Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Negotiating Doctoral Practices and Academic Identities
Through the Adoption and Use of Social and Participative
Media
Andy Coverdale
University of Nottingham, UK
ttxac20@nottingham.ac.uk
Abstract: This paper describes current doctoral research into how PhD students are using social and
participative media (web 2.0) in their academic studies. It examines the role these media can play in identityformation
and induction into academic scholarship and professional development. The highly contextualised and
situated approach of this study challenges some of the dominant discourses and idealised concepts within the
educational technology field to address the significant gap between the potential of web 2.0 and the reality of low
rates of adoption and use. The study reconciles social media adoption and use with the self-efficacy and
heterogeneity of doctoral practice. By taking an ecological approach, it recognises that doing a PhD requires the
negotiation of multiple and interrelated academic and occasionally non-academic contexts. Such an approach
legitimises doctoral practice beyond those related purely to thesis-development, and challenges models of
doctoral education defined by a trajectory of increased participation and enculturation within a single, localised
institutional research community. In addition, rather than focusing on one particular tool or platform, the study
adopts a holistic perspective to social media that recognises the multiplicity, interrelatedness and transiency of
web 2.0. The empirical research uses a small sample of social sciences, humanities and interdisciplinary PhD
students as participants. Adopting a qualitative approach and mixed-method design, data were collected through
the observation of online activities across a range of social media, participant-reported accounts, and a series of
in-depth participant interviews. Activity theory is used to support a grounded and recursive approach to analysing
participant-produced digital artefacts, field notes and interview transcripts through open coding and thick
description. From these data, an analytical framework of interrelated object-oriented activity systems was
generated with which to identify and describe shifting patterns in social media practice through key phases in the
participants’ doctoral experiences, and across a range of academic contexts. Emerging findings indicate the role
of social media in contributing to, and revealing, the tensions inherent in negotiating multiple and interrelated
practice contexts through boundary crossing and interdisciplinary activities. The study reveals how participation in
emergent online research networks and communities is enabling new forms of engagement with the research
field, often beyond the immediate scope of thesis-related work, and examines how this contributes to the act of
mapping the research field by providing additional insights into the socio-cultural infrastructure that underpins
academic discourse. It also highlights how the development of doctoral social media practices and identity
agendas are influenced by localised research cultures and often compromised by ambiguous or perceived
audiences.
Keywords: doctoral practices, social media, web 2.0
1. Introduction
This paper describes current doctoral research into how PhD students are using social and
participative media (web 2.0) as part of their academic studies. It examines how these media can
facilitate identity-formation and induction into research scholarship and professional development.
Using an activity theory-based research design, the study takes a qualitative and situated approach to
examine how PhD students adopt and use social media whilst engaging in multiple and interrelated
doctoral practices.
Academic practices are becoming increasingly orchestrated through the web, and social and
participative media (also referred to as web 2.0) are seen as enabling increased opportunities for
developing an online presence, engaging in discussion, and sharing content (Procter et al., 2010).
Social media incorporates a range of web-based tools - such as blogs, wikis and social network and
bookmarking sites – that support communicative, participatory and collaborative practices; core
values that are seen as complementary to a number of social learning models and pedagogies
(Conole, 2010). Social media and related web 2.0 practices have potentially profound implications on
research scholarship, providing new forms of academic discourse, research dissemination, peer
review and collaboration. Yet despite increasing interest and evidence in how these technologies can
be used effectively within an educational context, there is a clear and significant disparity between
their potential and the reality of adoption rates and widespread use (Selwyn, 2010).
Doctoral students may be seen as representing a new generation of researchers inclined to adopt
new technologies that challenge established practices. But currently, the majority do not use social
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