8. Emerging Technologies & Trends

Following this session participants will be able to 

1. Understand what altmetrics, their genesis, how they fit into the larger metrics picture, and  how to explain them to researchers (particulary their qualitative, subjective nature)

2. Show patrons/faculty/researchers how to use altmetric data to support grant applications and tenure/promotion packets

3. Use altmetric interfaces like the Altmetric bookmarklet and badges on publisher sites to gather data for this applications

4. Understand the different altmetric providers, what they offer, and how to use those offerings

5. Communicate the various free and paid resources to their campus communities for the purposes of education around metrics

Institutions and researchers are facing increasing pressures from management, funders, and promotion committees to demonstrate impact and engagement beyond academia. While demonstrating this impact continues to be challenging, the growth of online scholarly communication combined with advancing technologies offer us the ability to understand the reach and impact of research in ways that were never before possible. 

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore how altmetric tools from a number of providers can be used to analyse data such as mainstream media mentions, cites in policy documents, blogs, and social media in order to garner a much richer picture of the eventual outcomes and impact of research.  The session will be focused on the data, data sources, and strategies for investigating complex impact questions.  

The session will cover the following topics and activities:

• Explanation of Altmetric data, how it is collected and how it should & should not be interpreted
• Overview of various altmetric providers, their offerings, strengths/weaknesses
• Activity to demonstrate the ways in which researchers, librarians, and research administrators can use altmetric data in work activities
• Exploration of the complex analyses done with Altmetric.com data
• Demonstration of how attendees can perform detailed and extensive analyses by making use of altmetrics
• Review different ways to integrate altmetrics into your institution’s existing platforms