Understanding how early-stage researchers leverage socio-technical affordances for distributed research

Early-stage researchers (ESRs) are often challenged to learn research skills with sufficient support from a small circle of advisors and colleagues. Meanwhile, emerging socio-technical systems (STSs) are now available for social interactions among the general public and people in particular interest topics, such as research. However, how STSs can effectively support ESRs in developing research skills is not yet well understood. In this paper, we report on a series of interviews and surveys with ESRs. We found that online research communities held the potentials for ESRs to learn from diverse perspectives and experience. But the adoption of research communities for learning was still limited. We identified unmet needs in the design of these systems limiting the adoption. We then provide design implications for future STSs to support learning research skills with socio-technical affordances.