Event overview

Go digital 2011! 

Are you making the most of new technologies in your research?

The British Library and Vitae are running the Digital Researcher 2011 to help researchers make the most of new technologies in their research. Vitae will publish information, advice and resources online so that researchers can either get started or develop their use of digital research techniques from the middle of January.  Researchers will be encouraged to start talking and sharing their experience online through the Vitae site and using technologies such as Twitter. This online activity will culminate in a one day event on 14 February 2011. This event will provide hands on experience and will allow researchers to explore the use of Web 2.0 in research, networks and building their own online profiles.

The interactive event, which will be held at the British Library, is for postgraduate researchers and research staff. It will include presentations and interactive sessions on subjects such as microblogging, RSS feeds, social networking and social citation sharing.  Participants will explore and develop the skills needed for research in an increasingly digital world and gain ideas for managing information.

On the day participants will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of:

• the role that online networks can play in supporting research and researchers' careers
• how to manage your online profile (positively)
• how to build networks to support your research and career
• the range of different tools that are available to support you and your research

Please note:  This event takes an experiential learning approach and participants are required to come equipped with a laptop in order to connect to the internet (other technologies such as notebooks, phones, itouch etc can be used in the place of a laptop if necessary).

Digital researcher online conversation

During the month before the Digital Research event, Vitae will be publishing regular news, advice and tips for researchers.  Everyone is encouraged to join in with this online conversation either by posting on the Vitae site or by using the event hashtag.  The online discussion space will be on the dedicated Digital Researcher section of the Vitae site, along with the blog and session materials from last years event.

We have set up a hashtag for posts on blogs and social networking sites such as twitter. The hashtag is #DR11. Please include this tag in anything related to the digital researcher.