playful, serious, and risky serendipity: social media as engaged spaces for research

Playful, serious, and risky serendipity: Social

media as engaged spaces for research

Paul PrinslooUniversity of South Africa (Unisa)

@14prinsp

Presentation at the University of South Africa (Unisa) Young Academics Programme, Thursday 27 July,

Pretoria, South Africa

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/lost-found-lost-and-found-searching-1605501/

I do not own the copyright of any of the images in this presentation. I therefore acknowledge the original

copyright and licensing regime of every image used.

This presentation (excluding the images) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0

International License

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/art-perspective-statue-1851439/

These slides reflect my own personal sensemaking of living online as scholar and researcher – getting lost, being found, of finding, the

constant fear of missing out, the constant precarity of being watched and my data harvested and stolen,

and constantly (re) considering value: risk

Overview of the presentation

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1. Playful, serious and risky2. Understanding/mapping serendipity3. Considerations re managing for serendipity in

networked environments4. A personal social media journey5. Pointers for engaging with social media as

spaces for serendipitous play/engagement

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/festival-tokyo-wheel-ferris-1943592/

Living online as scholar means to get used to, enjoy and manage the noise, the unplanned serendipitous insights, the view(s), the selfies, the cats, the recipes, the insights, fake news, and increasing despair

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/the-strategy-win-champion-1080536/

Living online as scholar also means to be constantly peer reviewed, in public, having your views questioned and tested, and testing and contesting the views of others

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/balance-high-ropes-about-new-york-2051565/

Living online as scholar also means take risks and negotiating the impact of your race, your gender, your geopolitical location

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How do we understand ‘serendipity’ in the life of an [online] scholar?

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/37527185@N05/25288139995

• Being at the right place, with the right people but at the wrong time

• Being at the right time, with the right people but at the wrong place

• Being at the right place, at the right time, with the wrong people

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/feet-footwear-man-outdoors-person-1845598/

Serendipity? In the nexus of place, people, time and …

Being at the right place, at the right time, with the right people – and being ready

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/feet-barefoot-foot-ten-shoes-2138928/

Image credit: http://thoughtleadershipleverage.com/a-good-strategy-incorporates-a-dose-of-serendipity/

What does ‘serendipity’ look like in the life of an (online) scholar?

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/airplane-crash-accident-aircraft-413697/

“For many of us a plan is comforting, it makes us feel as if we are in control, and for the most part that’s true. However, acknowledging that chance and circumstances beyond our control often do play a part in our success allows us to open our eyes to more opportunities whether we planned for them or not”

Peter Winnick(http://thoughtleadershipleverage.com/a-good-strategy-incorporates-a-dose-of-serendipity/)

Source credit: http://www.academia.edu/522188/Managing_for_serendipity

“Too many people focus on managing knowledge rather than managing the channels through which the knowledge flows. Just connecting or linking people can be a major knowledge

management activity” (emphasis added)

Source credit: http://www.economist.com/node/16638391

“First, approach the right people (they call this “access”). Second, get the right people to approach you (attraction). Finally, use these relationships to do things better and faster (achievement)”

Source credit: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14241277.2017.1308947

“Serendipity can be conceptualized via three aspects: it requires preparedness, openness to new directions and opportunities, and a willingness to question and challenge existing ways of thinking that will pave the way to innovation” (p. 5; emphasis added)

2/“Thus understood, serendipity is not just a chain of surprising

events, but also a consequence of determined and practical efforts of an individual or a group of individuals to create something new and useful. It follows from this understanding that serendipity is approached as a phenomenon that can be systematically controlled, developed, and managed in organizations” (p. 5; emphasis added)

“The management of organizational serendipity is an inherently complicated and contradictory idea. Instead, the focus should be on managing for serendipity, for example, on managing people with a view to promoting conditions and opportunities for serendipity” (p. 14; emphasis added)

Source credit: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14241277.2017.1308947

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/tree-root-moss-overgrown-green-2266626/

Some considerations re managing for serendipity in networked environments

Overlay image credit: http://site.sharespot.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/conectados-redes-sociais.png

Networks do not only include but also exclude

While not everyone is included/connected, everyone is affected

See Castells, M. (2009) Communication power .Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/locked/

Serendipity in traditional networks

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ontario_Historical_Society,_Ottawa,_1914.jpg

• Old (white) boys networks, glass ceilings• Disciplinary connections/gatekeeping/journals• Institutional reputation and networks• Legacy privileges/drawbacks – race, gender, class,

country of birth• The role of individual reputation (as result of the

previous three)• Social gatherings (by invitation only), conferences

(depending on funding and gatekeeping)• Water fountain meetings, cafeteria discussions, bus and

train conversations

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_car_accident_blur.jpg

Serendipity in hybrid and online networks

Image credit: https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5526/31199889591_5a85eb5f5d_z.jpg

Source credit: http://interactioninstitute.org/moving-from-inclusion-to-collaborative-solidarity/

Serendipity in hybrid and online networks

• All the factors of the traditional networks are often amplified in hybrid and online networks

• Social media - Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Linkedin, etc.• Recognise/nurture weak and strong connections – don’t

underestimate the serendipitous weak connection• Beware of ‘filter bubbles’

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/isolation-education-no-time-2365544/

Connect to the “Connectors”: The “Connectors” have the ability to span different worlds which is a combination of their personality, curiosity, self-confidence, sociability and energy These people not only have feet in different worlds, but the ability to bring these worlds together (Gladwell 2000, pp. 49-51).

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/man-strange-male-funny-face-794514/

Connect to “mavens” – a Yiddish word for someone who

accumulates knowledge (Gladwell, 2000, p. 60).Mavens are

“information brokers, sharing and trading in what they know” and

“data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue:

they spread it” (Gladwell, 2000p. 70).

Source credit: http://interactioninstitute.org/moving-from-inclusion-to-collaborative-solidarity/

Where serendipity happens

A personal social media journey as scholar – three resources and reflections

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/boards-height-balance-2040575/

Source credit: https://www.slideshare.net/prinsp/mapping-and-managing-my-scholarly-digital-identity-the-effort-the-dividends-the-risks-and-the-unknown

Resource 1

Source credit: https://www.slideshare.net/bonstewart/education-in-abundance-network-literacies-learning?qid=edf4a92b-23cd-413a-894f-a3eb0889ba81&v=&b=&from_search=6

Resource 2

Goodier, S., & Czerniewicz, L. (2015). Academics' online presence: a four-step guide to taking control of your

visibility. [Third edition]

Retrieved from http://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/2652/GoodierOnlinePresenceV3.pdf?sequence=11

Resource 3

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/traces-snow-snow-lane-footprints-69808/

Our digital footprints….

The (un)informed and (un)intentional,(non)actions we take

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/shadows-jogging-footprints-evening-183121/

Our digital shadows….

Content that are collected from us (by other human and non-human actors) and that are stored, analysed, combined with other sources of information (including our digital footprints) to compile digital dossiers

So, how do you use social media, and if not, why not?

Some scholars say that Twitter ‘does not work’ for them…

This reminds me of walking into a library and expecting books to find you

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/books-door-entrance-italy-colors-1655783/

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/books-door-entrance-italy-colors-1655783/Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/ant-shadow-big-small-metaphor-1541524/

Using Twitter as scholar requires effort, dedication, a careful selection of who to follow, a willingness

to be surprised, and dealing with an abundance of stimulation

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/nacelle-workers-wall-city-work-1888587/

The increasing disappearance of public/private/professional/personal

Using Facebook as scholar…

The art of curation…

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/sculpture-bronze-the-listening-2275202/

The art/craft of curation firstly involves learning to listen

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/bench-man-back-view-sorrow-pond-889222/

Curation means to be an audience, to take time to be an audience, to care enough to be

an audience

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Curation also means to carefully amplify, to share, to highlight, to call attention to…

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/adult-artists-audience-band-1836322/

Curation also means to support, to carry, to applaud, to care…

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Argentina_road_sign_R7.svg

Critical and ethical curation also means to know when not to share, not to repeat, not to amplify

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/autumn-leaves-forest-floor-boards-2073388/

Some pointers for engaging with social media as spaces for serendipitous play/engagement

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MPOTY_2014_Social_media_opens_doors_for_meeting_new_people.jpg

On the internet, everyone knows you are a dog

Pointer 1

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/doors-choices-choose-open-decision-1587329/

Central to our strategy to take (more conscious) control of our digital footprints and shadows is the need to understand the choices we have, the (sometimes irrational) reasons why we

choose specific options, the downstream effects of our choices and the choices we don’t have

Pointer 2

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/window-dark-old-opinions-shadows-2387518/

Going ‘dark’ or ‘offline’ is increasingly impossible. For a scholar, going ‘dark’ is not really an option.

We need to understand what is (not) in our control , the (ir)rationality of our choices, the

(un)foreseen downstream use of our data

Pointer 3

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/prey-hunt-bird-sparrow-nature-cat-244070/

Weighing the opportunities with the risks; weighing the

abundance with the peril

Pointer 4

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Serious serendipity

Pointer 5

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Playful serendipity

Pointer 6

(In)conclusion

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Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/empty-abandoned-messy-grunge-scene-863118/

Thank you

Paul Prinsloo Research Professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL)College of Economic and Management Sciences, Office number 3-15, Club 1, Hazelwood, P O Box 392Unisa, 0003, Republic of South Africa

T: +27 (0) 12 433 4719 (office)T: +27 (0) 82 3954 113 (mobile)

prinsp@unisa.ac.za Skype: paul.prinsloo59

Personal blog: http://opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.com

Twitter profile: @14prinsp

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