Research Impact Challenge

Welcome to the fifth day of the U-M Library Research Impact Challenge! Earlier this week, you registered your ORCID, claimed your Google Scholar Profile, explored a digital repository, and reflected on your use of social media. Today, we’ll pull all of these pieces together on your personal web page. Let’s get started!

Here's how to do it: 

1. Identify the web page you will use for today’s challenge. You can work with any public web page that contains information about you and your work, and that you are able to edit directly. We recommend the following:

First choice: If you have a University of Michigan departmental or staff profile page, and have the power to edit this page yourself, it is the ideal choice for this exercise. Here's mine, from the Library website (before taking this challenge): 

Second choice: Use the ORCID profile you created on Day 1, or any public profile on a platform like Humanities Commons, Open Science Framework, or other social networking platform.

Third choice: Use your own independent website or blog, if you have one.

2. Your goal is to ensure that all the work you’ve done this week to establish and manage your presence on the web is fully integrated into your web page. Check your website for each of the following:  

• Your ORCID ID and link to your ORCID profile
• Link to your Google Scholar profile
• Link(s) to any repositories where you have deposited your work (see Bonus Challenge, below)
• Links to any social media profiles or feeds that you want your colleagues to know about, follow, or connect with

As well, make sure that the URL for your personal web page is included in all of the spaces listed above! You may also want to include it on your email signature. 

3. While you’re here, check that any other information on your personal web page (email address, campus address and phone number, research and teaching interests, etc.) is present and up-to-date!

Bonus Challenge: if you currently have documents posted to your personal webpage, consider depositing those files in a repository instead. Then, link to those items in the repository, rather than hosting them directly on your web page.

What next? 

Consider the pros and cons of maintaining your own personal website:

• Watters, Audrey. "Why 'A Domain of One's Own' Matters (For the Future of Knowledge)." April 4, 2017.

Investigate what additional support and services may be available to faculty and staff through your college or department. For example, both LSA and HITS offer some form of website creation and support service.

Learn more:

If you decide it makes sense to have a website of your own, there are many opportunities to develop the skills to create and maintain your site: 

• If available, attend a relevant U-M Library workshop on building simple websites. Browse upcoming opportunities here.
• Can’t find or attend any upcoming workshops? Contact the U-M Library ScholarSpace for a consultation!
• Check out this guide from Jon McGlone, a U-M Library Web Developer and Front End designer: Creating and Hosting a Personal Site on GitHub.

Preparing for the next challenge: 

Congratulations! You've completed Week One of the U-M Library Research Impact Challenge!

Starting with Week 2 / Day 6, we'll shift gears to focus on how the impact of scholarly work is measured, communicated, and evaluated.