Social media is a vibrant research field. The project “SOMECAT” will expand knowledge in two branches with a geographical focus on the participating countries (Russia, Turkey, Germany and Switzerland):
- To what extent is and can social media be used for teaching, learning and research?
- Do and how diaspora groups use social media? If so, for what purposes
Basing on the results, we will combine these two areas of research and investigate “to what extent do diaspora use social media for learning, teaching and research?” This question has not been researched yet in any systematic way. Taking into account the findings of the previous steps, we will develop and program a virtual market place for education resources available to diaspora.
Among others the following methods will be used: Quantitative and qualitative analysis, analysis of (server) log files and network analysis, interviews and focus groups, on-line survey. Most of the research will be done from both sides i.e. from the country of origin and destination (diaspora); furthermore cross-country comparisons will be made.
SOMECAT is an ERA.Net.RUS project funded under the 7th EU Research Framework Program and runs from October 2012 until September 2014.
For further information, please contact the project coordinator Christian Rapp.
Background
SOMECAT combines two research fields in an innovative way. The linking topic between the two usually separated areas is Social Media
- Social Media in Higher Education: Researching the potential and practice of social media for learning, teaching and researching is receiving increased attention but is still an emerging area of research. This is especially true for Russia and, with a few exceptions, Turkey. Given that social media use is a reality for most young people across the globe, its lack of usage in higher education is still striking.
- Digital Diaspora: Diasporic understanding of homeland signifies not a place of return but a source of shifting and ambivalent attachment. Diasporas, understood in that sense, do perform certain tasks that have a close similarity to the ones done by young people while using social media in general or for learning purposes: (a) creating and maintaining a community, (b) learning in a new environment (country of destination) and (c) keeping oneself updated about the country of origin. We suspect that some diaspora are highly skilled in using social media for these tasks and that we could infer best practices from these groups for learning/ teaching contexts in general.
The results of the analysis should finally be conceptualised and programmed as a virtual market place to act as “Edu-hub” with free teaching and learning resources for diaspora.