Recent Chinese concerns over ‘Twitter Foreign Policy” are just the tip of the iceberg on the ways in which the Internet has been enabling diplomacy to be reconfigured, for better or worse. Over a decade ago, Richard Grant, a diplomat from New Zealand, addressed these issues in a paper I helped him with at the … Continue reading Twitter Foreign Policy and the Rise of Digital Diplomacy
Internet
Email Disrupting Life at Home?
Email Disrupting Life at Home? Careful What You Ask For In France and other nations there is discussion of somehow banning email after 6pm or outside of working hours. For example, see here. Perhaps this could help provide a better work-life balance or prevent households from competing with email for the attention of their family. … Continue reading Email Disrupting Life at Home?
10th Anniversary of OII’s DPhil in Information, Communication & the Social Sciences
It was a real honour today to speak with some of the alumni (a new word for Oxford) of the Oxford Internet Institute’s DPhil programme. A number came together to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the DPhil. It began four seemingly long years after I became the OII’s founding director in 2002. So while I … Continue reading 10th Anniversary of OII’s DPhil in Information, Communication & the Social Sciences
Joining Editorial Board of Internet Histories
Delighted to be joining the editorial board of an exciting new journal, Internet Histories: Digital Technology, Culture & Society. You may have seen a special issue of Information & Culture that I helped edit and contributed to: Guest Editor: Haigh, T., Russell, A. and Dutton, W. H. (2015) (eds), ‘Histories of the Internet’, special issue for the … Continue reading Joining Editorial Board of Internet Histories
Trapped in the Web of Forms
Trapped in a Web of Online Forms Most handwringing over the Internet is focused on social media and worries over the decline of civility, such as with online bullying or harassment. It might be that this focus misses one of the most worrying trends online for me, which is the migration of interpersonal communication to … Continue reading Trapped in the Web of Forms
Pursuing a Career and a Higher Degree? Désirée Did
As an academic, I often meet people with successful careers who are contemplating a return to the classroom, such as to get an advanced degree - writing a thesis for an MA or PhD. For most, it remains a dream – but a colleague of mine – Désirée Miloshevic – who works in the Internet … Continue reading Pursuing a Career and a Higher Degree? Désirée Did
Opportunities for CNN and Candidates in the First Democratic Party Debate
Five candidates are preparing for the CNN debate to be held in Las Vegas on 13 October 2015: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, but also Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee. There are two likely outcomes. The first is an opportunity to actually debate the issues. The previous Fox and CNN debates failed to engage … Continue reading Opportunities for CNN and Candidates in the First Democratic Party Debate
A New Approach to Presidential Debates by Tracy Westen and Bill Dutton
Multimedia Convergence: A New Approach to Presidential Debates “A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.” “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves … Continue reading A New Approach to Presidential Debates by Tracy Westen and Bill Dutton
A Dirty Dozen: 12 Reasons Candidates and Networks Fail to Move Presidential Debates Online by Tracy Westen and Bill Dutton
At a time when the 16 GOP candidates are preparing for televised debates on August 6, 2015, in which each candidate might get about 5-10 total minutes of air time, without significant time for rebuttals or follow-up questions, it is appropriate to ask: Why aren’t the debates moving online? The Internet could provide a platform … Continue reading A Dirty Dozen: 12 Reasons Candidates and Networks Fail to Move Presidential Debates Online by Tracy Westen and Bill Dutton
New MSU Course: Social Dynamics of the Internet
This fall semester at MSU, I'll be teaching a new course MI 401, which is right at the center of my work over the last decade, if not my entire career. It is entitled 'Social Dynamics of the Internet' - the latest incarnation of a course I designed in 1980 on the social dynamics of … Continue reading New MSU Course: Social Dynamics of the Internet