Wonderful to have an opportunity to catch up with Professor Noriko Hara, currently a professor in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering and the Director of the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington. I met her when she was a graduate student of Rob Kling’s, a former colleague of mine when I was … Continue reading Noriko Hara Visits Oxford
Internet and Everyday Life
Drama in the Zoom Room
A Short Scenario by Ruth Shillair* I have been followed to many online meetings by AI Assistants like Otter, which want to record or summarise my conversations and meetings. The Assistant – let’s called s/him IT - asks to be admitted to the meeting as if IT was one of the invited participants, but I … Continue reading Drama in the Zoom Room
The AI Speed-Up: Expectations and Realities
Dr Ruth Shillair[1] and Bill Dutton Discussion about the potential implications of AI has often focused on the loss of jobs. However, a key impact of AI and AI agents is more around the speed of completing tasks. For instance, before AI, a market analysis of a business idea might take days to a week … Continue reading The AI Speed-Up: Expectations and Realities
Before you Demonize Social Media: Researchers are at Work
Not a day goes by when someone does not blame a problem on social media. A top journalist at The Financial Times wrote about the ‘social media ‘monster’’, in this case focusing on the use of mobile and social media can be addictive for some users (Thornhill 2025). Its squares with common sense, right? Our … Continue reading Before you Demonize Social Media: Researchers are at Work
A Digital ID Card?
The UK Labour Party’s Obsession with a (Digital) ID Card: Time to Reconsider When I returned to the UK in the summer of 2002, to take up an academic position, I was on a panel discussing the adoption of ID Cards. I spoke against an ID Card, immediately after the Home Secretary (at that time) … Continue reading A Digital ID Card?
Short Listening Spans
Short Listening Spans: The Lost Art of Conversation in the Social Media Age? Our world is rich with distractions – maybe too rich. It used to be TV, now blame is more often focused on social media. Many people find it difficult to focus on reading a book or even an email, or writing a … Continue reading Short Listening Spans
Technology, Society, and Power
Technology & Society Meets Power A new book by Professor Jan van Dijk signals a major shift in debate on technology and society – the increasing centrality of power. I’ve endorsed his book, which is aptly entitled Power and Technology (Polity 2024). Jan van Dijk, an emeritus professor at the University of Twente, has been … Continue reading Technology, Society, and Power
Telegram: A Valuable Platform to the People of Ukraine
William H. Dutton and Lisa Chernenko The arrest of Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, has generated a raft of commentaries, generally attacking Durov, Telegram’s moderation policies and its role in Russia. It has been characterized as a ‘platform for the Kremlin to convey its narrative of the war to ordinary Russians’ (Murphy & Klasa 2024; Foy … Continue reading Telegram: A Valuable Platform to the People of Ukraine
A New Way to Video Conference – Badly
Initially I thought I was witnessing an unusual practice. Individuals with whom I was speaking were simultaneously involved in other conversations. Then, when I was part of a team planning and organising an event online – a video conferenced workshop, the organisers set up a social media account for us to communicate with each other … Continue reading A New Way to Video Conference – Badly
Information, Communication, and Innovation Aspects of the War on Ukraine: A Meeting of Early Career Researchers
The Portulans Institute supported the conduct of an Oxford Forum on ‘The Implications of the Russian War in Ukraine for Global Information, Communication, and Cybersecurity’, which was held on 26 January 2024 in a Board Room of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). It was conceived, organized, and chaired by an OII DPhil Candidate, Elizaveta (Lisa) … Continue reading Information, Communication, and Innovation Aspects of the War on Ukraine: A Meeting of Early Career Researchers