Using your blog as a research journal

This week we have a guest post from Mark Carrigan on using a blog as a research journal.  Mark works at the Centre for Social Ontology at the University of Warwick, and is a Digital Fellow at the Sociological Review.  He specialises in blogging and podcasting, and is currently working on a book Social Media for Academics so brings a great perspective on the use of social media in teaching and learning.

You can follow Mark on Twitter @mark_carrigan and view his blog (and read about his research) at http://markcarrigan.net

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Blogging is usually seen as a way to communicate finished research. However a growing number of scholars are using blogs as research journals to share every stage of the research process. This 'open source scholarship' has many advantages in terms of research and visibility. In this Prezi I consider some of these advantages and different ways in which a blog can be used as a research journal.  

https://prezi.com/5souwydtbitd/using-your-blog-as-a-research-journal/

If you’d rather read the slide text than view the presentation, you can check out the presentation text below.  

Have you used a blog for research?  Leave a comment to tell us how it worked for you.

Blogging as a researcher

·         Ensuring your research is visible (inside/outside)

·         Finding people who share your research interests

·         Building an audience for future publications

·         Faster way to get your research findings out

·         Practicing communication with non-specialist audiences

But how do you find the time?  Much easier if blogging is incorporated into your existing activity.

Blogs as Research Journals

·         Generates interest in your ongoing work

·         An open archive (useful to you and others)

·         Notes taking on a life of their own (stimulating dialogues and provoking reactions in others)

·         The more you write, the easier writing gets

·         Helps generate dialogues at each stage of the process

·         Risks? Someone might ‘steal/ your ideas but research journals establish ownership & history

·         Are the risks any greater than talking at conferences?

·         IP issues & creative commons

·         Ethical issues for those working with data

Reflecting on literature

·         Posting extracts from books, papers, chapters

·         Briefly reflecting on these extracts

·         Tagging them comprehensively and identifying emerging themes (oblique connections)

·         Conversations with others about extracts that have interested you

·         Clarifying your thoughts on the literature that you’re engaging with

·         Sharing paths into the literature and establishing your expertise

·         Deepens engagement with what your reading

Capturing ‘fringe thoughts’

·         “various ideas which may be by-products of everyday life, snatches of conversation overheard on the street, or, for that matter, dreams” – C Wright Mills

·         Enables more systematic thought (revise and review)

·         Helps “keep your inner world awake” and inculcate habit of elaborating upon your initial thoughts/feelings

·         Digital journal accessible from anywhere (acting on the ‘feel of an idea’ rather than waiting)

·         Public notebook creates pressure to spell out implications rather than idiosyncratic shorthand

·         Avoids perils of poor handwriting!

Between thought shrapnel and ‘proper’ publishing

·         Longer pieces of writing as intermediaries between blog posts and formal academic publishing

·         People like “observing ideas in motion” (Daniel Little)

·         Reflections on practice or particular substantive issue

·         Helps connect fragmented ideas and insights into networks of concepts that can be subject of paper or chapter

·         Great way to prepare for challenges (8pcoming writing, conference talks, PhD submission, lectures)

·         Risk of self-plagiarism!

Sharing ‘homeless’ work

·         Bits of writing that have been cut from papers, chapters etc

·         Lets people see things that didn’t quite fit into a formal publication

·         Opportunity for feedback on ideas that you’re still working on but aren’t happy with your current statement of them

·         Detaches the impulse to share from formal opportunities for publication

Archiving fragments

·         Natural place to collect all materials produced in the research process

·         Inculcates sharing as a habit (slides, podcasts, videocasts)

·         Living archive of your research career

·         Encourages reflexivity about what you’re doing, why you’re doing and how it all fits together

·         Facilitates an active online presence without massive investment of (additional) time

·         Makes you a better researcher.