Version 0.1 October 2009 [ download PDF]

The CIARD Pathways provide an introduction to the ways in which research outputs can be made more available, accessible and applicable for the stakeholders who will derive benefit from this knowledge. The internet has created new possibilities for enhancing the visibility of research outputs and has greatly increased the potential audience for them. It is not enough, however, just to produce digital content and place it in a repository or on a website. If the research outputs are not easily accessible to the user who wishes to access them their value is not being fully realised. Further, it may be that the knowledge needs to be transformed in some way to realise the value of the work to different stakeholders.

If you are an IT developer or information manager working to make your institution’s outputs more accessible, a marketing person working to raise the profile of your institution’s work, a researcher looking for ways to communicate outputs more effectively with your peers, or a manager tasked with making the digital environment work more productively for your institution and its’ research, then the following group of Pathways will provide important avenues to pursue.  

1.  Disseminating research outputs – international research collections and databases

2.  Making your website’s content visible on the web

3.  Set up added value services that query across platforms

4.  Publish and promote outputs with newsfeeds 

5.  Using social media to communicate research outputs

6.  Using video to communicate research outputs

7.  Using Web2.0 solutions for your website

8.  Analyse how your websites are being used. Put this knowledge to use

These Pathways will show you:
•    Ways in which your outputs can be aggregated with those of other groups around the world, either by inclusion in services which bring related content together in databases, or by using services which search across related sites.
•    The importance of submitting pages or sitemap files to internet search engines for indexing and how to carry out search engine optimization. In this way users who are interested in the content of your site will find it more easily.
•    The importance of Web2.0 tools and services, such as newsfeeds, blogs and wikis, which enable researchers and communicators to participate in new ways of sharing research outputs or information about them.
•    New formats for the dissemination of knowledge, such as video, which can bring research information to new stakeholders.
•    Finally, you can learn more about how to analyze how your repository/website is being used. This information is valuable in making strategic decisions about how your site should be developed further in order to increase its’ visibility and impact.