Social Media and Scholarship: From Reactive to Proactive Margarita Mooney University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dept.of Sociology Talk given to the School of Information and Library Science March 2, 2011

Scholarship as a Process 1. Research 2. Publications 3. Dissemination and Dialogue 4. New Questions Social Media

Diverse Ways of Communicating Scholarship to Multiple Audiences Books and Journal Articles Author-Meets-Critics Panels Returning to Fieldsites Newspapers, Magazines, Internet and Social Media – Margarita Mooney’s HomepageHomepage – Website for Faith Makes us LiveFaith Makes us Live – Margarita Mooney’s Professional BlogBlog – Facebook for friends and colleagues Facebook – Twitter

Haitian Earthquake of 2010 Opportunity: Broad interest in scholarship, provided scholars communicate knowledge in diverse ways Challenges Communicating a scholarly voice without jargon Making just a few main points, not endlessly complex arguments Responding to timely events in a short time frame — hours, not months!

Communicating Scholarship through the Press, Internet and Social Media Three main points that build on Faith Makes Us Live 1. Religion can be a source of resilience in the face of disaster 2. Danger of “hubris” of outsiders 3. Need to activate the agency of the poor Disseminated through: 1. 9 presentations, 8 media articles, including: 2. Miami Herald 3. Social Science Research Council’s Immanent Frame 4. Carolina Population Center’s Website

Moving Forward: Social Media and Scholarship Common Concerns Expressed about Efficiency – Learning new technology may be difficult and time-consuming. (MM: technology can save time) – Want to see subjective and objective measures of impact of social media on research process. (MM: examples from my Facebook and altmetrics) – Communicating with non-traditional audiences is not always beneficial to scholars(hip) (MM: Scholars should control the message about our topics)

Moving Forward: Strategizing and Measuring Social Media Which tools meet which goals efficiently? – “How to deal with overload?” (have a strategy) UNC Sociology /Sociology Groups on Twitter? – “Raise your hand if you are on Facebook, Twitter or blogs. How often do you post?” (need a critical mass) How can scholars get more training? (need community & resources) – Public speaking; dealing with the media – Technology training for scholarship and teaching

Thanks to: Tom Swasey and Lori Delaney (Carolina Population Center) Jason Priem (UNC School of Information and Library Science) Lynn Blanchard (Carolina Center for Public Service)