The number of social networking sites available to scientists continues to grow. We are being indexed and exposed on the internet via our publications, presentations and data. We have many ways to contribute, annotate and curate, many of them as part of a growing crowdsourcing network. As one of the founders of the online ChemSpider database I was drawn into the world of social networking to participate in the discussions that were underway regarding our developing resource. As a result of my experiences in blogging, and as a result of developing collaborations and engagement with a large community of scientists, I have become very immersed in the expanding social networks for science. This presentation will provide an overview of the various types of networking and collaborative sites available to scientists and ways that I expose my scientific activities online. Many of these activities will ultimately contribute to the developing measures of me as a scientist as identified in the new world of alternative metrics.

1. @ChemConnector and personal
experiences in participating in
the expanding social networks
for science
Antony Williams
ACS Indianapolis
September 9th 2013

2. The Power of Social Media

3. The Power of Social Media

4. The Power of Blogs

5. The Power of Blogs
(from Sean Ekins, @collabchem)

6. Visibility Means Discoverability
• Q: Does a Social Profile as a scientist matter?
• You are visible, when you share your
skills, experience and research activities by:
• Establishing a public profile
• Getting on the record
• Collaborative Science
• Demonstrating a skill set
• Measured using “alternative metrics”
• Contributing to the public peer review process
• There are many ways to become “visible”

7. My entry into social media
• I was NOT a follower into the world of
social media
• I am actually this guy…
• But challenge me and I get a “little vocal”

8. Honest Questions can Disrupt…

10. Popularizing Science
Fun in the Networks

11. Learning about blogging the hard way
• ChemSpider was a “hobby project”
• Housed in a basement and running off
three servers – one bought, two built
• Sensitive to weather and power stability
• Went live at ACS Spring 2007 in Chicago

12. Me as a Monkey

13. Of course things have changed..

14. Social Networking 2007 vs 2013
• How many of you were on Facebook in 2007

15. The Names in 2013?

16. The Names in 2013?

17. My Online Profile Built on..
• Methods I have shared science online include:
• My work on Wikipedia
• My blogs
• Slideshare for presentations
• YouTube for videos
• ChemSpider for chemistry
• GoogleDocs for data
• Have an opinion, participate, step out
there, get busy, be productive, work hard and
contribute – ChemSpider, ScientistsDB etc

18. Branding: I am ChemConnector

19. Slideshare
• Slideshare to host, expose and share my
presentations, publications, posters, videos
• http://www.slideshare.net/AntonyWilliams

20. March 2013

21. Social Media Feeds Itself

22. My Online Profile Shared on..
• Places I am viewable:
• Online CVs
• LinkedIn
• Google Scholar Citations for citations
• Microsoft Academic Scholar for papers
• ImpactStory
• Plum Analytics
• Wikipedia and ScientistsDB
• Search engines

23. Re.vu/AntonyWilliams

24. https://www.vizify.com/antony-williams/

25. Blogging was a passion…
• My blog is my voice
• I communicate and engage the community
• I ask for help, share my skills, collaborate
• Blogging was my most important voice in
the social network.
• I committed to positions, have been very
honest, challenging, invested a lot of time..

26. My primary CV is on my blog

27. My primary CV is on my blog

28. Using AltMetrics on my CV

29. LinkedIn
• LinkedIn for “professionals”
• Expose work history, skills, your
professional interests, your memberships
• Who I am linked to says a lot
• Professional relationships rather than just
friendships. FaceBook-it for friends

30. LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/AntonyWilliams

31. Endorsements

32. ScientistsDB
http://tinyurl.com/7cqylsp

33. Google Scholar

34. I Manage My Publications Publicly
• My publications/slides/videos are my CV
on
• My Blog
• On LinkedIn
• On SlideShare
• On Researchgate
• On Academia.edu

35. Academia.edu

36. Academia.edu

37. Mendeley

38. Twitter
• Greatest value for me – bite-sized nuggets
into information of interest
• Lead people to information I wish to share
including my posts, my activities
• Faster responses than email commonly!

39. Sharing Science
• I became a community contributor to science
• Shared my expertise in the new world of open
• Share your Figures
• Contribute to Wikis – Wikipedia and others
• Participated in Open Notebook Science
• Build tools and platforms to support chemists
• Shared my data, curated data, helped others
• Had “some fun” along the way…

40. Popularizing Science
Fun in the Networks

41. Popularizing Science
Fun in the Networks

42. My shifting interests…
• My personal interests have shifted to
HELPING young scientists to:
• Build their profile
• Expose their science online
• Contribute to open science
• Facilitate data exchange
• Participate in crowdsourcing and contribution
• Have them understand the developing metrics

43. Scientists are “Quantified”
• We are quantified
• Stats are gathered and analyzed
• Employers can find them, tenure will depend
on them and these already happen without
your participation
• Scientists Impact Factors, H-index and many
other variants.

44. How I am Quantified…

45. How I am Quantified…

46. The Alt-Metrics Manifesto

48. PLoS Article

49. AltMetrics via Plum Analytics

50. Usage, Citations, Social Media…

51. Detailed Usage Statistics

52. Encouraging Participation with
Rewards and RECOGNITION

53. ChemSpider SyntheticPages

54. Exposure

55. Rewards and Recognition
Congratulations! Your 1st CSSP
article has been published.
Philosopher Lao Tzu said “A
journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step”. In the same
way we hope that this will be the
first of many submissions that you
make to CSSP.
The First Step badge is
awarded when a user
submits (& has published)
their 1st CSSP article.

56. Where we are now…

57. My views of the future
• “Altmetrics” is going to be big
• Scientists, and especially young scientists, can
“get in early” and build reputation
• It takes effort driven by participation…

58. • Persistent unique digital identifier
• Integrates to workflows such as
manuscript and grant submission
• Supports automated linkages with your
professional activities
Enabled by

59. My experiences in social media
• I was able to communicate AND demonstrate
my skills, expertise, passion, drive and
intention by blogging and sharing
• I have “connected” with some incredibly
collaborative people
• Like-mindedness “out there” is a great feeling
• I blog far less today than I used to…time
commitment can be very large
• “Twitter makes no sense”…until I did it
• LinkedIn is THE professional networking tool

60. Thank You
Email: williamsa@rsc.org
Twitter: ChemConnector
Personal Blog: www.chemconnector.com
SLIDES: www.slideshare.net/AntonyWilliams