The slides for yesterday’s workshop on Social Media for Historians have now been uploaded to the HFL  Presentations page as well as the HFL WebLearn site (Oxford users only).

The session gave an overview of the range of social media tools available and shows examples used by other historians.

Social media is all about creating a digital identity by sharing and engaging with others in your field. It needs to handled responsibly and carefully. Think about copyright and think about keeping your private profile perhaps separate to a professional one.

With social media tools such as Twitter, blogging and Academia.edu, you can…

• communicate with like-minded people in brief little snippets (Twitter), or write down your thoughts or views in something more substantial (blog – more about blogs).
• keep up-to-date with news from individuals or organisations (libraries, museums, research groups, Universities).
• participate in conference off-stage discussions
• network and perhaps even find a job.
• furthermore, Academia.edu (academic Facebook) allows you to create your online research profile, where your subject interest is supported by publishing or conference activity, etc.

With tools such as YouTube, Flickr and Instagram, you can share video clips or your photos (of a research project ? trip?) with others.

With Slideshare and Prezi, you can share a presentation.

With tools such as LibraryThing or Goodreads, you can share with others what books you are reading, write and see reviews.

Use Storify to assemble tweets and other information from the web and turn it into a narrative.

Further reading

• —LSE Blog: Impact of Social Sciences (on blogging, tweeting, impact, engagement, open access)
• —A blog post of 5 Feb 2013 on ‘The growing importance of social media for historians’ / Dr Matt Phillpott, Project Officer for the IHR Digital Seminar and Research Training Project
• —Developing an effective social media presence: a workshop for history postgraduate students and early career researchers. 29 January 2013. Summary of the event as recorded on Twitter (including some hints and tips about using Twitter at conferences)
• —A blog post of 31 Jan 2013 on ‘How to be a #socialmediahistorian’ / Naomi Lloyd-Jones, PhD student at King’s College London
• —AHA: Five Ways for Historians to use Twitter

Can I communicate with the HFL with social media?

Yes, you can! Follow this blog by signing up to the mailing list, follow us on Twitter (@HFLOxford) or like us on Facebook (HFLOxford).

Help!

If you are thinking of using social media and would like a little helping hand, we may be able to help. Get in touch with Isabel Holowaty (@iholowaty).