Impact, Media and Digital Scholarship

On Friday 5 June 2015, Anglia Ruskin University held the Annual Research Conference – Impact, Media and Digital Scholarship at Lord Ashcroft International Business School, Chelmsford, supported by jobs.ac.uk

The conference focused on three major themes that underpin 21st-century scholarly practice – research ‘impact’, ‘traditional media’ output, and engagement with digital spaces: spaces that afford greater research dissemination, networking and engagement with research communities, policy makers and the public.

Professor Simon Down introduces this year’s conference:

Alongside a series of high-level internal speakers, including Anglia Ruskin’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Mike Thorne; Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of LAIBS, Prof Gary Packham; Deputy Dean of Research and Enterprise at LAIBS, Prof Simon Down, and interim Director of the IIMP, Prof Chris Ivory, a series of superb external speakers who are leading these scholarly debates at both a national and global level were welcomed.

Prof Martin Weller (Open University) – Professor of Educational Technology; author of the book The Digital Scholar and blog The Ed Techie, and wider authority in digital scholarship.
Digital scholarship and the art of guerrilla research — The advent of digital, networked and open technologies has an impact on all aspects of scholarly practice, creating new opportunities, tensions and issues. In this talk one impact on research is considered, namely the development of new approaches to research which utilise open data, open tools, and online dissemination methods, thus bypassing much of the traditional research framework. This has been dubbed “guerrilla research” as it is often done with little or no funding and does not require permission.
Sierra Williams (LSE), Managing Editor of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) globally recognised Impact Blog, and soon to be author of new SAGE book on the theme of ‘impact’.
Digital tools and technologies are making it easier for researchers to reach wider audiences. This talk will explore how researchers can achieve impact throughout the research lifecycle, specifically looking at how academic blogging and social media use can facilitate impact and how we might begin to capture and communicate these new processes. It will explore how university platforms in particular can look to encourage bottom-up modes of research communication.
Download Sierra’s presentation.
David Burgoyne (Taylor and Francis), Head of Digital Product Management.
The growth of metrics, ‘new’ publishing models, content structures and developments in publishing infrastructures — Researchers, librarians, publishers and funders all exist in a common technological and political landscape, one that is subject to constant change. In recent years these changes have arguably been more pronounced in part due to ever rapid advances in technology. The increasing range of available metrics to calculate an article and a researcher’s impact is one visible aspect of how digital scholarship is changing, as is the development of new digital infrastructures like ORCID and FundRef on which an increasing amount of scholarly output rests and relies on. In this context we consider what the future of online publication looks like and whether it will really be any different from what has come before.
Download David’s presentation.