Thinking about research ethics

I didn't get much (well, any) training in the ethics of research during my formal studies, apart from the documents that came along with my first ethics application. Over the years, I've been thinking more about what constitutes ethical research involving activists, and how I can use my relatively-privileged position within academia. The work I've … Continue reading Thinking about research ethics →

Teaching on Facebook and content restrictions

Today when I logged into Facebook I got a message letting me know that I was banned from posting any content for the next 24 hours. Another contributor from a group I help to moderate had posted 'inappropriate content' and so all moderators for that group were temporarily locked from posting to Facebook at all. … Continue reading Teaching on Facebook and content restrictions →

MOOCs: thinking about context

Recently, professors at a San Jose State refused to use a lecture series by Michael Sandel at their university: it's well worth reading their explanation of this decision. After a long and somewhat frustrating discussion about this, I think it's worth teasing out some of the issues surrounding MOOCs. Much of this draws on the … Continue reading MOOCs: thinking about context →

‘Big data’ and gender

There's been a significant push in Internet Studies over the last few years towards 'big data' studies, which aggregate huge volumes of information (such as tweets or website linking patterns) and subject them to analysis, often quantitative analysis. Much of this research provides valuable insights into how people are using the Internet and its impacts … Continue reading ‘Big data’ and gender →

Gifting and research

Here in Athens, I'm starting to get a much better idea of who I need to speak to and where I need to go, in part because I've had some fortuitous introductions from friends-of-friends-of-friends. This aspect of research on social movements is, I think, often under-acknowledged. You can, when doing research, make a more-or-less disinterested … Continue reading Gifting and research →