A website analysis of projection and transfer of Spanish Communication research groups

Abstract

Research groups are professional structures that cooperate to produce knowledge and that must communicate their findings to make disciplines progress. This research analyzes how Spanish Communication research groups take advantage of the functionalities of the web 2.0 to transfer knowledge and promote closer collaboration with other academic entities. The starting point is an exhaustive census of research groups, prepared within the research project MapCom 2 and including groups belonging to communication faculties of public and private universities in Spain. Content analysis is then applied to examine how these groups use their respective websites, exploring six variables: navigability, dissemination of information and services, updating, international projection, SEO positioning, and possibilities of interaction with the audience. The analysis of the sites reveals disparate results in terms of the type of update, content, functionalities, and uses. Most of the groups listed have websites to present their lines of research and objectives. However, these spaces vary from one group to another (even within the same university), and many asymmetries can be detected in the information presented and in the fact that certain statements are not always accessible. The study of these variables -composed and designed for the present research- also allows us to analyze the knowledge transfer that the groups carry out, their possible level of interaction with citizens, or to determine whether they are more or less endogamic or have an external projection when promoting links with other members or groups at a local, state, or international level. The results show that Spanish groups have not yet managed to exploit the opportunities of the web 2.0 sufficiently to transfer knowledge as well as export and increase the visibility of their scientific production.