Module 2: Digitalisation in Research

Communicating your research

Jana Lasser

TU Graz & CSH Vienna

2022-12-16

Why should you communicate your research?

Creating impact

Getting feedback

Promoting yourself to further your career

To whom should you communicate your research?

Creating impact → media, public stakeholders

Getting feedback → researchers, public stakeholders

Promoting yourself to further your career → researchers

Twitter (and Mastodon) allow you to reach all these audiences on one platform.

The anatomy of a Twitter profile

The anatomy of a Twitter profile

The anatomy of a Twitter profile

The anatomy of a Twitter profile

The anatomy of a Twitter profile

A random selection of great researcher's profiles

A random selection of great researcher's profiles

A random selection of great researcher's profiles

Other platforms: Google Scholar

Other platforms: ORCID

Other platforms: ResearchGate

Other platforms: LinkedIn

Summary: other platforms

Google scholar: planning to stay in academia? This is a must-have. Set it up such that you have to approve of new article entries.

ORCID: Gives you a persistent ID. You should have at least an account and associate it with all your publications.

ResearchGate: Gives you a lot of control over how you present your projects. If you don't have a personal website, consider using this.

LinkedIn: Planning to switch to industry or doing speaking engagements there? Then you should consider setting up an account.

Exercise [10 min]

If you don't have one already: make an account on Twitter. Fill your Twitter account with your personal information. If you really don't want to use Twitter: use the time to either set up or update one of your Google Scholar / ORCID / ResearchGate or LinkedIn profile.

Science communication on Twitter

– a thread

Image source: https://t.co/tKE3KNkpDX?amp=1

But what about actual content?

Content depends on the audience you are adressing.

Researchers: Relate to other work, mention the contribution to the field, raise potential further research questions.

Media: Why is this relevant right now? Does it solve any problems? Is there a relatable story you could tell?

General public: How does your research relate to everyday life? Is there an action you want to elicit? Do you seek feedback or input?

How to create a Twitter thread

How to create a Twitter thread

How to create a Twitter thread

How to create a Twitter thread

Services around Twitter threads

Scheduling threads: www.oneupapp.io

Creating mockup tweets: www.tweetgen.com

Exercise [30 min]

Do one of the following

Pick a paper or preprint you wrote, think about an audience you want to address and write an engaging Twitter thread about it.

Pick a paper you recently enjoyed reading and review it in a Twitter thread addressing a researcher audience.