The College of Social Sciences at Glasgow University has put together a free one-day conference on Social Media Analysis, Methods and Ethics. I will be talking about the ethical challenges involved in researching sensitive issues online and the need to ‘de-bunk’ some established methodological conventions in order to enable the development of ethically effective research designs that are fit to archive and analyse social media content. You can find a complete list of speakers and download the abstracts here. The conference will take place on Friday 25th April from 9:15am to 5pm at the Adam Smith Building, Gilmorehill Campus and anyone wishing to attend can register for free here.
conferences
ISA 2014 Paper – ‘Googling Anti-Politics’ Available for Download
While I pack to leave for freezing (!) Toronto, you can now download a free copy of the paper that Paul Reilly (University of Leicester) and I are going to be presenting at the 2014 International Studies Association’s (ISA) Annual Meeting. This is a piece of work that uses freely available online application Google Trends to gain new insights into the rise of anti-political establishment parties in Europe, focusing in particular on the case of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Click here to access the paper (ISA login required). If you’re at ISA, please come say hi – Paul and I will present our work on Saturday 29th March, 1:45pm in the MacDonald Room at the Hilton Hotel and I am likely to be at other ICOMM events the rest of the time. If you’re not in Toronto but still have some interesting thoughts about the paper or my research more generally, feel free to email or reach me on Twitter.
MeCCSA Conference 2014
After presenting at the 2014 Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association’s Conference yesterday in Bournemouth it was time to catch a glimpse of the beach. However, if you were unable to be at our panel, you can still read about the role of search in elections in the UK, the U.S., Egypt and Italy on the research blog I curate for the VoterEcology Project.
Talks and Presentations in January 2014
It’s almost time for a Christmas break, but the New Year is already looking busy with two talks to which I am looking forward scheduled for January 2014. Both these presentations will focus on the preliminary results and methodological challenges that have emerged from the Voter Ecology Project and take place at:
- The Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association’s (MeCCSA) Annual Conference at Bournemouth University (8th-10th January);
- The CEELBAS workshop on Citizen Media in Eastern Europe, East Asia and the Arab World at the University of Manchester (27th-28th January, together with the brilliant Dounia Mahlouly).
More details about these talks including room details, times and abstracts to follow soon. Watch this space!
Talk at Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland – Nov. 20th, 2013
I will be talking about the Voter Ecology Project at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park on Wednesday Nov. 20th, 2pm. My presentation is entitled “No Laughing Matter: Political Gaffes and Online Information Search in Election Campaigns” and will discuss how publicly available search engine data can help journalists, campaigners, and researchers alike to reach beyond appearances in considering patterns of information consumptions in times of elections. I look forward to discussing this work and how online media are transforming political reporting more generally with students and faculty at the cutting edge of journalism scholarship. The event will take place in Room 1109, Knight Hall.
Munich ECREA Conference
I look forward to talking about the Voter Ecology Project at the ECREA Communication and Democracy Section Symposium “(Mis)representing Political Participation” at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany on 11th-12th October.
