a subcultural form of expression, part of constructing a professional identity•Bar-Ilan (2004):aims of scholars inferred from form and content •Luzón (2009): use of hyperlinks in academic blogs•Kouper (2010): “virtual water cooler” for experts
Why do we care? (Alt)metrics!
•natively digital formats (blogs, wikis, tweets, ...) not part of formal academic evaluation (though there are exceptions)• this may change in the future, as metrics become more personalized•output in digitally native formats is likely to increase
Issues of defintion
defined by content”a blog with scholarly
content”
...but what makes content scholarly?
defined by actor”a blog written by a
scholar”
...but who exactly is a scholar and who isn‘t?
Genre as a possible point of convergence?
scholarly/science/academic blog
scholarly blogscienc
e blog
research blog
digital lab notebookacademic b
log
carnet de recherecheWissenschaftsblog
different terms & concepts
What are the motives of scholarly bloggers?
•online questionaire among bloggers on the German-language platform SciLogs (n=44)•platform is run by popular science publisher Spektrum der Wissenschaft•all respondents are regular authors on SciLogs•majority of bloggers male (73%)•majority with a natural sciences background (59%)
because I enjoy writing
to present my field to a general audience
to establish a thematic presence
to raise grievances/controversies
to express myself creatively
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
I blog...
percentage of respondents who somewhat or fully agree with the statement
discussion and exchange of ideas
presenting the results of my research
publishing texts written for other purposes
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
Important functions of my blog are...
percentage of respondents who somewhat or fully agree with the statement
it varies from post to post
popular science publications
essays/op-eds
I have my own style
non-scholarly blogs
scholarly publications
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
In terms of style, my blog emulates...
answer the public’s questions
repay a debt to society
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
Through my blog, I...
percentage of respondents who somewhat or fully agree with the statement
SciLogs: one platform‘s take on scholarly blogging
• the SciLog authors blog because they enjoy engaging with the general public•blogging is not seen as a replacement for traditional scholarly publishing•blogging is also not seen as a replacement for science journalism• instead, different blogs occupy different niches between popular science writing and public discussion of science•other platforms (Hypotheses.org, Researchblogging.org) are based on different sociotechnical conceptualizations and follow different aims
Thank you for your attention!