Category: Social Media

"Internet Publicity of Data Problems in the Bioscience Literature Correlates with Enhanced Corrective Action"

Paul S. Brookes has published "Internet Publicity of Data Problems in the Bioscience Literature Correlates with Enhanced Corrective Action" in PeerJ.

Here's an excerpt:

Several online forums exist to facilitate open and/or anonymous discussion of the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Data integrity is a common discussion topic, and it is widely assumed that publicity surrounding such matters will accelerate correction of the scientific record. This study aimed to test this assumption by examining a collection of 497 papers for which data integrity had been questioned either in public or in private. As such, the papers were divided into two sub-sets: a public set of 274 papers discussed online, and the remainder a private set of 223 papers not publicized. The sources of alleged data problems, as well as criteria for defining problem data, and communication of problems to journals and appropriate institutions, were similar between the sets. The number of laboratory groups represented in each set was also similar (75 in public, 62 in private), as was the number of problem papers per laboratory group (3.65 in public, 3.54 in private). Over a study period of 18 months, public papers were retracted 6.5-fold more, and corrected 7.7-fold more, than those in the private set. Parsing the results by laboratory group, 28 laboratory groups in the public set had papers which received corrective action, versus 6 laboratory groups in the private set. For those laboratory groups in the public set with corrected/retracted papers, the fraction of their papers acted on was 62% of those initially flagged, whereas in the private set this fraction was 27%. Such clustering of actions suggests a pattern in which correction/retraction of one paper from a group correlates with more corrections/retractions from the same group, with this pattern being stronger in the public set. It is therefore concluded that online discussion enhances levels of corrective action in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, anecdotal discussion reveals substantial room for improvement in handling of such matters.

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"Scholars and Their Blogs: Characteristics, Preferences, and Perceptions Impacting Digital Preservation"

Carolyn F. Hank has self-archived "Scholars and Their Blogs: Characteristics, Preferences, and Perceptions Impacting Digital Preservation" in the Carolina Digital Repository.

Here's an excerpt:

This descriptive study investigated scholars who blog in the areas of history, economics, law, biology, chemistry and physics, as well as attributes of their respective blogs. It offers an examination of scholars' attitudes and perceptions of their blogs in relation to the system of scholarly communication and their preferences for digital preservation.. . . Most feel their blogs should be preserved for both personal and public access and use into the indefinite, rather than short-term, future. Scholars who blog identify themselves as most responsible for blog preservation. Concerning capability, scholars perceive blog service providers, hosts, and networks as most capable. National and institutional-based libraries and archives, as well as institutional IT departments, are perceived as least responsible and capable for preservation of scholars' respective blogs.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"A Mobile Interface for DSpace"

Elías Tzoc has published "A Mobile Interface for DSpace" in the latest issue of D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Academic libraries were among the first adopters of mobile websites in universities, but much of the early development was focused exclusively on traditional library content such as the library's homepage, catalog, contact information, etc. As libraries continue to work on new technology developments, a mobile interface for their institutional repositories can be a good new way to reach out to faculty and other interested parties. Miami University's Scholarly Commons runs on DSpace as part of a shared infrastructure administered by OhioLINK. DSpace is used at academic institutions, research and resource centers, museums, national libraries, and government and commercial organizations. With over a thousand installations in more than 90 countries, DSpace is the most widely used open source repository platform by any measure. The steady popularity of DSpace suggests that a lot of institutions will benefit from an out-of-the-box mobile interface. This article describes the development and implementation of the first mobile interface developed for DSpace using the jQuery Mobile Framework.

Note: Includes links to software.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap |

The Demographics of Social Media Users—2012

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released The Demographics of Social Media Users—2012.

Here's an excerpt:

A late 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project shows that young adults are more likely than others to use major social media. At the same time, other groups are interested in different sites and services.

Internet users under 50 are particularly likely to use a social networking site of any kind, and those 18-29 are the most likely of any demographic cohort to do so (83%). Women are more likely than men to be on these sites. Those living in urban settings are also significantly more likely than rural internet users to use social networking.

| Digital Scholarship Overview | Digital Scholarship |

"Undergraduates’ Use of Social Media as Information Sources"

College & Research Libraries has released a preprint of "Undergraduates' Use of Social Media as Information Sources."

Here's an excerpt:

Focusing on undergraduate students, a survey was conducted to investigate the following: (1) which social media platforms are used as information sources, (2) what are the main reasons for using these social media platforms for information seeking, and (3) what kinds of actions are taken to evaluate the quality of the information gained from such sources. The study provides a snapshot of current trends in terms of the use of social media as information sources. It also sheds lights on the actions that the undergraduate students took to evaluate information from social media, including social networking and video sharing sites that have rarely been studied previously.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 ( paperback and PDF file; over 3,800 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

"The Impact of Social Media on the Dissemination of Research: Results of an Experiment"

Melissa Terras has published "The Impact of Social Media on the Dissemination of Research: Results of an Experiment" in the latest issue of the Journal of Digital Humanities.

Here's an excerpt:

From now on, I will definitely post anything I publish straight into our institutional repository, and blog and tweet it straight away. After all, the time it takes to undertake research, and write research papers, and see them through to publication is large; the time it takes to blog or tweet about them is negligible. .

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

"The Liblog Landscape: Where Are They Now?"

Walt Crawford has published "The Liblog Landscape: Where Are They Now?" in the latest issue of Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large.

Here's an excerpt:

As I was preparing the two-part Words essay Thinking About Blogs, and specifically Part 2 with its emphasis on libraries and liblogs, I got to wondering: Where are they now? And I'd seen hints here and there that people were missing a reasonably comprehensive list of what's out there. . . .

The results come in two flavors. This essay offers the basic facts: How many have disappeared, how many appear to be moribund (or have officially closed) but are still visible, how recently each blog had been updated and some overall comments on longevity. The second flavor is a new page linked to from Walt at Random consisting of two lists of hyperlinked liblog names: One for blogs updated sometime within the past year (when checked—that is, sometime after July 30, 2011) that haven't explicitly closed, one for closed and apparently-moribund blogs. Blogs that disappeared entirely aren't in either list. You'll find that list at waltcrawford.name/liblogs.

| Digital Scholarship's Weblogs and Tweets | Digital Scholarship |

Delivering Web to Mobile

JISC has released Delivering Web to Mobile.

Here's an excerpt:

This report looks at the growth of mobile, the state of the Web and gives an overview of approaches to delivering content and services optimised for the mobile context. This includes approaches to Web design for responsive sites, leveraging access to device functions and capabilities and the use of Web technologies to build mobile applications.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010: "This bibliography portal demonstrates that citation lists continue to play a role in research, in spite of the availability of powerful Web and digital library search engines and the near-extinction of print bibliography publishing. Summing Up: Recommended." — J. A. Buczynski, Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries 45, no. 1 (1997): 58. | Digital Scholarship |

Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Part 3: Recommendations and Readings

OCLC Research has released Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Part 3: Recommendations and Readings.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In the first report, the 21-member Social Metadata Working Group reviewed 76 sites relevant to libraries, archives, and museums that supported such social media features as tagging, comments, reviews, images, videos, ratings, recommendations, lists, links to related articles, etc. The results from a survey of site managers conducted in October-November 2009 were included in the second report. Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums, Part 3: Recommendations and Readings provides recommendations on social metadata features most relevant to libraries, archives, and museums and an annotated reading list of the literature consulted during this research. Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums: Executive Summary provides a high-level overview of all three reports. The group's final recommendation is that it is riskier to do nothing and become irrelevant to our user communities than to start using social media features.

Also available: Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums: Executive Summary."

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

"The Privacy Implications of Digital Preservation: Social Media Archives and the Social Networks Theory of Privacy"

Jasmine E. McNealy has self-archived "The Privacy Implications of Digital Preservation: Social Media Archives and the Social Networks Theory of Privacy" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper seeks to analyze whether SNS [Social Networking Sites] users can claim a right to privacy with respect to their online communications. To do so, this paper will examine the privacy implications of the LOC Twitter archive in light of Strahilevitz's social network theory of privacy. First, this article briefly discusses the LOC Twitter archive. Next, this article explores the online networking phenomenon and the privacy implications associated with social media. Third, this article examines privacy, in particular Strahilevitz's social networks theory of privacy. Part four analyzes whether a challenge to the LOC Twitter archive based on a theory of invasion of privacy by public disclosure of private facts or intrusion would succeed under the social network theory of privacy. This article concludes with considerations for digital archives in relation to protecting personal privacy.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

"Altmetrics in the Wild: Using Social Media to Explore Scholarly Impact"

Jason Priem, Heather A. Piwowar, and Bradley M. Hemminger have self-archived "Altmetrics in the Wild: Using Social Media to Explore Scholarly Impact" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

In growing numbers, scholars are integrating social media tools like blogs, Twitter, and Mendeley into their professional communications. The online, public nature of these tools exposes and reifies scholarly processes once hidden and ephemeral. Metrics based on this activities could inform broader, faster measures of impact, complementing traditional citation metrics. This study explores the properties of these social media-based metrics or "altmetrics," sampling 24,331 articles published by the Public Library of Science. We find that different indicators vary greatly in activity. Around 5% of sampled articles are cited in Wikipedia, while close to 80% have been included in at least one Mendeley library. There is, however, an encouraging diversity; a quarter of articles have nonzero data from five or more different sources. Correlation and factor analysis suggest citation and altmetrics indicators track related but distinct impacts, with neither able to describe the complete picture of scholarly use alone. There are moderate correlations between Mendeley and Web of Science citation, but many altmetric indicators seem to measure impact mostly orthogonal to citation. Articles cluster in ways that suggest five different impact "flavors," capturing impacts of different types on different audiences; for instance, some articles may be heavily read and saved by scholars but seldom cited. Together, these findings encourage more research into altmetrics as complements to traditional citation measures.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Part 2: Survey Analysis

OCLC Research has released Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Part 2: Survey Analysis.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In the first report, Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Part 1: Site Reviews, the 21-member RLG Partners Social Metadata Working Group reviewed 76 sites relevant to libraries, archives, and museums that supported such social media features as tagging, comments, reviews, images, videos, ratings, recommendations, lists, links to related articles, etc. In this second report, we analyzed the results from a survey of site managers conducted in October-November 2009. Forty percent of the responses came from outside the United States. The survey focused on the motivations for creating a site, moderation policies, staffing and site management, technologies used, and criteria for assessing success. In our upcoming third report, we provide recommendations on social metadata features most relevant to libraries, archives, and museums as well as the factors contributing to success.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

Why Americans Use Social Media

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Why Americans Use Social Media.

Here's an excerpt:

Two-thirds of online adults (66%) use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn. These internet users say that connections with family members and friends (both new and old) are a primary consideration in their adoption of social media tools. Roughly two thirds of social media users say that staying in touch with current friends and family members is a major reason they use these sites, while half say that connecting with old friends they've lost touch with is a major reason behind their use of these technologies.

| Google Books Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Part 1: Site Reviews

OCLC Research has released Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Part 1: Site Reviews.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Traditionally, staff at libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) create metadata for the content they manage. However, social metadata—content contributed by users—is evolving as a way to both augment and recontextualize the content and metadata created by LAMs. Many cultural heritage institutions are interested in gaining a better understanding of social metadata and also learning how to best utilize their users' expertise to enrich their descriptive metadata and improve their users' experiences.

In order to facilitate this, a 21-member RLG Partners Social Metadata Working Group reviewed 76 sites relevant to libraries, archives, and museums that supported such social media features as tagging, comments, reviews, images, videos, ratings, recommendations, lists, links to related articles, etc. In addition, working group members surveyed site managers, analyzed the survey results and discussed the factors that contribute to successful—and not so successful—use of social metadata. They also considered issues related to assessment, content, policies, technology, and vocabularies.

This report includes an environmental scan of 76 social metadata sites and a detailed review of 24 representative sites.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

65% of Online Adults Use Social Networking Sites

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released 65% of Online Adults Use Social Networking Sites.

Here's an excerpt:

Two-thirds of adult internet users (65%) now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 61% one year ago. That's more than double the percentage that reported social networking site usage in 2008 (29%). And for the first time in Pew Internet surveys it means that half of all adults (50%) use social networking sites. The pace with which new users have flocked to social networking sites has been staggering; when we first asked about social networking sites in February of 2005, just 8% of internet users — or 5% of all adults — said they used them.

| New: Google Books Bibliography, Version 7 | Digital Scholarship |

Social Networking Sites and Their Role in Scholarly Communications

The Research Communications Strategy project has released Social Networking Sites and Their Role in Scholarly Communications.

Here's an excerpt:

In particular, the Centre was interested to determine to what extent social networking sites are usurping the role of Open Access repositories and to what extent they are likely to do so in the future. The study therefore naturally needed to consider the relationship between Open Access repositories and social networking sites, both now and in the future. Furthermore, the study needed to examine the behaviour patterns of researchers in using different web locations for research communications and to attempt to predict future trends.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Institutional Repository Bibliography | Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 |

Social Networking Sites and Our Lives

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Social Networking Sites and Our Lives.

Here's an excerpt:

Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project decided to examine SNS in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 |

U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies 2010

The Library Research Service of the Colorado State Library has released U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies 2010.

Here's an excerpt:

Since the first Web Technologies study, public libraries across the United States have made varying degrees of progress in adopting Web 2.0 tools. Using the 2008 results as a baseline, the 2010 study was an opportunity to identify new web technologies and track changes in what libraries are adopting, as well as identify characteristics of those libraries.

In general, the results of the 2010 study reveal that most web technologies are increasing in use on public libraries' websites, with some tools gaining in popularity rather quickly and others appearing to stagnate. For example, libraries' use of social media sites took off while adoption of earlier tools including blogs has slowed, and new options such as SMS reference have not yet had a chance to gain much traction. Regardless of the tool in question, most growth was concentrated in the largest libraries, where adoption of new technologies increased at a faster rate than in smaller libraries.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications |

Yahoo! Research: Who Says What to Whom on Twitter

Yahoo! Research has released Who Says What to Whom on Twitter.

Here's an excerpt:

We study several longstanding questions in media communications research, in the context of the microblogging service Twitter, regarding the production, flow, and consumption of information. To do so, we exploit a recently introduced feature of Twitter—known as Twitter lists—to distinguish between elite users, by which we mean specifically celebrities, bloggers, and representatives of media outlets and other formal organizations, and ordinary users. Based on this classification, we find a striking concentration of attention on Twitter—roughly 50% of tweets consumed are generated by just 20K elite users—where the media produces the most information, but celebrities are the most followed. We also find significant homophily within categories: celebrities listen to celebrities, while bloggers listen to bloggers etc; however, bloggers in general rebroadcast more information than the other categories. Next we re-examine the classical "two-step flow" theory of communications, finding considerable support for it on Twitter, but also some interesting differences. Third, we find that URLs broadcast by different categories of users or containing different types of content exhibit systematically different lifespans. And finally, we examine the attention paid by the different user categories to different news topics.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 |

"Standards for Web Applications on Mobile: February 2011 Current State and Roadmap"

W3C has released "Standards for Web Applications on Mobile: February 2011 Current State and Roadmap" by Dominique Hazaël-Massieux.

Here's an excerpt:

This document summarizes the various technologies developed in W3C that increases the power of Web applications, and how they apply more specifically to the mobile context, as of February 2011. . . .

The features that these technologies add to the Web platform are organized under the following categories:

  • Graphics
  • Multimedia
  • Forms
  • User interactions
  • Data storage
  • Sensors and hardware integration
  • Network
  • Communication
  • Packaging
  • Performance & Optimization

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

Social Media: A Guide for Researchers

The Research Information Network has released Social Media: A Guide for Researchers (see also "Web Materials 1: Links And Resources" and "Web Materials 2: Researcher Case Studies").

Here's an excerpt:

This guide will show how social media can change the ways in which you undertake research, and open up new forms of communication and dissemination. The researchers we interviewed in the development of this guide are using social media to bridge disciplinary boundaries, to engage in knowledge exchange with industry and policy makers, and to provide a channel for the public communication of their research.

The guide is rooted in the practical experience of its authors and of the ten social media users we interviewed as part of the project. We are not trying to present social media as the answer to every problem a researcher might experience; rather, we want to give a "warts and all" picture. Social media have downsides as well as upsides, but on balance we hope that you will agree with us that there is real value for researchers.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

Privacy Considerations in Cloud-Based Teaching and Learning Environments

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative has released Privacy Considerations in Cloud-Based Teaching and Learning Environments.

Here's an excerpt:

In this white paper, we outline the privacy issues relevant to using cloud-based instructional tools or cloud-based teaching and learning environments for faculty members and those supporting instruction. Our discussion of how teaching and learning in an increasingly technological environment has transformed the way we interact and interpret FERPA will help inform various choices that institutions can consider to best address the law, including policy and best-practice examples. We highlight practical suggestions for how faculty members can continue to use innovative instructional strategies and engage students while considering privacy issues. Finally, this paper discusses ways to further explore and address privacy locally and includes a comprehensive resource list for further reading.

| Digital Scholarship |

Wikipedia, Past and Present

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Wikipedia, Past and Present.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The percentage of all American adults who use Wikipedia to look for information has increased from 25% in February 2007 to 42% in May 2010. This translates to 53% of adult internet users.

Education level continues to be the strongest predictor of Wikipedia use. The collaborative encyclopedia is most popular among internet users with at least a college degree, 69% of whom use the site. Broadband use remains another predictor, as 59% of those with home broadband use the service, compared with 26% of those who connect to the internet through dial-up. Additionally, Wikipedia is generally more popular among those with annual household incomes of at least $50,000, as well as with young adults: 62% of internet users under the age of 30 using the service, compared with only 33% of internet users age 65 and older.

In the scope of general online activities, using Wikipedia is more popular than sending instant messages (done by 47% of internet users) or rating a product, service, or person (32%), but is less popular than using social network sites (61%) or watching videos on sites like YouTube (66%).

| Digital Scholarship |

8% of Online Americans Use Twitter

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released 8% of Online Americans Use Twitter.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Eight percent of the American adults who use the internet are Twitter users. Some of the groups who are notable for their relatively high levels of Twitter use include:

  • Young adults—Internet users ages 18-29 are significantly more likely to use Twitter than older adults.
  • African-Americans and Latinos—Minority internet users are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as are white internet users.
  • Urbanites—Urban residents are roughly twice as likely to use Twitter as rural dwellers.

| Digital Scholarship |