SPRU Seminar Series 2013
Social Research in the Digital Age
The use of the internet in social policy research is not new, but the increasing use of social media and development of online research methods is changing the way researchers work. This raises questions about our professional identities as researchers (what kind of online presence do we have?); ethical issues around new ways of researching (are the implications of answering researchers’ questions online fully understood? who can’t/won’t participate?); and questions about the communication and impact of research findings (do we need new ways of measuring impact? are we reaching new audiences?).
The seminar series will cover:
- Having an online presence as an academic
- the potential for generating ideas, building networks, fostering collaborations
- Conducting research
- online methods, their uses and ethical issues
- Communication and impact
- interactive and multimedia final reports, use of social media such as twitter and blogs, new types of peer review and ways of measuring impact.
Over the course of the series we will hear from researchers who have an active online research presence and/or experience of using social media in their research work; those who have used online methods in social research; and those who are engaged in new forms of dissemination.
When?
SPRU seminars are usually the first Tuesday of every month 1.15-2.15pm, starting Tuesday 5th February 2013. There will not be a seminar in August.
Seminar programme
Crowd-sourcing, blogging and blagging: using social media to engage and impact on practice and policy
Martin Webber, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York - link to further information
Tuesday 5 February 2013 - Room A019/020, Alcuin College A Block, 1.15-2.15pm
Listen to Martin Webber's talk.
** This seminar has been cancelled **
Hard-to-reach youth online: methodological advances in self-harm research
Elizabeth McDermott, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York - link to further information
Tuesday 5 March 2013 - Room A019/020, Alcuin College A Block, 1.15-2.15pm
Exploring the experience of chronic illness through online methods: methodological and ethical reflections
Neil Coulson, Deputy Chair, Division of Health Psychology/Associate Professor of Health Psychology, Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nottingham
** Tuesday 16 April 2013 ** - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm - change of date
PDF of seminar presentation (645 KB)
Tweeted! Using social media to promote your research: a personal tale
Melissa Terras, Department of Information Studies, University College London and Co-director of the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities
Tuesday 7 May 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
PDF of seminar presentation (1.50 MB)
Social media from a funder’s perspective
Jonathan Connor, Senior Digital Communications Manager, Economic and Social Research Council
Tuesday 4 June 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
PDF of seminar presentation (1.19 MB)
Audio available of presentation:
Using blogging and Twitter in research
Ian Robson, Northumbria University
Tuesday 2 July 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
Ethical issues in online research (provisional title)
Claire Hewson, Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University
Tuesday 3 September 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
10 steps to using digital scholarship in research
Martin Weller, Professor of Educational Technology, Open University
Tuesday 1 October 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
Research at the edge of politics: blogging about 'inequalities'
Ben Baumberg, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent - link to further information
Tuesday 5 November 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
Using qualitative digital methodology in social research (provisional title)
Bella Dicks, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Tuesday 3 December 2013 - ARRC Auditorium, 1.15-2.15pm
For further information please contact:
Kate Gridley kate.gridley@york.ac.uk or
Jenni Brooks jenni.brooks@york.ac.uk
Social Policy Research Unit,
University of York
Telephone 01904 321950.
Alternatively, to receive a monthly email alert of each seminar, please email: teresa.frank@york.ac.uk
Link to SPRU seminar series 2012
Link to SPRU seminar series 2011
Link to SPRU seminar series 2010
Link to SPRU seminar series 2009
Link to SPRU seminar series 2008
