Academia.edu and Self-Branding | Open Reflections

Abstract: The growing membership of for-profit academic networks such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate has gone hand-in-hand with an increasing use of metrics in scholarly communication and the development of audit cultures in academia. As scholars we are increasingly required to use these websites to promote our work and to establish ourselves as brands. However, such platforms are often supported by business models that sell access to the data we produce in order to provide profits for the venture capitalists backing these ‘free’ platforms. This talk by Janneke Adema, Research Fellow at the Centre for Disruptive Media at Coventry University (UK), will provide an overview of the problems these kinds of platforms and the overarching trend towards metricisation and self-branding pose to the future of academia. Adema will discuss how they create inequalities in access to the conversations around our publications and run the risk of promoting academic conservatism. Yet most importantly, perhaps, she will explore how the measurements that support a quantified academia create major issues around privacy and surveillance. This talk will end with a discussion of various projects and grassroots initiatives—from Humanities Commons and Domain of One’s Own to the growing collective of scholar-led radical open access presses—that promote a more ethical publishing system.