Academic media sites is the topic this week.
Taking stock of my current, and admittedly limited use of social media, I realise that I seem to partition the various aspects of my life into categories and applicable tool. For example, my personal life is captured by Facebook, my ‘old’ professional life by LinkedIn, and in keeping with this trend, my ‘new’ (academia) life is captured in ResearchGate and Google Scholar.
Why partition? There are a multitude of answers for that such as, tool availability (yes, old enough to know when Facebook and LinkedIn didnt exist!), tool capability, target audience, privacy, and so forth. For me however, having spent over 25 years in the business domain, means that another ‘me’, already exists in this world.
Although I suppose that a transition into my ‘new life’ on the existing social media platforms would be quite simple, I think a clear delineation between old and new seems like a natural progression for me.
Having used Google Scholar and Research Gate to find literature, stats on publications, info on researchers and ask questions specific to my research interests, I would say that these are the media sites I am most likely to spend time developing my new life profile and post any academic achievements. I was not previously aware of Academia.edu, but will spend some time exploring and becoming familiar with, as suggested, the strengths and limitations of each platform.
Partitioning may not be for everyone, but for me it seems to work.
The Ancient Learner 