Sarah,
Lorcan sent me a private email a while back to say that my use of
"social network" in the context of repositories was likely to lead to
confusion and he is probably right.
To try and clarify, probably unsuccessfully... I am *not* suggesting
that we need to turn repositories into Facebook! I am suggesting that
if one looks at almost any successful repository-like service, whether
it is Flickr, or Slideshare, or YouTube, or arXiv, or RePEc - there is a
significant but sometimes subtle 'social' aspect to the success of the
service.
These services work because they focus on *sharing* content - both
between narrow groupings of "friends" and with a wider "global" or
semi-global audience - funnily enough, not disimmilar to the way that
research takes place.
Scholarly repositories as they currently stand, do not tend to do this
successfully - partly because of the technology focus on the OAI-PMH,
partly because of their 'institutional' rather than 'discipline' or
'global' focus (which doesn't match the social networks adopted by
researchers) and partly because of functional creep into things like
preservation and institutional RAE returns. Because repositories are
not seen as successful places to *share* content, they are not seen as
compelling - and they are not used. Our only solution - mandates :-(
Dismissing the importance of the "social" aspects of respositories on
the basis that some people don't have time to look at "social networks"
(like Facebook or whatever) therefore rather misses the point.
So, apologies for introducing some confusion... I probably need to start
using a different phrase than "social network" in the future and will
try to come up with something.
Andy
--
Head of Development, Eduserv Foundation
http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/
http://efoundations.typepad.com/
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Repositories discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Currier
> Sent: 02 May 2008 16:03
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Google, OAI and the IRs
>
> OK, I'm going to do a classic "Friday afternoon" posting here:
>
>
>
> But if not for information on repositories and similar
> services, what would people on social networks talk about ?
>
>
>
> Thanks for saying what I always think at this point in the
> conversation Les.
>
> And something additional occurs to me. For many, many
> students and researchers, online "social networks" may not be
> a time-efficient way of finding what they need. I think the
> concept of "social networks" online may become a new version
> of "old boys' network", or perhaps a new version of the
> "social capital" (bleachh, sorry for that painful term)
> enjoyed by the middle classes, enabling them to navigate the
> waters of education with ease. Or maybe it already is.
>
> For those accessing higher education whose existing social
> networks consist of (a) non-academics, (b) families with no
> interest in the internet, (c) their own children and the
> support network around child-rearing, and for those who have
> to spend a good bit of their time simply earning money to
> live while they research or learn, or paying off the debts
> they've accrued so far, or supporting families, there may not
> be much time for tutuing about online. I'm thinking of one
> person I know who is doing a PhD as a 40-something poor
> working class non-digital-native. She wants to get onto a
> research system, search in as few clicks as possible, delving
> into whatever resource she has access to via the open web or
> the university library's services, and get what she needs for
> the work she's doing. She doesn't have broadband at home and
> maybe never will. She wants to get an accurate return,
> representing the best possible match to what she's searching for.
>
> I'm sure she will eventually become part of more and more
> social networks related to her subject area and its related
> professional area. Some of these may be online. But it
> seems to me that the social networking stuff is still a huge
> luxury to most of the world, with regard to the accessibility
> (in its broadest sense) of knowledge and learning. Systems
> which at their basic level allow accurate retrieval of
> appropriate resources (e.g. repository and metadata
> management) grow out of a library tradition of making
> knowledge available. There is still work to be done on this.
> (Don't worry, I'm very aware of how social mediation also
> takes place within information management- how systems such
> as cataloguing and classification can embed human biases).
>
> I always have this suspicion that when esteemed, accomplished
> and highly intelligent colleagues such as Andy say things
> like "[...] we are focusing our attention in the wrong
> place", they are bored with dealing with metadata and
> information management, and they perceive that issues of
> "social networking" are either more interesting to them
> professionally now, or that it is a more lucrative and
> high-status area of research and development to move into.
> (Andy, I'm not implying this mercenary last option is what
> you're thinking at all!).
>
> And that's fine: it may well be that folk like my friend may
> reap hitherto un-dreamt of benefits from all this online
> social networking stuff in a few years' time- but don't
> conflate it with needing to take attention and funding away
> from the basic information infrastructure, without which, as
> Les says, we wouldn't have much to talk about in our networks.
>
> Having just read Jewel's response as well, which I am in
> agreement with: where is the funding going? Why isn't it
> going into making sure there are robust systems for open
> access to research data and learning resources,
> well-catalogued with good-quality metadata? It's just such a
> basic need in education.
>
> Please insert disclaimer about none of this being remotely
> related to Intrallect's position on these matters: purely
> some personal thoughts...
> S.
>
>
> --
>
>
> Sarah Currier
> Product Manager, Intrallect Ltd.
> http://www.intrallect.com
>
> 2nd Floor, Regent House
> Blackness Road
> Linlithgow
> EH49 7HU
> United Kingdom
>
> Tel: +44 870 234 3933
> Mob: +44 (0)7980855801
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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>
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