Success Measurement of Scientific Communication : The Contribution of New Media to the Governance of Universities

Success measurement is a critical component of any organization's governance. It fulfills functions as important as the monitoring, coordination and evaluation of organizational activities. We argue that knowledge-intensive organizations are also communication-intensive organizations: communication is essential for the creation and sharing of knowledge. Universities, as knowledge-intensive organizations, focus significant efforts and resources on scientific communication. We conclude that success measurement of universities can largely be understood as the success measurement of scientific communication. This chapter will argue that new media provide new opportunities for the success measurement of scientific communication. Online media render activities as diverse as citations, bookmarks, views or downloads accessible to analysis-and thereby facilitate a more varied evaluation of effects caused within the scientific community ("impact"). Social media, especially, provide insights into conversations and personal networks. By observing and analyzing new media, universities can generate a richer, more differentiated understanding of their communication success. Thereby, new media have the potential to contribute to the governance of universities.