PhD

23 Things and Social Media

23 things is a new online course run by the Researcher Development Porgramme (RDP) at the University of Surrey. The course is a 10 week course designed to expose researchers to the digital tools available online to increase the visibility and reach of their research and personal brand as well as being a useful resource.

In week one I’ve been asked to write a short piece about my experiences with social media, so I’ve decided to do what I do best and make a list! There is an endless wealth of interesting social media sources for researches, but I’m going to pick out the ones I find most interesting:

Twitter

I don’t think I’ve quite found my twitter niche yet, but when I do use twitter for research it’s primarily using the hugely popular “#phdchat” hashtag. For Surrey researches it’s also worth noting the “#surreyphdchat” hashtag which is still desperately trying to catch on.

YouTube

I am slightly obsessed with YouTube channels that give me a new perspective on the world. Anything that makes me think about something in a new way, or learn something new is alright in my book. Here are my favourites:

  • Veritasium – Excellent exploration of the science all around us
  • CrashCourse – Crash courses in a widening range of topics from World History, Chemistry, Astronomy, Psychology and more.
  • Film Riot – For my research based in the broadcast industry, this is a fascinating (and funny) insight into the indie-filmmaker world
  • Google ATAP – Google’s new Computer Vision project looking at augmented reality on smartphones
  • In59seconds – Interesting psychology concepts explained in 1 minute
  • Numberphile – Maths like you’ve never seen it before!
  • SmarterEveryDay – One guy’s quest to learn something new every day
  • The Royal Institution – Talks at the Royal Institute on lots of STEM subjects, well known for the annual Christmas Lectures
  •  Tom Scott – Geeky things you might not know
  • Computerphile – From how a computer works to virtual reality headsets
  • Vihart – Fun with maths
  • Vsauce – Great use of words to make any subject fascinating

Facebook

I haven’t yet found any groups for research on Facebook, but it’s great for asking people to fill out a survey!

 

until next week,

Charles