As an academic librarian, I’ve been trying to get a handle on the emerging parameters of social scholarship. This is the practice of scholarship in which the use of social tools is an integral part of the research and publishing process. The process gains a number of characteristics, including openness, conversation, collaboration, access, sharing and transparent revision.
In this entry, I’m going to paint an idealized picture of this process, gathering together both observations and speculations. I’m not suggesting that any one individual would do all of these things. I’m just looking at the options – or better yet, the opportunities. This list is by no means comprehensive, but rather a starting point toward considering practices of scholarship that reflect a 2.0 social mindset and make use of 2.0 social tools.