Scholars, known to be rather conventional in their methods of carrying out research or teaching are at a rather impressive rate adapting and adopting to the use of social media technologies in their day-to-day professional affairs. As would happen with other professionals, scholars have found that social media technologies are advantageous in their line of work albeit with some limitations.
Research on a small but very heterogeneous group of scholars was carried out. Interviews as a qualitative research method was used to collect the data. As part of their analysis process, the researchers [Kathleen Staves et al] used a quantitative data analysis software and thereafter analysed their finding further based on a relatively new research model known as UTAUT - Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. This attempts to understand why people are likely to adopt and use a particular information technology.
A number of reasons arose for the use of social media. They [the scholars] said that social media facilitates the collaboration and communication among peers especially if they are international because they are able to keep in touch with current contacts as well as create new contacts and networks. Interestingly, just like we [Students of the course DM2572] they are able to keep up to date with current research through writing their own blogs and reading other people's blogs. The blogs, they say provide a platform for them to easily disseminate information and create a web presence for themselves. They are also able to find peers who share common research interests. Studies showed that the most used SMTs [Social Media Technologies] for this purpose were Wiki’s and blogs, although the scholars also depended on other non-academic sites like Facebook to keep in touch with peers and build new networks.
This notable assumption of SMTs among scholars has come as a result of the convenience that comes with using social media tools. Most respondents in the study were computer savvy and had no complaints about using these new tools. In addition, it was noted that the general public [peers, students and friends] heavily relies on social media and the resulting social influence has led the intellectuals to explore social media.
Undoubtedly, keeping up with these SMTs comes at a cost. Many scholars noted that it’s very time consuming to maintain all their different social networking tools even with the coming of age of technologies that are able to integrate the different tools and merge them all to have one central updating and monitoring site. This of course hinders them from exploring the full potential of the tools because of lack of adequate time to make use of them. It was also highlighted that maintaining a blog, like most scholars did, is very time consuming. It requires a lot of reading. Over and above that, for the blog to be successful, the articles must be focused and posts must be constant. This is definitely a point for us all to learn from.
This article is from the journal: Computers in Human Behaviour. It is published by Elsevier and has an impact factor of 2.293. Its focus is mainly on human interaction with computers. The focus is put mainly on the study of use of computers from a psychological point of view with special emphasis on the psychological effects on cases such as human development, learning, cognition, personality and social interaction.
___
Bertrand Russell, in his book The Problems of Philosophy refers to sense-data as things that are already immediately known to the senses such as smell, sounds, colours etc. and that a sensation is the experience of already being aware of these things. He clearly distinguishes between a proposition and statement of fact saying that the former highlights the possibilities of a state of affairs to be verified while the latter is a description of the state of affairs.
Russell defines “definite description” solely based on the particle “the” with the notion that it is used to refer to something/an object previously known to the person. It relies on prior knowledge which is what he refers to as “acquaintance knowledge”.
Erroneous truths lead to erroneous beliefs and as a result erroneous knowledge. Russell explains that there are theoretically two ways to know about facts: by means of judgement and means of acquaintance. The latter is not always possible but is usually the best means of coming to a conclusion. Additionally, errors can result from separating constituents of complex facts in the process of analysing them. Therefore the process of reasoning is very important and must be very carefully and tactfully carried out. He holds that the premises [of an argument] must not only be true, but must also be known. Therefore conclusions [deductions] must always follow the premises stated in the process of reasoning.
