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researchers were required to develop a new social media literacy to enable them to navigate, manage and appraise the social media landscape.
In: Conducting research in a changing and challenging world Editors: T. Lê & Q. Lê

© 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter Number

DEVELOPING A NEW LITERACY: USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO SUPPORT RESEARCH

Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford

ABSTRACT The significant growth of web-based technologies in recent years has opened new opportunities to incorporate these technologies within the research process. Traditional research techniques do not meet the challenges of some research projects, especially in satisfying the demand for up-to-date literature, collaboration and resource sharing. To address this demand, social media is increasingly being used as a tool to enhance research. Not-withstanding a need for identifying, examining and overcoming particular obstacles, evidence gathered during our work reveals potential for social media to support a research endeavour. With reference to a recent study this chapter hopes to provoke thought on meeting the challenges of contemporary research, provide some strategies to develop social media literacy, and contribute to an ongoing conversation about discovering and harnessing the benefits that social media can bring to the research process.

Key words: Social media, Innovative research, Social media literacy.

Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford

INTRODUCTION Social media refers to a broad range of technologies that enable interaction, and the collaborative creation and sharing of information. New social media are continually entering the technology landscape in response to an ever-increasing demand from the public or in an attempt to capture a new audience with a new way of interacting. The internet, in a more general sense, has become a ubiquitous information dissemination and communication tool for everyday activities and for research. Research findings can be found online in sources ranging from electronic academic journals to open, collaboratively-created content in wikis (a collaborative tool that allows for co-authoring, commenting and file-sharing while maintaining copies of each version and tracking changes) which transform users from consumers to “prosumers” (Toffler, 2003) melding the roles of consumer and producer. While the peer-review process is vital to the reliability of printed publications, the time associated with the production of paper-based publications means that some of the most up-to-date information can only be found and shared online. Many experts in various fields now create blogs and websites (either independently or as part of a research team) to share their thinking and findings, seek feedback and to collaborate (Cann, Dimitriou, & Hooley, 2011). This chapter will discuss the research and social media environments with regard to the opportunities that social media may bring to the research process. As well as discussing the benefits of adopting social media, strategies will be proffered to address the challenges social media pose to the traditional paradigm of academic research. In particular a new social media literacy will be needed to successfully navigate the rapidly changing landscape. This chapter will provide some practical suggestions for researchers who wish to incorporate social media tools into their research practice. The impetus for writing about this subject matter sprang from experiences and lessons learnt during a project to create a digital habitat for General Practice (GP) learners (hereafter referred to as the Project). Social media was used as part of the project itself, to support the research for it and during its management. The year-long project involved an educational collaboration between two General Practice regional training providers and a School of Medicine at an Australian university. The aims of the project were to investigate both the potential and actual benefits of using social media to encourage online sharing of resources and communication and collaboration as a means for supporting a community of General Practice (GP) learners. Initial research findings informed the development of a pilot digital habitat, which is a collaborative online environment using Web 2.0 tools to support a community of learning (Wenger, White, & Smith, 2009). Key to the success of the Project was a need to be aware of cutting edge technologies, approaches and thinking in the arena of social media. Additionally, it was important that the Project steering and advisory groups use social media first hand to gain greater insights into the design phase of the pilot site. In order to negotiate the social media space for research purposes, the Project researchers were required to develop a new social media literacy to enable them to navigate, manage and appraise the social media landscape.

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Developing a New Literacy: Using Social Media To Support Research

A RESEARCH/SOCIAL MEDIA NEXUS Research has long been regarded as the cornerstone of academia with traditions and processes that have been carved deeply into the sandstone blocks upon which the institutions are built. Traditional research institutions have been built slowly over time, with critics of traditional research arguing that they are steeped in formality and exclusivity with heavy doors that keep the outside world at arms’ length. So too, the wheels of traditional research processes move slowly in controlled and formal ways. Facts need to be established; work is often undertaken in isolation; determination for eventual publication is made by a select few; and acceptance for publication remains the privilege of a select few. In the research cycle, information is consumed and generated, with knowledge being transferred via the well-worn paths of academic journals, conferences and other scholarly publications that are scrutinised and validated by peers through the rigors of a formal review process in an effort to ensure the quality and reliability of academic research outputs (Cann, et al., 2011). By contrast to the research environment, the foundations of social media are people, objects and connectivity with informal and seemingly chaotic networks continually being created, changing, growing and shrinking in response to a “social object”, the thing or object that is the focus or reason for people coming together (Engestrom, 2005). Communication though social media is in a “many-to-many” form (Cann, et al., 2011), that is, once an original communication has been made, it is spread to and by multiple unpredictable recipients. It is self-organising and possesses an immediacy that makes it dynamic, spontaneous and capable of enabling rapid change and development. Open and inclusive interactivity is encouraged and the social playing field lacks hierarchy. Communication processes are transparent, often conversational, and participation and diverse opinions are encouraged (Macnamara, 2010). Sharing and collaborating on works-in-progress, open licensing of work enabling re-purposing (e.g. Creative Commons as opposed to copyright), and mash-ups (a new work compiled from parts of other existing work or works, to which original additions may be included) are all hallmarks of the social media environment. Sites and networks can have open, closed or partially closed access. Although the characteristics of research and social media seem to be diametrically opposed, a closer examination will reveal significant opportunities for incorporation of social media at every step of the research cycle. Cann, Dimitriou and Hooley (2011) describe the research cycle as having four stages; the identification of existing knowledge, followed by the creation, assessment and dissemination of new knowledge (shown in Figure 1). Social media has the capacity to facilitate and improve each stage of this cycle. Burton (2010) argues that “…the improvement and utility of knowledge correlates directly with how broadly, quickly, and interactively it circulates. People have been arguing for the free marketplace of ideas since the Enlightenment or earlier.” This notion is also borne out by extensive research conducted involving nearly 2500 researchers across all disciplines in 215 countries (where approximately 75% of the researchers used social media to support research) which finds that “Researchers are using social media tools to support every phase of the research lifecycle: from identifying research opportunities to disseminating findings at the end” (CIBER, 2010, p. 2). 3

Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford

Figure 1. Social media: A guide for researchers (Cann, et al., 2011)

Fundamental to social media are people, objects and connectedness. It is upon these foundations that all other elements are hinged. The capacity to bridge academic and geographic divides which extend beyond known networks and bring many contributors into the process, give social media networks a power that cannot be replicated by traditional academic collaborations and communications (Hansen, Shneiderman, & Smith, 2011). Key to successfully using social media to facilitate the research process is the establishment and nurturing of relationships that become part of one’s trusted network. Consideration also needs to be given to the protection of intellectual property during the research process and to any constraints which may exist associated with traditional academic publishing channels (Ross & Collier, 2012). These matters should be considered on a case-by-case basis before any decision is made to engage with social media as an adjunct to the research processes. Interestingly, use of social media to support research has sparked discussions around the accuracy of traditional impact factors of publications and published works in today’s open web-based environment and new matrices are being developed that more accurately capture real use of published works (Priem & Hemminger, 2010; Research Information Network (RIN), 2010). Cann, Dimitriou and Hooley’s (2011) research cycle is examined further below to identify how it can be enhanced through the use of social media. Identification of knowledge: The burden of trawling the literature to find relevant information can be shared by tapping into social networks to see what is being read, recommended and discussed by peers, experts and others of like interest (Cann, et al., 2011). CIBER, the UK's largest information science and publishing research group which also belongs to the University College London, finds that “Users and non-users of social media express almost identical preferences when they look for scholarly information. Their first preference is for the open Web, followed by searching licensed e-content through their libraries, followed by asking a colleague” (CIBER, 2010, p. 3).

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Developing a New Literacy: Using Social Media To Support Research Creation of knowledge: Collaborators and contributors can be found beyond previously known networks. Understandings can be challenged, and research can gain considerable momentum when the discussion net is widened, especially when cross fertilisation from other disciplinary expertise is brought into the equation (Eardley & Uden, 2011). Experts and novices can reside in the same space with mutual benefit - experts can bring experiences, knowledge and mentoring, while novices and those outside the discipline can bring fresh and questioning perspectives into the mix (Eardley & Uden, 2011). In addition, the “many-tomany” aspect of social media has the capacity to speed up knowledge creation and shape research direction. Social media use in research is compatible with an action research/action learning approach. Quality assurance of knowledge: Social media provides opportunities for reviewing, commenting and discussing that can be transparent, open, and widely available. Such feedback can be received at any stage in the research process to strengthen research methodologies, findings and arguments and to enable timely changes or correction if required. Dissemination of knowledge: A goal of research is to make findings known so as to advance understanding in its field. Social media has the capacity to achieve this more broadly than any traditional publishing channels (Ross & Collier, 2012). Numerous questions can surround this step in the research process such as timing, channel, intellectual property, audience and writing styles (Cann, et al., 2011). For this reason considerations must be given on a case-by-case basis before adopting social media to publish research findings. This last phase in the research cycle closes the loop and feeds back into the first step; that is, what is disseminated and can be found by other researchers in their “identification of knowledge” step.

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTION IN RESEARCH Appropriate adoption of social media can significantly enrich and enhance the research experience in a number of ways. Currency and accessibility are among the greatest benefits afforded by social media. Due to the lag time between author submission, peer review and publication of printed materials, paper-based books and journals cannot provide the same up-to-date information that can be accessed using social media tools which can be written then published instantly, enabling access to very current information. The need to access information on contemporary trends and developments is especially strong in some disciplines, including the fields of technology and science. Social media tools, such as forums (a place for online discussions that are grouped by topic with conversations threaded together) and lifestreams (continually updated stream of information generated by social networking sites like Facebook, blogs or microblogs like Twitter) provide the opportunity for an instant response to questions as they arise. It was identified early in the Project that many of the areas that needed to be investigated were less like traditional research and more like business market research that interacts with a broader community to see what they think and do (Lindner, 2011). During the developmental phase of our project online forums and blogs were used to rapidly canvas opinion on design 5

Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford questions and technical solutions. The ability to access the latest ways of thinking about social media and to trial new and different tools also proved invaluable. As social media utilizes the Internet’s benefit of hyperlinking, references that are often linked back to original source documents bring resources easily to the researcher’s desktop. Social media creates opportunities to extend networks. Finding people with similar interests who are centred around a “social object” (Engestrom, 2005) can quickly bring the researcher into contact with previously unknown individuals or groups from the other side of the world or from their own backyard. Networks can soon be established and grow through the capacity to share contacts or via many-to-many discussions. Project networks were particularly extended with regard to education resources for medical students. These networks were located within the higher education sector in the UK and proved to be a rich source of information that helped shape the Project. They would not have been established without the use of social media. Social media allows access to experts, tools and exemplars. Social media not only provides an important pathway to experts in the field, but also allows a plethora of ready access and easy-to-use tools which present information and communication in appealing ways. High quality and user-friendly tools have also resulted in a rise in uptake of social media for sharing, communicating, collaborating and publishing (Hansen, et al., 2011). To inform the development of our pilot site, the Project researchers sampled a range of existing digital environments. This provided an opportunity to experience different social media sites, use a number of web-tools and form an opinion on what worked and what did not. We were also able to examine the extent to which users engaged with the sites and tools. The voices of experts in social media design, use and implementation were readily accessible through their blogs. Adoption of social media facilitates collaboration and seeking the “wisdom of the crowd”, where the aggregated opinion of the masses who voice their thoughts via social media is likely to bring forth a common view or reveal facts. All forms of social media have the potential for collaboration, be it via lifestreams, commenting, group discussions or forums, co-authoring, synchronous chat, Web conferencing, shared whiteboards and more. The Project used GoogleDocs and DropBox for the co-creation and sharing of documents, a wiki to support project management, planning and collaborative authorship, and online chat, group discussions, Web and teleconferencing as platforms for communication among the Project management groups. Social media provided a mechanism for Project members to problem solve, evaluate, seek opinions of others and subsequent project review. The “crowd” can be helpful for fact checking as well (Lasica, 2009). For the Project, the crowd spoke most informatively in the area of implementation of social media into the enterprise setting. Social media responds to the needs of a continually changing environment and as such is highly dynamic (Hansen, et al., 2011). The Project gained inspiration from this continually changing environment for the pilot site design where flexibility and member control were intrinsic to its framework. All members were granted permission to upload their own resources, create and belong to groups, create discussion topics and to comment. It also benefited from engagement with different social media which provided the Project management groups with insights into the experiences of future digital habitat users. Forums, 6

Developing a New Literacy: Using Social Media To Support Research both within sites and external to them, and commenting facilities within sites, were mechanisms that enabled access to the public voice which was readily exercised when they were either happy or unhappy with the way a site worked. Collaborative documentation of UK higher education research was continually updated on a wiki and provided a clear picture of user preferences (JISC & HEA, 2011). Adoption of social media brings to research a new publishing paradigm. Traditional scholarly publishing is increasingly incorporating e-publishing with social media which allows for social interactions and discussions that can lead to richer meaning (Research Information Network (RIN), 2010, p. 15). This results in publications reaching a wider audience. Generally, publishing via social media channels or open e-publishing via the Web is freely and immediately accessible without requirements for subscriptions. In some cases, registration on a site or a small payment is required to download resources. Sharing research via e-publishing or social media has the capacity to provide opportunities for strategic partnering and the establishment of new collaborations to further advance the research. Some examples of social media tools that facilitate sharing research include wikis (e.g. wikispaces), blogs (e.g. Blogger), presentation sharing (e.g. Slideshare, Prezi), video sharing (e.g. Vimeo, YouTube), lifestreams (e.g. Twitter, Facebook).

CHALLENGES IN USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR RESEARCH Using social media to support research is not without potential hazards. Due to the nature of online resources and social media, anyone can have a voice and identities cannot always be assured. For instance, literature in Wikipedia may lack strict bibliographic control, and therefore basic information such as author, publication date or publishing body may not be easily discerned. Researchers who wish to harness the benefits offered, need to apply strong evaluation criteria to ensure that quality, reliable resources and information are contributing to their research efforts (Cann, et al., 2011, p. 12). Table 1 outlines issues that need to be considered when using social media to support research. These challenges were identified throughout the research process of the Digital Habitat Project and strategies were developed for meeting them. These strategies are explored below. Table 1 - Challenges in Using Social Media for Research How do researchers assess:

How do researchers:

Quality and reliability of sources (sites);

Find social media sources that might be useful;

Quality and reliability of information;

Deal with mash-ups and inadequate referencing;

Reputation of contributors and authors;

Sort the wheat from the chaff where both come together;

Can researchers:

Be informed by a “common view” that is unable to have its source validated adequately; Overcome negative perceptions of social media.

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Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford Currency of information.

Deal with information overload; Learn to apply filters to keep out the noise and focus on the important; Establish trusted networks; Manage and protect against technology fatigue; Protect and build reputations (of the researcher, project and institution).

DEVELOPING A NEW LITERACY Just as there are literacies to competently engage with language, maths, computers and information generally, there is a literacy that is needed to competently navigate the social media space to support research. Many criteria that are used to evaluate information when conducting traditional and internet literature searches equally apply to using social media to support the research process. Additional criteria that should be considered will be explored further below. Finding useful social media sources require experimentation and intuitive searching. Systematic searching that can be replicated, as is associated with rigorous academic processes, are not so readily applied to searching social media as the sites do not apply approaches to describing themselves in ways that are consistent from one site to the next. Although quality social media sites can be found in most areas of research, these sources are disparate as there is no single place to go for reliable contents (such as an academic library), resulting in a need for the researcher to search in many places and ways. The researcher should look for social media sites that are active, present professionally and contain information and contributions that appear to be valid. Generally it can be expected that a reliable site will predominately attract credible commenters and members. Exploration of a site may reveal recommendations to other sites and interesting links. Use of social citation software (e.g. Zotero) or bookmarking tools along the way will capture interesting sites for exploration at a later date and will combat distraction and information overload. References will be found to other sites that have previously been visited and a sense of some key people and sites will begin to emerge. Many highly regarded institutions, organisations, projects and opinion-makers communicate regularly and significantly through social media; for example the Australian Broadcasting Commission utilise all avenues of social media to engage the public in discussion on topical issues with very strong adoption rates (Australian Broadcasting Commission, 2012), Amnesty International Australia (2012), the Australian Department of Health and Aging (2012) with its blog for rural doctors; and the University of Tasmania uses a blog to communicate library news (University of Tasmania, 2012). 8

Developing a New Literacy: Using Social Media To Support Research Assessing the quality and reliability of information is paramount when it is to be used for research purposes. Before trusting information found on a site, ensure you assess the quality and reliability of the contributors/authors, the actual site and the specific information it contains. Information about the website where the information is hosted needs to explored. For example, is the site biased or commercial in origin? What is the site’s purpose, who does it belong to, and what are their credentials? How long has the site existed, who is referring to it, and is it professionally organised? Is there a team of people who manage the site; are they paid staff or volunteers? Is there a capacity to communicate with the site (contact details provided)? Do the moderators have a noticeable voice and do they respond to users? How active is the site (e.g. dates, quality and quantity)? There can be numerous contributors to social media so a way needs to be found to sort the wheat from the chaff. Is there an identifiable author or has a pseudonym been used? What can you learn about an author? Consider issues such as their reputation, affiliations, publishing/contribution history, their public profile and what else they are saying. This will often be revealed by other social media sites or found on websites (which in turn need to be parsed for reliability). It is not feasible to check the authority or credibility of all contributors but often you will find that the “wisdom of the crowd” can perform the role of filtering. In some instances the voice of the crowd can direct research. It was found to be a valuable guide for the Digital Habitat Project researchers, identifying new areas for exploration. The Project additionally found that where a trusted contributor made reference to another source, this contributed to the validation of that source’s authority. Finally, the quality and reliability of the resources uncovered through social media depends on the information itself. Is there any sign of bias, does the information includes different perspectives/points of view from other reliable sources, is the context revealed, is there any indication of process stages relative to the information presented, if so where in the process does the information sit- are there later or earlier versions or progressions that should be considered, if the source is a mash-up or re-purposed (using an existing work and adapting it for another purpose), can you find the relevant original sources to verify and evaluate, does the content ring true, is the information presented in a professional, intelligent manner, does the writing style (e.g. formal or informal) give clues to its authority or stage in a development process (e.g. ideas being tossed around or a well-rounded presentation), do other reliable people in other reliable places support the same point of view, are there traceable references? Once suitable sites are found, the researcher can consider establishing, managing and contributing to trusted networks. Finding suitable networks takes time, surfing and exploration. One does not need to immediately engage actively with a site. Lave and Wenger (1991, p. 89) refer to “legitimate peripheral participation” which give permission to be a passive participant in a group whilst observing the activity and forming an opinion as to the suitability of the group to meet one’s own needs. This is referred to by others as “lurking” (Kollock, 1999). After a reliable social media site has been found and the terms and conditions and privacy statements have been determined to be acceptable, the researcher can start to engage with the contributors, respond to their contributions and share their own ideas and information. Often, conversations can be tracked by subscribing to an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication), which is a continual stream of updated information from blogs or other updatable information sources, or email alerts to provide updates. It is common with networks 9

Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford built through social media, for communication to be between unfamiliar people. Therefore, contributions should be made in a manner similar to communication with a member of the public. Once something is contributed on the internet it can be there forever. Information overload can quickly become a problem so it is necessary to apply filters to manage this. Once useful, trusted sites have been found and networks established with others site contributors, there are great benefits to be gained from each person’s contribution to information filtering. Common evaluation approaches for social media content are recommendations, ratings, comments and online discussions (Research Information Network (RIN), 2010). These mechanisms can save much reading time and help researchers keep up with debate and innovation within their area(s) of interest. Filters may also be applied using lifestreams (e.g. social networking sites like Facebook, blogs and microblogs (a blog that has a limit to the number of characters in a posting (Twitter 140 characters) and commonly comprise short sentences, URLs or individual images) that can be brought to your desktop in real time via RSS, email or aggregators (tools that brings together a reader’s subscribed streams to into one place from services such as social networking sites, blogs and microblogs, thus negating the need to go to individual sites to monitor activity). It is desirable to maintain a varied diet of social media sources and a wide exposure to different views. It is, however, useful to know one’s own limitations with regards to what can be managed, and to unsubscribe when a subscribed discussion or feed (e.g. RSS blog feed) proves to be more trouble than it is worth. Often there are settings that accompany your registration where you can determine the conditions that will trigger email notifications. Researchers can ask simple questions of their networks or engage in dialogue to help shape their understandings. Some sites have functions to establish groups or forums which allow the creation of topical discussion threads that can focus on a specific subject. Personal information management is also an important part of the filtering process. Social citation software can capture a site or page on-the-fly, add notes, tags and allow the researcher to review it at a later stage without interrupting workflow. The Project used Zotero for this purpose which was found to be invaluable, particularly in the initial stages where many links that were clicked proved relevant and interesting. Time must be devoted to explore, evaluate, learn, adapt and incorporate the new practices into one’s workflow. As the use of new technologies increases, capacity and willingness to try new ones may likewise increase. For those who are less willing to engage with new social media, peer-to-peer sharing of experiences, education around its use, benefits and pitfalls, as well as development of a basic social media literacy can encourage future openness to social media possibilities. However, technology fatigue is a risk that needs to be personally recognised and managed. Often these collaborative spaces are entered as a group so technology fatigue of group members and fitness for purpose should be considered before recommending adoption of a social media tool. Social media adoption can help raise the profile of a researcher, a project, an idea and an institution and has the capacity to expand marketing possibilities for researchers free of charge. Social networking tools enable profiling; videos can help draw the public awareness to issues and activities; blogs have the capacity to reveal personalities and ways of thinking that formal profiling channels do no permit. In the main, people using social media can detect the disingenuous and “spin”, and anything other than an honest presentation will generally not 10

Developing a New Literacy: Using Social Media To Support Research be received well. Conversely, when one honestly reveals something of themself and their personality, it is more often valued and respected and can lead to establishing and nurturing trusted relationships. Building and maintaining relationships are a central tenet of engagement with social media, second only to the “social object” (Engestrom, 2005) that brings people together. The negative potential of social media should also be recognised, given there is no control over criticisms and what is being communicated. Some perceived issues around social networking are privacy, banality and encroachment into personal life (Cann, et al., 2011, p. 11). These perceptions can be overcome when people are educated with regards to the use of social media. Lastly, careful consideration of possible implications must be given before integrating research using social media with traditional research methods. Social media platforms are commonly hosted on the cloud (unknown servers remote from the client, used for storage of computer applications or data which are commonly accessed by a Web browser).It is necessary to be aware of terms and conditions of such sites and what you are agreeing to before using them. Generally, registration is required before commenting or contributing, and at that point terms and conditions and privacy statements should be read. Some cloud-based services terms declare they own copyright over everything on their site or other such undesirable statements. Researchers should also be aware that some sites may sell on their private information for marketing purposes. Researchers should also consider who will own their output. It will not always be the researcher - it could be their workplace, their funder or shared with a collaborator to name a few possibilities. Where it is considered desirable to publish in traditional literature, researchers should examine potential publishers’ copyright conditions and look for conditions that allow for sharing and widening of distribution; for instance, publishers who also allow researchers to publish on their own or institutional website or repository. The researcher should be aware of embargos and conditions that may be placed on work prior to and following publication in traditional literature so as to ensure there is no breach of any copyright agreements. Academic journals or any branded publication series bring a reputation to works that are contained within. When publishing final works on the open Web it is good to incorporate institutional and other valued affiliations in order to add credibility to your work.

CONCLUSION This chapter has proposed the need for a new literacy when using social media to support research. It explored the ways in which social media could be used to assist in the four stages of the research cycle (Cann, et al., 2011). Social media responds to the increasing need for continually up-dated information sharing and immediacy in communication and collaboration and also brings other benefits; however, social media use does not come without its challenges. As with learning the craft of researching, harnessing the power of social media requires practice, trial, error and persistence in order to bring an eventual reward. It is hoped that the suggestions given in this chapter will encourage researchers to open their minds to the possibilities afforded by social media research, and be prepared to devote time to learn how best to use them. With careful consideration and appropriate adoption, social media can help 11

Debbie Fabian, Si Fan and Jan Radford bring about a new research paradigm with opportunities that transcend those available through traditional research processes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to thank Emily Mauldon for her invaluable support.

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Developing a New Literacy: Using Social Media To Support Research Lindner, J. (2011). Enterprise 2.0 Manager Requirements. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/nsightresearch/requirements-e20-manager Macnamara, J. (2010). The 21st media (r)evolution: Emergent communication practices. New York: Peter Lang. Priem, J., & Hemminger, B. M. (2010). Scientometrics 2.0: Toward new metrics of scholarly impact on the social Web. First Monday, 15(7). Research Information Network (RIN). (2010). Quality assurance and assessment of scholarly research: A guide for researchers, academic administrators and librarians. Ross, M., & Collier, S. (2012). The complete guide to self-publishing: Everything you need to know to write, publish, promote and sell your own book (5th ed.). Sean Mahoney: DK Publishing. Toffler, A. (2003). The Third Wave, 1980 The Ultimate Business Library: Wiley. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/wileyultbuslib/alvin_toffler_the_third_wave_1980. University of Tasmania. (2012). UTAS library news. Retrieved from http://www.utas.edu.au/library/

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