From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints

Academics are increasingly encouraged to use social media in their professional lives. Social networking sites are one type of tool within this; the ability to connect with others through this medium may offer benefits in terms of reaching novel audiences, enhancing research impact, discovering coll...

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Autor principal:	Katy Jordan
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2019
Materias:	digital identity academic identity digital scholarship social networking sites CMC higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/345c5b70de88473bab08895c347fb8e4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:345c5b70de88473bab08895c347fb8e42021-12-02T17:16:18ZFrom Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints10.19173/irrodl.v20i2.40211492-3831https://doaj.org/article/345c5b70de88473bab08895c347fb8e42019-04-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/4021https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831Academics are increasingly encouraged to use social media in their professional lives. Social networking sites are one type of tool within this; the ability to connect with others through this medium may offer benefits in terms of reaching novel audiences, enhancing research impact, discovering collaborators, and drawing on a wider network of expertise and knowledge. However, little research has focused on the role of these sites in practice, and their relationship to academics’ formal roles and institutions. This paper presents an analysis of 18 interviews carried out with academics in order to discuss their online networks (at either Academia.edu or ResearchGate, and Twitter) and to understand the relationship between their online networks and formal academic identity. Several strategies underpinning academics’ use of the sites were identified, including: circumventing institutional constraints, extending academic space, finding a niche, promotion and impact, and academic freedom. These themes also provide a bridge between academic identity development online and institutional roles, with different priorities for engaging with online networks being associated with different career stages. Katy JordanAthabasca University Pressarticledigital identityacademic identitydigital scholarshipsocial networking sitesCMChigher educationSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 20, Iss 2 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	digital identity academic identity digital scholarship social networking sites CMC higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	digital identity academic identity digital scholarship social networking sites CMC higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Katy Jordan From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints
description	Academics are increasingly encouraged to use social media in their professional lives. Social networking sites are one type of tool within this; the ability to connect with others through this medium may offer benefits in terms of reaching novel audiences, enhancing research impact, discovering collaborators, and drawing on a wider network of expertise and knowledge. However, little research has focused on the role of these sites in practice, and their relationship to academics’ formal roles and institutions. This paper presents an analysis of 18 interviews carried out with academics in order to discuss their online networks (at either Academia.edu or ResearchGate, and Twitter) and to understand the relationship between their online networks and formal academic identity. Several strategies underpinning academics’ use of the sites were identified, including: circumventing institutional constraints, extending academic space, finding a niche, promotion and impact, and academic freedom. These themes also provide a bridge between academic identity development online and institutional roles, with different priorities for engaging with online networks being associated with different career stages.
format	article
author	Katy Jordan
author_facet	Katy Jordan
author_sort	Katy Jordan
title	From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints
title_short	From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints
title_full	From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints
title_fullStr	From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints
title_full_unstemmed	From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints
title_sort	from finding a niche to circumventing institutional constraints
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/345c5b70de88473bab08895c347fb8e4
work_keys_str_mv	AT katyjordan fromfindinganichetocircumventinginstitutionalconstraints
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From Finding a Niche to Circumventing Institutional Constraints

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