Social Network Science: Pedagogy, Dialogue, Deliberation

This research article provides a discussion on the potential for Social Network Sites (SNS) as a paedagogical tool that precipitates 'incidental learning,' or the unintentional accrual of knowledge and practice of learning. The author suggests that because of the online world's combination of information storage and social interaction, SNS, "characterised by informality, open-access, user input and widespread popularity, offer a potentially indispensable means of furthering the public understanding of science; and significantly one that is rooted in dialogue." This article was originally published in the Journal of Science Communication Special Issue on Peer-to-Peer and User-Led Science.

SNS as educational resources, according to this paper, benefit the user and the online community as hosts "for dialogical exchange, applying media networking tools which are non-hierarchical, inclusive and fundamentally interactive... Critically, this communication is not uni-directional, instructional or even didactic, but shared and open." Because of the inherent participatory nature of online networks, "specialists and non-specialists may enact new conversations as the role of scientist as public citizen is induced and magnified. Digital, computer assisted and online forms of communication may offer not only an inexpensive but empowering means for specialist and non-specialist to interact and for creative, dialogical learning to occur."

"Arguably the great contribution or asset of SNS is the propensity for the collection of multifarious publics, joined in common activity." SNS serve in this respect as a gateway to science for the diverse social population of users, fostering an active community that allows representations of knowledge to become democratically shared and constructed. And rather than compete with systems of formal education, the author argues, "SNS space complements the situational setting and orientation of Higher Education, in that it offers critical reflection, peer consultation, collaboration and feedback. It mimics or favourably compares with what have come to be seen as good pedagogical approaches, which stress the collaborative, communal and participatory as learning essentials."

"The multiple representations of scientific knowledge that emerge from SNS however complicate its potential as a knowledge laboratory." There is a concern over the judicious and accurate usage of online networks developing inaccurate or biased viewpoints, and that active scholarship can in fact be deterred by the ubiquitous availability of information and that by "democratising the production of knowledge, the reliability and validity of scientific knowledge is potentially compromised." To mitigate this, the author suggests that networks must remain open to moderation and censure "to protect against false and ingenuous claims."

In conclusion, the author posits that the benefits of online resources to education and the learning of science are impossible to ignore or resist. Conscientious, responsible users of SNS have the opportunity to become "not only better acquainted with the work of scientists stimulating greater transparency and accountability, but also the opportunity to become embedded as active contributors to scientific research and debate."

"Through interaction people invent the world. Through inventive interaction scientific literacy may flourish."