Toolkit: disseminating research online
What are the benefits of disseminating research online? How would you go about it if you do not have your own website? This toolkit addresses these and other questions, providing broad tips and suggestions for communicating academic research using the internet. It draws on best practice for web strategies from the information and commercial worlds.
The toolkit identifies and focuses on five key elements of the process:
- successful online communication- this needs to be is based on understanding how people use the web and structuring your material accordingly
- disseminating research on the web- a powerful tool for communicating research cheaply and quickly to the widest possible audiences. However, it is not always used to its best advantage when disseminating research
- practical hints about putting research online- if you are making the positive step of putting some or all of your organisation's research available online, make it easy for users to find
- the Global Development Network (GDN) approach to research communication including GDNet style guides and a downloadable power point presentation about communicating research online
- finally, the document looks at support for those with no websites yet, including a hosting service for research institutes based in low and middle income countries
The author stresses that this toolkit does not cover everything needed for a comprehensive research dissemination strategy for institutes. Such a strategy will involve other channels of communication (paper-based outputs, meetings, workshops etc) and will depend on target audiences, institutional set up and finances.
