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<div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: -moz-fixed;
font-size: 14px;" lang="x-unicode">Our subject needs its
international meeting-places. It already has this ISHMap-List for
virtual discussion, the biennial ICHC for face-to-face meetings,
my 'Map History' site as a guide to resources, and the Map History
Directory (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.maphistorydirectory.org">http://www.maphistorydirectory.org</a>)
'for contact information, current interests, research projects,
and publications related to map history'.
<br>
<br>
But, even taken together, do these reach enough of the people
researching into, or just interested in, map history?
<br>
<br>
In a post last June, 'The history of cartography on mobile apps
and in social media' (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://lazarus.elte.hu/pipermail/ishm/2014-June/000179.html">http://lazarus.elte.hu/pipermail/ishm/2014-June/000179.html</a>),
I wondered whether it might be possible to 'bring together in one
place references to new electronic resources for the history of
cartography devised for mobile devices on the one hand, and news
of fresh research circulating within social media on the other.'
This received a response equivalent to 'nul points' in the
Eurovision Song Contest. But since then I have discovered
'academia.edu'.
<br>
<br>
You may already know all about this site and may even have signed
up for it. But even if that is so I hope you will read on, if only
to be able to correct or add to some of the things I say about it.
<br>
<br>
<span class="moz-txt-slash">'academia<span class="moz-txt-tag"></span></span>'
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.academia.edu/">http://www.academia.edu/</a>)
is the researchers' equivalent of LinkedIn or Facebook. They
encourage you to join via Facebook but there is no need to do
that. Nor do you have to be at an university; you can register as
an independent researcher. More than 16 million people have signed
up so far, with a range of research interests covering the entire
universe of knowledge. Over 2,600 have expressed an interest in
the History of Cartography. The numbers are growing fast. You can
also access some of the information without having to login but
you will miss the main benefits unless you do.
<br>
<br>
It works on the basis that you add as much or as little as you
like, in your personal 'profile' and in the list of your
publications, talks, etc. The crucial point relates to 'Research
Interests', which can be stated in your profile and then attached
to the individual bibliographical entries. Once you have done that
you are potentially linked into the group of those working on the
same topic. There is no limit on the number of your 'Interests'.
<br>
<br>
Specific advantages of 'academia' include:
<br>
<br>
It is free to join and easy to leave
<br>
<br>
It is fully international and multi-lingual
<br>
<br>
Even if you provide an email address you will not receive
unnecessary messages
<br>
<br>
You can search specifically for those who share you own academic
Interest(s)
<br>
<br>
You can include downloads of your publications (where copyright
allows) or add abstracts
<br>
<br>
You can post a Call for Papers (as was done for the 2015 Antwerp
ICHC) or send a specific query to a relevant 'interest' group
<br>
<br>
Although email addresses are not made public, you can send a
message via the system to anybody on 'academia'<br>
<br>
You can search for a specific researcher [Tip: enter the last name
and then search, within the results, for the first name]. The
individual articles are anyway accessible via Google.
<br>
<br>
Once you have subscribed, you can select how (if at all) you want
to be alerted to developments in your field [select the down arrow
in the top right-hand corner for 'Account Settings'].
<br>
<br>
Alternatively, if you click on the 'Home' link at the top, this
brings up your personalised 'News Feed'. There you will see
details of new papers in your fields of interest, as well as
publications that have recently been added or 'bookmarked' by
anybody you have decided to 'follow'. Conveniently, they are
displayed with the latest first. This can usefully alert you to
what you might otherwise have missed. Likewise, what you add or
bookmark yourself will be brought to the notice of those who
follow you or have registered the same Interest(s) you stated. The
number to the right of your own entries indicates how many people
have viewed each.
<br>
<br>
The more of us who join - and I am sure will gain personally by so
doing - the better connected the practitioners in our subject will
be. If you do sign up, please be sure to select 'History of
Cartography' [avoid joining the select group of 18 making an
intense study of the 'History of Cartoghaphy'] and add that, as
well as your specific Interest(s) to individual future
publications (or amend the existing ones). If you do not do that,
others in your field will not know about them.
<br>
<br>
As a postscript, I have been urged by several people to consider
Twitter in addition to 'academia', as a very good place for the
exchange of scholarly information. Perhaps somebody will come
forward to provide similar encouragement and instruction for those
of us who still need persuading about the serious advantages of
Twitter.
<br>
<br>
Tony Campbell
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://independent.academia.edu/CampbellTony">https://independent.academia.edu/CampbellTony</a>
<br>
<br>
'Map History':<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.maphistory.info">http://www.maphistory.info</a>
<br>
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