Arab Educational Information Network

This study aimed to measure the awareness and use of faculty members of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of King Abdul Aziz for academic social networks (ASNs). To achieve the objectives of the study, a descriptive survey approach was adopted and a questionnaire was administered to collect data which included three sections; the most important one was that measured the awareness and use of ASNs, the second one concerned with motivations behind the use of ASNs, and the third one focused on the obstacles encountered by the researchers when using them. The sample of the study consisted of 197 faculty members of KAU, and the number of the respondents was 110, forming 55.83 % of the sample. A number of findings have been obtained, indicating varied responses regarding the awareness of ASNs. 57.8% of the respondents answered that they did not know anything about the ASNs while 42.2 answered that they knew about them. Concerning those who used ASNs, 78.26 % of the respondents have been using them for more than two years, once a day for by 50%, and one hour a day as an average by 45.65%. It was found that some respondents had no clear vision about what ASNs were and some of them did not differentiate between ASNs and other engines such as Google Scholar. Concerning the motivations of using ASNs, having a look at recommended research was the most important motivation (M=4.61, SD= 0.61), followed by coming up with new ideas (M=4.60, SD=,0.61) which indicates that the faculty members perceive these networks as one of the main sources in reading research and building ideas. It was also found that the most prominent obstacles faced by the faculty members when using ASNs was inability to get full text of some documents. Consequently, the study provided a number of recommendations: work should be carried out to enhance the levels of awareness of ASNs among the faculty members at King Abdulaziz University through seminars, training courses, and marketing ASNs via e-mails and workshops. The study also recommends encouraging the faculty members to join ASNs, share their published papers and collaborate with other researchers. The study also recommends considering active participation of ASNs social networks as one requirement of academic promotion so as to encourage them to use and benefit from it. The University should adopt policies and strategies that support its position in quality and academic accreditation by encouraging collaboration in research at international levels in academic social networks and incorporating this into university policy. (Published abstract)