So What is the Real Impact of Web 2.0 on Researcher Workflow?
Anna DrabbleHead of Digital & Product Development
20th July 2011
Innovation & Digital Development @ Emerald
• Innovation core to Emerald
• Renewed focus in 2011
• Digital & Product Development function newly formed to:
– Create new online products and services
– Ensure digital content is discoverable and delivered across multiple channels
– Better understand and meet the changing needs of researchers in an online environment
Research Aims
• Are Social Media impacting upon researcher workflows?
• If so, how should Librarians and Publishers respond?
Global Survey
• 2,414 researchers
• 215 countries
• Arts and Humanities, STM, Social Sciences inc. Business
Methodology
1,923
users
491
non-users
Research partners• Emerald & UCL
Contributors & Groups• Charleston Conference • Cambridge University Press• Taylor & Francis• Wolters Kluwer• Imperial College, London• Manchester University• Edinburgh University
Contrast Group
Most Popular Social Media in Research
• Big gap between awareness (orange) & actual use (green) in 7 / 8 categories
Social Media Tools Used
Few Tools Used
Generic Services Rule
Social Media Used For….
Identifying Research Opportunities
Disseminating ResearchFindings
Research Collaboration
Perceived social media benefitsDoes visibility drive esteem? .
Social Media Enthusiasts
Differences by age group? Not much!
Importance Attached to Specific Dissemination Channel
What Users Want from Publishers
Content readable on
all platforms
42.8%
Links to the data behind the
published
article 33.4%
Greater use
of multimedia
11.2%RSS as
standard
6.4%
Multilingual
capabilities
6.3%
Linking
Interoperability
What Users Want from Libraries
Add a social network
interface to the
library catalogue
14.2%
Index full text Library
holdings 56%
Preserve
Web 2.0
content
7.9%Catalogue
Web 2.0 content
9.8%
Socially tag library
Catalogue 11.7%
Make the Library
more like Google
Does Social Media Mark a Watershed in Research Process?
• Not really…….
Research Workflow
Core Research Process Unchanged – But Communication has Evolved Significantly
Identify opportunity : review literature : carry out research communicate findings via a scholarly publication
1665: Printed Journal
Travel infrastructure (roads, rail)
Conferences (Social Media)Internet
Telephone ????
Researcher’s World Getting Bigger& More Complex…
...So Metrics & Authority Matter More
Coming soon – COUNTER Journal Usage Factor / Article Usage Factor (2012/2013)
REF ListsCitation Rankings
Implications for Researchers
• Scope for research expanding, especially Social Science
• More tasks – and more checking
• Social Media outlets no competition for releasing research (concern over releasing “unsafe” data)
BUT
• Great for identifying researchopportunities and amplifyingdissemination
Implications for Librarians
• Library & librarians not mentioned once in 2 researcher dominated groups – 4 hrs of discussion
• “Library is a building: Google is the whole world”
• Version of Record is key
• Opportunity to influence workflow and increase research efficiency, but how to maximise impact – not clear
Librarians & Publishers Face a Shared Challenge….
• …..facilitating the creation and communication of scholarly research
How well are we evolving to meet this challenge?