Ninth Level Ireland

“Being able to find, assess and place new research within a field of knowledge, is integral to any research project. For social scientists this process is increasingly likely to take place on Google Scholar, closely followed by traditional scholarly databases. In this post, Alberto Martín-Martín, Enrique Orduna-Malea, Mike Thelwall, Emilio Delgado-López-Cózar, analyse the relative coverage of the three main research databases, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus, finding significant divergences in the social sciences and humanities and suggest that researchers face a trade-off when using different databases: between more comprehensive, but disorderly systems and orderly, but limited systems …” (more)

[LSE Impact Blog, 3 December]

“A review of a law students’ WhatsApp group called ‘Tits and Filth’ has uncovered no evidence of disparaging references to female trainee solicitors, the Law Society has said. The body, which trains and represents solicitors, launched an investigation into the group after receiving complaints from several members …” (more)

[Conor Gallagher, Irish Times, 14 October]

“The Law Society of Ireland has said there were no references to female trainees in a messaging group that is being investigated by the solicitors’ training body. It comes after a number of messaging apps were blocked as it was reported that inappropriate content was posted onto a WhatsApp group entitled ‘tits and filth’ …” (more)

[Cate McCurry, Belfast Telegraph, 14 October]

“A trainee solicitor has said she feels disgusted that female students are being objectified by their male counterparts. The Law Society has launched an investigation after ‘highly offensive’ messages were found to be circulating in a Whatsapp group among some first-year law trainees at Dublin’s Blackhall Place …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 12 October]

“News in today’s Guardian that ‘US essay mill firm targets new students through WhatsApp’ does not really surprise me – I’m sure essay mills have many clever ways to attract the attention of students who choose not to write their own essays. What does surprise me is the price, it is £7 per page (just over €8) …” (more)

[Careful With That Axe, Eugene, 8 April]

“Maynooth University’s Department of Law has apologised to a student following a reply they received on Twitter. The response a student was given when they asked about the exam timetable has received criticism online …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 31 March]

“A university is switching off all its social media channels for a few days as an example to encourage its students to try their own ‘digital detox’. De Montfort University, in Leicester, wants to highlight how ‘unrestrained social media use’ can be harmful to the mental health of young people …” (more)

[Sean Coughlan, BBC News, 15 January]

“Students at Dublin City University have begun a campaign on social media to prevent the deportation of an asylum seeker student at the college. According to the college’s students’ union, Shepherd Machaya has been issued with a deportation order which requires him to leave the state by next Sunday …” (more)

[Emma O Kelly, RTÉ News, 18 October]

“Academics have been sharing the parts of their job which make them feel warm and fuzzy inside, sparked by a post from historian Dr William Pooley. He told of his ‘joy’ about writing a reference for one of his brightest students …” (more)

[Nicola Irwin, Independent, 21 September]

“Choose your friends, clothes and politics wisely. They’ll come back to haunt you. The time when media fatheads humblebrag about doing badly in their Leaving Certificate has passed. We are now in the later stages of an equally infuriating season. For the last week or so, the same jerks have been offering unasked-for advice to those heading off to college …” (more)

[Donald Clarke, Irish Times, 21 September]

“St Vincent de Paul cancels cheque it gave student to secure college place after message posted on Instagram. An ‘act of bravado’ by a college student has seen a cheque he received from St Vincent de Paul to secure his college place being cancelled. The young man had told a specially convened conference of a St Vincent de Paul education committee in Kerry that he would lose his place in college if he did not get emergency funding …” (more)

[Anne Lucey, Irish Times, 10 September]

“University College Cork has successfully launched a social media campaign aimed at presenting complex ideas and research in a straightforward way to a general audience. It featured attention-grabbing portraits of researchers taken by Cork-based photographer Clare Keogh, accompanied by accessible explanations of their work …” (more)

[Kevin O’Sullivan, Irish Times, 30 August]

“When the University Times posted an advertisement for the private luxury student accommodation bloc #LIVStudent on its Instagram account this week, many students were shocked. Such was the strength of the criticism to this post, the University Times felt that it was necessary to turn off comments underneath. And that isn’t the only instance of the University Times advertising luxury student accommodation …” (more)

[Muireann McGlynn, Trinity News, 26 August]

“On Monday, a strange tweet, remembering the awarding of an honorary degree to the widely criticised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was posted from Trinity’s Twitter account. Predictably, the ensuing confusion and criticism forced Trinity to swiftly delete the tweet. The tweet, which lauded her as ‘one of the most renowned women democrats in the world’, was part of the College’s #OnThisDay series on social media. Yet it only served to highlight something that students and staff may have otherwise wanted to forget …” (more)

[University Times, 24 June]

“In a rapidly changing higher education landscape, where the meaning of ‘impact’ and the expectations surrounding it are continually developing, the perceived relevance of social media seems obvious. Accordingly, increasing numbers of institutions are encouraging their researchers to take up social media to communicate their research to wider society …” (more)

[Katy Jordan and Mark Carrigan, LSE Impact Blog, 31 May]

“Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to a group within an application (details supplied) that has been established for communication by members of the Higher Education Authority; his views on whether this is an appropriate method of communication between members of the authority; if a record is kept of all such communications; and if they are subject to freedom of information legislation …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 24 May]

“Provost Patrick Prendergast appears to have brushed aside several stories published by student media this year, including allegations of sexual harassment against Sean Ryan and students being locked into the Dining Hall during its occupation …” (more)

[Aisling Grace, Trinity News, 10 April]

“The provost of Trinity College, Dublin, has criticised the role of social media in spreading ‘fake news’ during recent protests by students at the university. Dr Patrick Prendergast said a tweet was widely circulated stating that the college had bought him a penthouse apartment at a cost of €1.95 million. ‘Anyone with even passing acquaintance of Trinity would know to laugh, but the story was picked up by the national media …'” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 9 April]

“During the past term, I was on strike for fourteen days and I’m now on ‘action short of a strike’ and, like my colleagues up and down the UK, I’m waiting to vote in a consultative e-ballot next week that may determine whether we reach a settlement with the employers and go back to work. But this post isn’t about the rights and wrongs of the dispute, it is about what it has felt like to be on strike – the highs and the lows – and about how the shared desire for a better university that has emerged …” (more)

[Chris Bertram, Crooked Timber, 31 March]

“Trinity staff have been instructed in an email to screenshot and remove negative Facebook reviews published on various College related pages. The email, sent by Sharon Campbell, Trinity’s Deputy Head of Communications, read: ‘There have been instances of protest by some students in relation to the new supplemental exam charge …'” (more)

[Niamh Lynch, Trinity News, 14 March]