Establish credibility over the long term
From Comunica iGuides
For researchers to establish long-term credibility, the following strategies are recommended:- Present research findings in ways that are useful and relevant to your communities and community
- Build a presence in key social networking sites
- Regularly update your content in your social networking spaces to reflect your research activities and findings
- Interact with other credible researchers in your field
- Provide relevant information and knowledge to your communities and community through online spaces and activities
Strategy: Present research findings in ways that are useful and relevant to your communities and community
| Tools and Uses | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Graphs & Diagrams
Google Chart Tools or any of the many existing online services for Graphs and charts (depends on aesthetic preferences) | Online Charts can visualize statistical information in an understandable and powerful way.
| simplification | |
| Video interviews and short video documents
Short video interviews with people who understand implications of planned policies or are directly impacted by them is a powerful tool to draw attention of public/media to specific issues. Vimeo, EngageMedia, Blip.tv , Youtube and other free online services make it easy to upload videos and share them in number of formats across blogs, websites, videocasts, etc. Video-enabled mobile phones and cheap cameras can be often used as they are sufficient for common online video quality and the content and timeliness of video contributions are usually more important than image quality. | Real people talking about an issue from their perspective can make even complex issues and their consequences understandable to a layperson. | Steep learning curve in capacity to turn raw video material into a short and consistent video message. | Witness' The Hub http://hub.witness.org/ features videos from activist film-makers on different human rights issues.
EngageMedia http://www.engagemedia.org/ has videos from Asia Pacific that focuses on environmental rights.
|
Strategy: Build a presence in key social networking sites
| Tools and Uses | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Video streaming
Build profile on Blip.tv | |||
| Social networking tools | See above | ||
| Social networking updates
Set up an account on Twitter | |||
| Blogs
Set up a blog account on Blogger, Livejournal or Wordpress | |||
| Integrate these online spaces by using applications such as Follow Twitter (to integrate your Facebook with your twitter).
Search for relevant applications. | This allows you to update all your social networking space by just updating one of them. |
Strategy: Regularly update your content in your social networking spaces to reflect your research activities and findings
| Tools and Uses | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Social networking tools
Using Facebook,Twitter and / or Google Buzz |
Strategy: Interact with other credible researchers in your field
| Tools and Uses | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| People search
Use pipl.com to search for online spaces where specific researchers are located. | Pipl.com allows you to search for specific names or email addresses. Search results will show which online spaces individuals are using. | Use this service with care. There have been some serious privacy-related objections to the way this service extrapolates and publishes information on people who are not agreed with it. |
Strategy: Provide relevant information and knowledge to your communities and community s through online spaces and communities
| Tools and Uses | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Webinar – a real time online video seminar on a specific issue
Robust and popular webinar (online meeting) systems are Blackboard Collaborate and Webex. A popular free service is, for example, DimDim.com.
| Thematic webinars can be organized periodically, for specific groups of participants, or topic-specific.
If well done, webinars represent a good way to bring people together and have them learn in a participative way. | Production of a webinar is time consuming
Steeper learning curve in for using the tool effectively and organizing webinars Most webinar services are costly (the user has to pay in order to be able to use the platform to organize webinars). Free webinar systems have limited features and not always work on all operating systems. |
.
Table of Contents of the iGuide
This iGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.
Impact 2.0 is a project of the Fundación Comunica with funding provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), 
Ottawa, Canada.
Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.
