Transcript Improving Academic Communication Patrick Dunleavy and Chris Gilson LSE Public Policy Group Investigating Academic Impacts conference 13 June 2011

Improving Academic
Communication
Patrick Dunleavy and Chris Gilson
LSE Public Policy Group
Investigating Academic Impacts conference
13 June 2011
Outline
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Academic communication as it is now
Academic blogging, and the advent of Multiauthor academic blogs (MAABs)
Using social media
Multi-author blogs at the LSE and beyond
Academic Communication as it is now
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Journal articles, conference proceedings (very
high-price) books, book reviews
Journal articles and books are read by few,
and rarely picked up by the media
The text of books and closed-web articles is
completely inaccessible to those without
journal/library access, far too long, and often
impenetrably written
Reflecting a one-way (experts only)
communications process
Academic Communication cont’d
BUT
– social scientists are observers who need to
communicate their observations to the world
(in a timely fashion)
- much of social scientists’ knowledge and
input goes unapplied because of very long
time-lines for outputs, and lack of adaptation
or translation
So how can we change or complement the
‘traditional’ model?
Academic blogging and the advent of
Multi-Author Academic Blogs (MAABs)
Academic Blogging
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Academics going online is not new
 Electronic journals began in disk/BBS format in
1980s and the first ‘Internet’ journals in the
mid 1990s
Academic blogging is different
 Shorter articles: 300 – 1,200 words
 Easy to share by email, social networks
 Searchable on the open web – could be a
teaching tool
 Whole person style – where content may be
personal as well as academic
 Instant comments and feedback
Academic Blogging, contd
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Anyone can do it – exceptionally easy software
Hosting
 Wordpress
 Blogger
 Self-hosted
 Institutional
 Hosted in mainstream media
Dissemination is immediate – seconds as
compared to years
Spectrum of offerings from stars (like Paul
Krugman) to more ordinary academic folk
Single author blogs
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Have grown massively in popularity (with
their authors) in recent years; e.g. Warwick
lists over 7,000 on their portal with over
140,000 entries
But, without frequent updates, these often
wither – 75%+ of blogs worldwide are dead
or dormant
With increasing pressure on academics and
university staff – who has the time to blog?
Single author blogs
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Content is king, and ‘vanity’ projects with infrequent
posts are counter-productive and won’t survive
Some SABs are successful in the political arena
(Guido Fawkes)
But most SABs are now either shutting down or
joining with other (more corporate) bloggers – even
in political commentary (Iain Dale)
Appetite for personal commentary/ glimpses of life
has now shifted to Twitter?
Multi-author academic blogs
(MAABs)
Multi-author academic blogs
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Multiple contributors
 Covering many topics or subjects
 Posting regularly and reliably, so that
readers know when to return
Flexible formats – from ‘Top-level’ blogs with
hundreds of authors and posting every day
(e.g. LSE’s British Politics and Policy blog)
Through to smaller MAABs for single
departments or networks, posting weekly or
bi-weekly
Comments and social media can help build a
community
Easy to track readership with Google Analytics
Multi-author blogs and social media
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Twitter/Facebook
 Promote the blog and can greatly extend its
reach and visibility
 Add interactive elements to build
community
 Encourage discussion, rapid correction and
clarifying
Multi-author blogs – style tips
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Use short paragraphs, simple language
‘Front load’ the narrative – get the key points at the
beginning
Always use narrative titles (written by the blog team,
not the author) will help content to ‘go viral’ – can you
retweet the title as it stands?
Include good introductory paragraphs (also written by
the blog team) give the gist of the argument and key
take-away messages
Don’t leave out simple, clear, charts and diagrams
Give methods information where it is needed – help
expand public understanding of academic subjects
A Creative Commons license helps content to spread
Multi-author (themed) blogs
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Work well linked to a journal (e.g. Social
Europe)
Can generate many Twitter followers (e.g.
British Politics and Policy at LSE has 4,200 in a
year, Social Europe has 10,000+)
Can make good use of podcasts, video and
other rich media elements (e.g. Social Europe)
Varied orientations e.g. The Conversation is a
newspaper, Australian Policy Online is an
indexer
Smaller multi-author (themed) blogs
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Are becoming more and more prevalent
worldwide – a few we’ve noticed in our area:
 Many at LSE – Media, International Affairs,
Africa
 Oxford – Politics in Spires
 Nottingham - Ballots and Bullets
Multi-author blogs
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The internet is not a zero-sum game, and if
many universities pitch in to better
communicate academic knowledge to wider
audiences the result should be beneficial for
all
Structural issues for MAABs
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Getting institutional buy-in is tricky:
 Coping with academics who don’t “get it” and want
to “stay long” – offer to rewrite stuff for them,
giving them final editorial control (of main text)
 Dealing with Press Office/ Communications/
External Relations and other vested interests, who
often are very slow to change and feel threatened
 DIY options – single departments/groups can run
less ambitious MAABs. But what will make folk
come back to you?
 Faculty and university-wide MAABs will probably
work best
 Collaborations between institutions and
networking can both help in assembling a critical
mass of authors
Conclusions
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Professional standards of communication are changing
in every walk-of-life and every academic discipline
Usually towards getting shorter – “Less is more”
Strong exceptions too though, like 24 hours news long
interviews, to fill the space; many webcasts and
podcasts, etc.
Main research outputs need different versions,
targeted more to segmented audiences (e.g. closedweb experts and open-web audiences)
But even these distinctions may lapse – e.g. free-toread professional journals are opening up full details
to everyone online (who’s expert enough)
And with 50% of each UK generation becoming
graduates, and universities needing alumni support,
communicating expertly to graduates is set to be more
vital