Information School News

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has been elected  Vice-Chair of the IAMCR Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group for the 2021-25 period. The International Association for Media and Communications Research (IAMCR) is the preeminent worldwide professional organisation in the field of media and communication research. The Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group aims at providing a forum for scholars researching the mediation of political and economic crisis and 'scandals', wars and terrorism, disasters, catastrophes and risks, combining global and local perspectives.

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly was recently published in The Conversation, with a piece about the role of social media in Northern Ireland's recent wave of protests and riots. The piece, entitled 'Twelfth of July: How to responsibly follow Northern Ireland’s summer of protest on social media', can be read here:  https://theconversation.com/twelfth-of-july-how-to-responsibly-follow-northern-irelands-summer-of-protest-on-social-media-163775

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly will give a talk entitled  Digital Contention in a divided society: social media, parades and protests in Northern Ireland on the 25th February, 4-5pm, for the Interdisciplinary Digital Research Group at Dublin City University. The talk is part of their 2021 Hybrid Research Seminar Series, featuring new books and research projects in the interdisciplinary space of humanities and social sciences. How are platforms such as Facebook and Twitter used by citizens to frame contentious parades and protests in ‘post-conflict’ Northern Ireland? What do these contentious episodes tell us about the potential of information and communication technologies to promote positive intergroup contact in the deeply divided society? These are the questions addressed in the talk. Register to attend this event (via Zoom) here: https://dcu-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lHqPCJ4LRoO-bl-thpOUfw

 A new article has been published today in the Journal of Social Media for Learning, authored by PhD student Paul Fenn and Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly. The article, entitled 'Problematising the use of Snapchat in Higher Education Teaching and Learning' can be found here:  https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/JSML/article/view/383 Abstract: There has been relatively little research exploring how Snapchat can be used within Higher Education teaching to date. In this viewpoint, we draw on extant empirical data to explore the strengths and weaknesses of using the Instant Messaging (IM) app to support student learning and teaching within universities. We conclude by considering whether it is appropriate to fully integrate apps like Snapchat into Higher Education in light of the revelations of data misuse by these platforms. The growth of ‘surveillance realism’, whereby citizens feel increasingly powerless at their personal data being repurposed by these companies for financ...

Book on Social Media Research Ethics contracted with SAGE Dr Paul Reilly Doing Ethical Social Media Research, contracted with SAGE, due 2022. Yesterday I received the contract for my next book. ‘Doing Ethical Social Media Research’ will be published by SAGE in 2022. This book will explore the foundations of ethical decision-making, the perspectives of researchers on how to conduct ethical social media research, and how to address these issues when researching high-risk contexts and contentious issues. The book will be a hybrid research methods text aimed at students, researchers and anybody with an interest in social media research. It will include summaries of key issues and exercises for those wanting to learn more about digital research ethics. Many thanks to Michael Ainsley at SAGE for all his help in getting this contract over the line, and for the thoughtful and generous feedback of all the reviewers. I look forward to working on this project with Michael and the team in 2021. I ...

Media: Dr Paul Reilly on the BBC talking about #fakenews  During the pandemic, our Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has seen a lot of interest in his specialism of fake news in social media. Dr Reilly was featured on the BBC this week discussing Twitter's decision to classify some of Donald Trump's Tweets as 'unsubstantiated'. You can read more about his appearances on his blog here. If you would like to speak to any of our academic staff about their research areas please contact our Marketing Officer.

Faced with an ‘infodemic’ of fake news about Covid-19, most people are checking their facts – but we mustn’t be complacent Dr Paul Reilly Photo by  Hello I'm Nik 🎞  on  Unsplash As fake news spreads about Covid-19, early evidence suggest that most people are responding sensibly, and double-checking the information they receive. However, given trust in journalism remains low, it remains vital, argues Paul Reilly, that we all act responsibility, and verify what we read and watch. Read Dr Reilly's article in the Democratic Audit here.

Long live local journalism: the 'first responders' in the fight against COVID-19 fake news  Dr Paul Reilly There has been much ‘fake news’ about COVID-19 over the past month. This has included disinformation about the virus being ‘manufactured’ in the US, as well as false claims that drinking methanol and bleach cures its victims. While there is certainly some evidence to suggest that social media are turbocharging the sharing of this false information amongst citizens across the globe, politicians have also contributed to misinformation about the pandemic through their media appearances. Most notably, President Donald Trump has repeatedly misled US citizens about the availability of vaccines and the effectiveness of new treatments in his daily televised news briefings. Closer to home, Cabinet Ministers have also made a number of false or misleading statements to the press. In the past week, Michael Gove erroneously claimed that efforts to ramp up COVID-19 testing ...

Dr Paul Reilly featured in Forge Press  Senior Lecturer in Social Media and Digital Society, Dr Paul Reilly, has been featured in Forge Press. Dr Reilly, whose research focuses on the study of online political communication, is quoted in a feature around social media and censorship. You can read the feature here on page 12.

New Article: Entitled ‘PSNIRA vs. peaceful protesters? YouTube, ‘sousveillance’ and the policing of the union flag protests' by Dr Paul Reilly Dr Paul Reilly, Senior Lecturer in Social Media & Digital Society, has a new article in the journal First Monday out today. Entitled ‘PSNIRA vs. peaceful protesters? YouTube, ‘sousveillance’ and the policing of the union flag protests,’ it explores how Youtubers responded to footage of alleged police brutality during the union flag protests in Northern Ireland between December 2012 and March 2013. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of 1,586 comments posted under 36 ‘sousveillance’ videos, Dr Reilly argues that responses to these videos were shaped by competing narratives on the legitimacy of police actions during the flag protests. This footage focussed attention on the anti-social behaviour of the protesters rather than the alleged police brutality referred to in the video descriptions. The paper concludes by considering the proble...

Smart cities refer to urban areas where the power of ICTs is leveraged in order to provide more efficient services to local residents. They typically benefit urban populations at the expense of rural communities where ICT development is inhibited by the poor return on investment (ROI) of such structures. These challenges and opportunities for the global community were a major talking point during the 2019 World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva, Switzerland. Our recent policy brief explored the development of smart cities primarily through the prism of gender inequality and identified the urban-rural digital divide as a barrier towards the development of future smart cities. Calls for developing smart villages aim to address this gap; however, such initiatives are unlikely to replicate the success of the smart city framework in light of these digital divides. Digital divides within digitally connected cities persist between affluent and less wealthy comm...

In April this year, I attended the 10 th World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, Switzerland. as part of the Faculty of Social Sciences' Global Leadership Initiative (GLI). I represented the Information School as a Policy Analyst in a team of eight students led by Dr. Suay Ozkula (Sociological Studies) and Dr. Paul Reilly (Information School). WSIS is a United Nations (UN) multi-stakeholder global forum that promotes the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a focus on “ICTs for development”, the Summit identified global trends and new partnerships to help achieve the SDGs. In addition to attending various sessions during the week-long Summit, we worked on blogs and policy briefs on our topics of interest, which were later published on Global Policy Opinion . The team also had an opportunity to deliver our own panel during the event. ICTs in the University Environment – 7 Case Studies saw ea...

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has had an article co-authored with Bournemouth University colleagues Anastasia Veneti and Darren Lilleker published in Journalism . The article entitled ‘Photographing the Battlefield: the role of ideology in photojournalist practices during the anti-austerity protests in Greece’ can be accessed here .

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly is pleased to report that his chapter written with Faith Gordon , ‘Digital weapons in a post-conflict society’, has been published in ‘ Anti-Social Media ', a volume edited by John Mair, Richard Tait and Tor Clark. A copy of the chapter can be downloaded here .

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly and Research Associate Dr. Ioanna Tantanasi have published an article entitled ‘Social media’s not all bad- it’s saving lives in disaster zones ‘ for the Conversation UK last week. The piece draws on their  CascEff and IMPROVER work on social media and crisis communication. Thanks to Stephen Harris for his editorial support and the invitation to comment on this issue.

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly's written submission to the Fake News Enquiry , entitled ‘Fake news, mis-and disinformation in Northern Ireland,’ has been published by the UK Government Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport Committee . In the submission, Dr Reilly draws on his 17 years of research into digital media and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland to discuss how social media has been used to share mis- and disinformation during contentious episodes, such as the union flag protests and the Ardoyne parade dispute. The submission can be viewed here .

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has had a new article published in the journal School Mental Health. The article, based on research funded by the Wellcome Trust and led by Michelle O’Reilly (Leicester University), focuses on adolescent mental health and is based on data gathered from focus groups conducted with adolescents, mental health practitioners and educational professionals. The article is available Online First here and the full citation and abstract can be viewed below. O’Reilly, M., Adams, S., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Reilly, P., & Dogra, N. (2018) Whose responsibility is adolescent’s mental health in the UK? The perspectives of key stakeholders, School Mental Health. DOI 10.1007/s12310-018-9263-6 The mental health of adolescents is a salient contemporary issue attracting the attention of policy makers in the UK and other countries. It is important that the roles and responsibilities of agencies are clearly established, particularly those positioned at the forefront of ...

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has published a piece for Democratic Audit UK on the role of social media in the Kingsmill bread video row, which culminated in the resignation of Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff last week. Dr Reilly argues that this incident illustrates how hybrid media logics operate in Northern Ireland, with professional journalists increasingly using social media such as Twitter not only to source stories, but also to hold politicians to account for what they post online. The post can be found here

Dr Ioanna Tantanasi has joined the Information School as a Research Associate. She will work with Work Package leader Dr Paul Reilly on the EU Horizon 2020 project 'IMPROVER.' Ioanna will help develop educational resources for the project and will also be responsible for co-authoring peer-reviewed outputs. We would like to welcome her to the Information School and look forward to working with her over the next nine months.

This week, Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly will be presenting two papers at the MeCCSA conference , which will be held at London South Bank University (10-12 January). The first one builds on Dr Reilly's research on social media and contentious politics in Northern Ireland, with the second based on data collected as part of the Horizon 2020 project IMPROVER . The programme for the conference can be found here and the abstracts of Dr Reilly's two talks can be found below: 1) Reilly, P. Loyalists against Democracy: Assessing the role of social media parody accounts in contentious Northern Irish politics Abstract: Parody accounts on social media have emerged as one of the key focal points for the debate of contentious political issues in Northern Ireland over the past five years. Some commentators have praised these accounts for providing a voice for the ‘silent majority,’ while others have condemned what they view as their crude stereotyping of working-class loyalist communitie...