Hi Emma, I think there's a lot of potential for using social and online
media in research, not only for the purposes you describe but also for
disseminating research in the context of debates on policies which affect
disabled people's lives. I've now stopped work having spent more than 20
years using research to try and influence government disability policy but
have started a blog http://jennymorrisnet.blogspot.co.uk/ . I haven't
written anything for a couple of months but am intending to return to
writing more in the autumn. Apart from being an opportunity to 'rant in
retirement' it's also an attempt to a) inject research evidence into online
activism and b) try and ensure that current policy discussions are informed
by knowledge of the past since in my experience politicians and civil
servants spend a lot of time reinventing the wheel! One recent,
non-disability, example was the media attention paid to research on children
in care - which basically repeated findings of a research project I was
involved in ten years ago. I used twitter to alert one of the journalists
to the research and she retweeted it.
I was particularly interested in your blogpost which discussed pain (and
indeed in your discussion of impairment and disability in your first
blogpost). Related to this type of discussion is the way current government
policy treats 'illness', in particular the application of the
biopsychosocial model. I've written a blogpost
http://jennymorrisnet.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_01_archive.html about this but,
if you haven't come across them, the links I give in that post to analyses
by Debbie Jolly
http://www.dpac.uk.net/2012/04/a-tale-of-two-models-disabled-people-vs-unum-
atos-government-and-disability-charities-debbie-jolly/ and Gill Thorburn
http://www.internationalgreensocialist.org/wordpress/?page_id=1716 are also
very interesting. Sue Marsh's blog, Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/ (which I'm sure you've
come across) is also of course an illustration of the impact of chronic
illness and its relationship to disability.
One example of a very effective use of social media to disseminate research
is the two Spartacus reports about the likely impact of the change from DLA
to PIP. http://wearespartacus.org.uk/ The Guardian did an interesting
article on how the dissemination of the first report 'went viral'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/17/disability-spartacus-welfare-c
uts-campaign-viral
Another way in which social media is used to disseminate research is when
websites like False Economy http://falseeconomy.org.uk/ , Touchstone
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/ , and Full Fact http://fullfact.org/
challenge government and media - often by the analysis of statistics but
sometimes also by drawing on and/or linking to published research. Though
these websites have broader interests, they do include disability. So, for
example, False Economy's blogpost on disability hatecrime
http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/disability-hate-crime drew attention to
research by Strathclyde University on how newspapers are reporting
disability.
I couldn't see Ben Baumberg's name on the list of academic tweeters -
disability is one of his research interests and he and the inequalities blog
are worth following: @BenBaumberg; http://www.benbaumberg.com/ and
http://inequalitiesblog.wordpress.com/
And finally, I'm on twitter if you want to follow me! @jennifermor Have
just followed you and look forward to reading more of your blog. And if
anyone else recommended blogs to you 'off list' in response to your inquiry,
I'd be interested to hear about them - as I'm sure would some other
subscribers.
Jenny
-----Original Message-----
From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Emma Sheppard
Sent: 26 June 2012 16:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: research & social media
Hi everyone
An earlier message mentioned Tony Nicklinson and reminded me I'd intended to
ask your collective opinions on this - what do you think about using social
and online media (blogs and twitter and so on) in research, in terms of both
disseminating research and making research accessible to non-academic
members of the disability communities.
I use twitter a lot, and I find it useful in terms of discussing activism
(and finding ways to be involved - I think saying online activism is
"slacktivism" ignores that it gives people who find traditional forms of
activism difficult/inaccessible a voice) and - more personally - in
connecting with other disabled people who share my interests. I recently
read a list of academic tweeters
(http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/02/academic-tweeters-
your-suggestions-in-full/) but noticed that only a couple listed disability
among their interests; I wonder if this is a lack of awareness or a lack of
people talking about research into disability. Or just me not following the
right people!
With blogging, I know there are blogs out there, but again, they seem to be
a minority when it comes to research/academia-focused blogs - but again, I
wonder if that's me not being able to find them, rather than them not being
there. I wonder if this could be considered a possible and useful tool in
terms of making research accessible - while I am aware that not everyone has
the access to the internet that I do in this country, or worldwide, I think
*not* using online and social media - and not doing so thoroughly - is
damaging to "the cause" (as it were) - of getting our research out there,
and getting disabled people and allies from outside the academic community
interested.
Any thoughts? Or people I should be following on twitter?
Emma
(incidentally, I am attempting to put my money where my mouth is in this,
and welcome any feedback on my own reseach blog, a tiny wee thing,
http://disabilitysexproject.wordpress.com )
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