Information School News

 Despite their many benefits, many of us intrinsically know that social media platforms are not entirely a force for good for human beings and our interactions. Use of social media is often linked with poor mental health, particularly in young people, and the kind of comparison it encourages between peoples’ lives can easily make one feel inferior, and exacerbate existing divides in society. And yet the advantages to these services are such that we continue to engage, perhaps trying to limit our own usage or engage with social media in ways that we deem to be the least damaging. “These platforms have been designed to extract value from our interactions”, says Dr Niall Docherty, Lecturer in Data, AI and Society at the University of Sheffield Information School. “They’re capitalist platforms with an economic incentive at their heart, yet somehow the users have to navigate the pressures and extremes put upon them just by using their own wits.” Dr Docherty’s forthcoming book, ‘ Healthy...

Writer, researcher and Information School PhD student Phoenix C S Andrews has recently signed a book deal with Atlantic Books, who will release Andrews’ book I Heart Politics: Why Fandom Explains What’s Really Going On in 2022. "From Brexit rallies to the Capitol Hill Riot and QAnon to Extinction Rebellion, I Heart Politics argues that to understand what’s really happening behind the headlines we need to think about one overlooked phenomenon: fandom”, the synopsis reads. Whilst this is an area not explicitly related to Phoenix’s PhD study, it’s something that they have been interested in and writing about for some time. Fandoms and politics may not seem obviously linked at first, but at their core, fandoms are about the shared emotional attachments that people have to certain ideas, people or media. For many, this can certainly extend to individual politicians, political parties, campaigns or even politics as a whole, whether or not the fans themselves realise it. “Lots of peopl...

Media: How TikTok got political By Penny CS Andrews   Our PhD Researcher in information, media and communication, Penny CS Andrews, has written a piece for The Conversation.  They discuss how Tik Tok has become a platform for political messages.  You can read their article here.

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.

Head of School Professor Peter Bath and Research Associate Dr Sarah Hargreaves recently wrote an article for The House , Parliament's weekly publication which is distributed to every MP and Peer in Westminster. The House is apolitical and answerable to a cross-Party editorial board. It carries exclusive high profile interviews, unique articles from Parliamentarians and policy information. Professor Bath and Dr Hargreaves wrote an article about their Space for Sharing project , including their new information sheets and the play that has been developed. The publication was distributed today, 11th March. You can read this week's issue here , and the Space for Sharing article here .

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

In 2017 the London School of Economics and Political Sciences Impact Blog received a total of 1,412,929 page views. PhD student Wasim Ahmed built on his 2015 post, which was also ranked among the top read, with a follow up post in 2017. The post was titled: Using Twitter as a data source: an overview of social media research tools (updated for 2017) . The post was ranked amongst most viewed in 2017 as well as being featured in the round up of top posts about communicating research with social media . In 2017 Wasim Ahmed represented the Information School at an expert panel at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) on the importance of promoting research beyond academia. Wasim Ahmed noted that engaging with blog led to increased page views, citations, and interest inside and outside academia related to Wasim’s PhD.

Information School lecturer Chris Foster recently published a new post on the SPERI comment blog entitled " The balancing act of Brexit and digital trade " As the UK leaves the EU it risks a potential ‘digital cliff-edge’. How it navigates its way through global tensions around digital trade rules will orientate the shape of the economy for years to come. This post is part of his ongoing research looking at cross-border data flows and the political economy of digital trade.

MA Librarianship student Lucy Branford-White has been selected as a Policy Analyst to join a team of staff and students going to the G20 summit in Hamburg next month. Lucy has been selected as part of the Faculty of Social Sciences' Global Leadership Initiative, which is part of GLOSS . The 2017 G20 Hamburg summit will be the 12th G20 meeting. It is planned to be held from July 7th to 8th in Hamburg, Germany. G20 was initiated in 1999 and consists of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union (EU). Before the outbreak of global financial crisis in 2008, G20 meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors were held to discuss international financial and monetary policies, reform of international financial institutions and world economic development. The first G20 Leaders' Summit wa...

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has had an article published in a new report on the 2017 UK General Election edited by Einar Thorsen, Dan Jackson and Darren Lilleker from Bournemouth University. This rapid response report features 92 contributions from over 100 UK and international academics. Paul's article presents some preliminary findings from a study of 1,842 tweets posted during the BBC Northern Ireland Leaders’ Debate, which took place a few days before polling day. ‘ It explores the response of Northern Irish tweeters to statements made by the representatives of the main political parties during the debate. The article can be accessed here  and the full report is available to download from here