Academic Links and Communications (European Science Foundation)

The book, concerned with communications between academics, stems from a five year, international study of transport and communications supported by the European Science Foundation as part of the Barriers to Communication programme of NECTAR. The aim of the initial research project, by an international team, was to discover what media are employed by academics when communicating with other researchers and teachers and further to explore the barriers which exist to such communication, both on a national and international scale. The book begins with a brief introduction setting out background information to the academic institutions involved and the history of academic linkages. However, the main content of the book relates to a number of case studies, based on actual behaviour at a variety of European universities and which seek to demonstrate two functions. Firstly, the case studies offer, using so-called revealed preference techniques, a picture of how academics communicate with each other and the types of networks which currently exist. Secondly, in order to emphasize the effect of rapidly changing media of communication, a technique is deployed, the so-called stated preference procedures, to confront academics with hypothetical, but realistic, situations to elicit their choice of communication channel in each scenario. The book aims to provide focused results and discussion, resulting from the research, which will be of benefit to the academic community, particularly in such disciplines as education studies, economics, geography, communications studies and regional science.