Causality Journalism: Can Academics Help?

As a social scientist, I spend much of my working life sorting out spurious claims about cause and effect. In any social science, particularly when it is impossible to adequately control many variables such as through an experimental design, the analysis and attribution of causality is inherently problematic. Too often, that is not the case … Continue reading Causality Journalism: Can Academics Help?

History Lessons: 250 Years of the IT Industry in Britain

Question Time Panel at 'Learning from History', BCS, 17 February 2022 The Archives of IT (AIT) held a two-hour seminar on 17 February 2022 in collaboration with the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Computer Conservation Society (CCS). It was entitled ‘Learning from History: Reflections on the past and future of the British IT Industry’. … Continue reading History Lessons: 250 Years of the IT Industry in Britain

Could History be the New, New Thing? Archiving

Could History be the New, New Thing: Archiving Could it be that the digerati are beginning to wonder about the origins of such ‘innovations’ as video communication, AI, remote work, and more? Are they discovering that all these innovations have a long history in the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs)?  These questions arose … Continue reading Could History be the New, New Thing? Archiving

Six Benefits of Academics Working with Government

The Value of Academics Working with Government: Lessons from Collaboration on Cybersecurity  William H. Dutton with Carolin Weisser Harris  Six of the benefits of academics collaborating with government include realising the value of: 1) complementary perspectives and knowledge sets; 2) different communication skills and styles; 3) distributing the load; 4) different time scales; 5) generating … Continue reading Six Benefits of Academics Working with Government

Reading and Endorsing ‘Elements of Style’

Reposting from 2018 Looking into one of my College’s hallway recycling bins, as one does, I found a fourth edition paperback of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Arguably, for my generation, as Strunk died the year before I was born, this has been one of the most useful and inspiring books for any … Continue reading Reading and Endorsing ‘Elements of Style’

Engaging Academia in Cybersecurity Research

Engaging Academia in Cybersecurity Research  Across most academic fields, researchers are increasingly focused on outreach to relevant practitioner and policy communities. It can sharpen their sense of the key questions but also enable their research to have greater application and impact. In contrast, within the field of cybersecurity, policy and practitioners from governmental, non-governmental organizations … Continue reading Engaging Academia in Cybersecurity Research

Communicate! Reach Out, Inform, and Entertain

Communicate! Reach Out, Inform, and Entertain Way too much talk, research, and handwringing are all about how to stop people from seeing or believing disinformation, such as the latest conspiracy theories. But pushing governments and platforms or anyone to censor information is not only ineffective in the digital age, but also likely to be dysfunctional … Continue reading Communicate! Reach Out, Inform, and Entertain

How the #Infodemic is being Tackled

The fight against conspiracy theories and other fake news about the coronavirus crisis is receiving more help from the social media and other tech platforms, as a number of thought leaders have argued.[1] However, in my opinion, a more important factor has been more successful outreach by governmental, industry, and academic researchers. Too often, the research … Continue reading How the #Infodemic is being Tackled

Poster-first Presentations: The Rise of Poster Sessions on Academic Research

Times have changed. In the early years of my career as an academic, the poster session used to be sort of a second class offer for presenting at an academic conference. That is no longer the case. Newer generations of academics are trained and attuned to creating posters and infographics to explain and communicate their … Continue reading Poster-first Presentations: The Rise of Poster Sessions on Academic Research