Jerome Turner
Birmingham City University, School of Media, Faculty Member
- Hyperlocal News, Hyperlocal Journalism, Citizen Journalism, Ethnography, Civic Engagement, Blogs, Blogging, the Blogosphere, and 16 moreSocial Networks, Social Capital, Qualitative methodology, Political Participation, Research Methodology, Social Media, New Media, Digital Humanities, Community Engagement & Participation, Sociology of Everyday Life, Civic Journalism, Community Media, Participatory Research, Co-creation, Alternate Media, and Community participation and engagementedit
Abstract Hyperlocal media is a form of online, alternative community media created by citizens to service their locality. To date, much of the scholarly work in this area has focused on editorial practice, non-UK contexts, or frames these... more
Abstract
Hyperlocal media is a form of online, alternative community media created by citizens to service their locality. To date, much of the scholarly work in this area has focused on editorial practice, non-UK contexts, or frames these practices as response to receding mainstream local journalism and concerns of civic engagement. In this study I take a different approach, exploring instead the everyday, functional and social contexts which are established in the audience’s highly participatory use of hyperlocal Facebook Pages. I conceptualise such spaces as fields which are integrated both in the individual user’s media ideology, but also amongst a wider sense of overlapping fields of local information and socialities, both online and offline. This work emerges from ethnographic studies of two hyperlocal communities in the West Midlands, in which information was gathered through participant observation, interview, and via an innovative Community Panel approach.
I argue that Facebook Pages play a key role for many people in engaging with their neighbourhoods, but not exclusively so, as I demonstrate their place amongst other sources of information and social life. The Pages benefit from being mediated by their editors to create online spaces that welcome participation partly shaped by the audience’s engagement and contribution, thus creating alternative streams of local information that challenge agendas set out by mainstream media. These become integrated into the everyday practices of the audience, therefore, care must be taken to recognise to what extent the broader experience of the neighbourhood is represented in such online practices, and I argue that certain narratives and discourses of the locality are contributed to and constructed online, and not always helpfully so, as in depictions of crime. Where the audience might challenge such depictions, and hold authority to account (the police, for example), this public sphere ideal is not typically acted through. Whilst this does not bode well for the literature’s hopes for political or civic engagement, this thesis demonstrates that audiences develop such spaces in their own vision, to enact and share a capital of local knowledge and information, sometimes innovating in their own ways using mobile technologies in order to do so. This thesis concludes by saying that such online spaces demonstrate the role of media technologies in everyday life, and the extent to which they are perpetuated and maintained by practitioners and their increasingly capable and enabled audiences.
Hyperlocal media is a form of online, alternative community media created by citizens to service their locality. To date, much of the scholarly work in this area has focused on editorial practice, non-UK contexts, or frames these practices as response to receding mainstream local journalism and concerns of civic engagement. In this study I take a different approach, exploring instead the everyday, functional and social contexts which are established in the audience’s highly participatory use of hyperlocal Facebook Pages. I conceptualise such spaces as fields which are integrated both in the individual user’s media ideology, but also amongst a wider sense of overlapping fields of local information and socialities, both online and offline. This work emerges from ethnographic studies of two hyperlocal communities in the West Midlands, in which information was gathered through participant observation, interview, and via an innovative Community Panel approach.
I argue that Facebook Pages play a key role for many people in engaging with their neighbourhoods, but not exclusively so, as I demonstrate their place amongst other sources of information and social life. The Pages benefit from being mediated by their editors to create online spaces that welcome participation partly shaped by the audience’s engagement and contribution, thus creating alternative streams of local information that challenge agendas set out by mainstream media. These become integrated into the everyday practices of the audience, therefore, care must be taken to recognise to what extent the broader experience of the neighbourhood is represented in such online practices, and I argue that certain narratives and discourses of the locality are contributed to and constructed online, and not always helpfully so, as in depictions of crime. Where the audience might challenge such depictions, and hold authority to account (the police, for example), this public sphere ideal is not typically acted through. Whilst this does not bode well for the literature’s hopes for political or civic engagement, this thesis demonstrates that audiences develop such spaces in their own vision, to enact and share a capital of local knowledge and information, sometimes innovating in their own ways using mobile technologies in order to do so. This thesis concludes by saying that such online spaces demonstrate the role of media technologies in everyday life, and the extent to which they are perpetuated and maintained by practitioners and their increasingly capable and enabled audiences.
Research Interests:
Hyperlocal media is a form of citizen-led, online community media serving at neighbourhood level. Frequently deployed on social media and resulting in high levels of audience participation, we might assume that such spaces enable... more
Hyperlocal media is a form of citizen-led, online community media serving at neighbourhood level. Frequently deployed on social media and resulting in high levels of audience participation, we might assume that such spaces enable residents in a civic and activist mode. This article ethnographically explores hyperlocal audiences to investigate the potential for spaces of public sphere. In studying two Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK, I found that, whilst public opinion was formed over civic matters, often in critique of police or the local councils, the ideal of mobilising to directly challenge such authorities was rarely followed through. I therefore question the value or agency in talking about authority rather than to them. The citizen editors do attempt to encourage activism, but I suggest that audiences become too reliant on their efforts and revert to more passive “clicktivism”. The article also raises concerns that such online spaces offer authorities opportunity for covert monitoring of citizens, at odds with the public sphere ideal. This article therefore informs wider understanding of the nature of participation. Hyperlocal spaces clearly offer functional and social value, but the idea that this equates to a powerful public sphere is challenged.
Research Interests:
Turner, J., & Saber, D. (2021). Understanding factors and barriers to alternative media development in emerging economies: Learning from the Check Global project. First Monday, 26(2). Check Global is a journalism and digital literacy... more
Turner, J., & Saber, D. (2021). Understanding factors and barriers to alternative media development in emerging economies: Learning from the Check Global project. First Monday, 26(2).
Check Global is a journalism and digital literacy development project (2019–2021) supporting countries and regions affected by conflict or state controls. In such contexts, expectations are set high for alternative journalism to accurately counter mainstream media narratives, controlled as they often are by the state; this article presents factors to be taken into consideration as a starting point for better understanding the challenges involved in developing journalism, e.g., through funded training initiatives. The article draws on interviews with prominent alternative and independent media outlets (some of them Check Global partners) from India, Latin America, Egypt and Lebanon, who therefore have operational experience of these issues. By viewing digital and social media through an anti-determinist lens, we challenge assumptions — especially prevalent following the 2011 Arab uprisings — that ‘open access’ and social media platforms can easily provide solutions to media plurality concerns. We explore factors such as the role of technology in alternative media, but also the main barriers faced by alternative media projects and outlets. This article therefore opens up a more honest discussion about the nature of alternative media projects in such contexts, and the ways in which digital literacy projects such as Check Global could support them.
Check Global is a journalism and digital literacy development project (2019–2021) supporting countries and regions affected by conflict or state controls. In such contexts, expectations are set high for alternative journalism to accurately counter mainstream media narratives, controlled as they often are by the state; this article presents factors to be taken into consideration as a starting point for better understanding the challenges involved in developing journalism, e.g., through funded training initiatives. The article draws on interviews with prominent alternative and independent media outlets (some of them Check Global partners) from India, Latin America, Egypt and Lebanon, who therefore have operational experience of these issues. By viewing digital and social media through an anti-determinist lens, we challenge assumptions — especially prevalent following the 2011 Arab uprisings — that ‘open access’ and social media platforms can easily provide solutions to media plurality concerns. We explore factors such as the role of technology in alternative media, but also the main barriers faced by alternative media projects and outlets. This article therefore opens up a more honest discussion about the nature of alternative media projects in such contexts, and the ways in which digital literacy projects such as Check Global could support them.
Research Interests:
Young people’s sexting is an area of increasing concern amongst parents, educationalists and policy makers, yet little research has been conducted with young people themselves to explore their perspectives on the support they need to... more
Young people’s sexting is an area of increasing concern amongst parents, educationalists and policy makers, yet little research has been conducted with young people themselves to explore their perspectives on the support they need to navigate relationships in the new digital media landscape. To address this absence, an inter-disciplinary team of researchers undertook a participatory study with students, aged 13 to 15, in a UK secondary school. This paper outlines key study findings, including young people’s views on sexting, their recommendations for improved education around sexting in schools, their preferred sources of support, and their perspectives on the way adults should respond to young people’s sexting. Findings indicate that sexting education needs to be developed within the context of wider relationship issues, such as gender, power dynamics and trust between peers, and improved communication between students and teachers or other responsible adults. Findings may be used to consider ways of designing and communicating messages around sexting to young people within and beyond educational settings.
Research Interests:
Lee, N., Hewett, A., Rübner Jørgensen, C.H., Turner, J., Wade, A. and Weckesser, A., 2018. Children and sexting: The case for intergenerational co-learning. Childhood, p.0907568218777305. Children’s sexting is presented as an emergent... more
Lee, N., Hewett, A., Rübner Jørgensen, C.H., Turner, J., Wade, A. and Weckesser, A., 2018. Children and sexting: The case for intergenerational co-learning. Childhood, p.0907568218777305.
Children’s sexting is presented as an emergent outcome of technology-based innovation in children’s peer-to-peer relations. We argue that it calls for creative responses that draw on adults’ and children’s understandings and views and on exchanges of these. We describe, and make the case for, intergenerational co-learning as a practice that could foster such creativity, as a pathway for children’s participation in the debate, and as a means by which media regulators, children’s service providers, and social media companies can consider and address their capabilities and responsibilities.
Children’s sexting is presented as an emergent outcome of technology-based innovation in children’s peer-to-peer relations. We argue that it calls for creative responses that draw on adults’ and children’s understandings and views and on exchanges of these. We describe, and make the case for, intergenerational co-learning as a practice that could foster such creativity, as a pathway for children’s participation in the debate, and as a means by which media regulators, children’s service providers, and social media companies can consider and address their capabilities and responsibilities.
Research Interests:
Increased interest in hyperlocal news has led to growing evidence of its economic value, its ability to play traditional democratic roles associated with news, and its merits and deficiencies in comparison with the outputs of a declining... more
Increased interest in hyperlocal news has led to growing evidence of its economic value, its ability to play traditional democratic roles associated with news, and its merits and deficiencies in comparison with the outputs of a declining established commercial news industry. Given many hyperlocal producers cite the desire to play a role in producing better communities, this paper breaks new ground in examining the social and cultural dimensions of hyperlocal journalism’s news-making,
community-building, and place-making roles. We examine this emergent cultural form’s affinity with telling stories, and enabling conversations, about civic and political concerns, but also its affinity with, and celebration of, the banal everyday. Employing the novel theoretical concept of reciprocal journalism, we provide new evidence about the mutually reinforcing online, and offline, practices that underpin relationships between producers and the communities they inhabit and
represent. Drawing on evidence from the most extensive multi-method study of UK hyperlocal news to date, it demonstrates the different kinds of direct and indirect reciprocal exchange practices common in community news, and shows how such work, often composed of journalistic and community-activist practices, can enable and foster relationships of sustained reciprocity which improve and strengthen both hyperlocal news and the communities it serves.
community-building, and place-making roles. We examine this emergent cultural form’s affinity with telling stories, and enabling conversations, about civic and political concerns, but also its affinity with, and celebration of, the banal everyday. Employing the novel theoretical concept of reciprocal journalism, we provide new evidence about the mutually reinforcing online, and offline, practices that underpin relationships between producers and the communities they inhabit and
represent. Drawing on evidence from the most extensive multi-method study of UK hyperlocal news to date, it demonstrates the different kinds of direct and indirect reciprocal exchange practices common in community news, and shows how such work, often composed of journalistic and community-activist practices, can enable and foster relationships of sustained reciprocity which improve and strengthen both hyperlocal news and the communities it serves.
Research Interests:
Hyperlocal media is a form of online community news usually (in the UK at least) run by citizens, offering local information to residents in a village, town or city. Research has thus far typically been framed within journalism studies,... more
Hyperlocal media is a form of online community news usually (in the UK at least) run by citizens, offering local information to residents in a village, town or city. Research has thus far typically been framed within journalism studies, discourses of social change, citizen journalism and civic engagement, and has focused on practitioners. Quantitative audience studies have been useful in identifying reader motivations and uses, but richer work
exploring everyday narratives is lacking. This paper draws on ethnographic work (online, observing a Facebook page, and offline, attending community events and interviewing audience members) in order to explore the uses and value of such media for the audience of residents. The paper focuses on one aspect of this media, banal stories about lost pets, and suggests that hyperlocal media offers a unique but sometimes problematic platform for community discussions in which readers and editors work together to source, write and share online content to a collaborative end. This paper demonstrates through this prism of animal stories the value of hyperlocal media in offering unique opportunities for residents to be heard and participate within their communities, whilst appreciating the tensions inherent in such an editorially and technologically mediated online space.
exploring everyday narratives is lacking. This paper draws on ethnographic work (online, observing a Facebook page, and offline, attending community events and interviewing audience members) in order to explore the uses and value of such media for the audience of residents. The paper focuses on one aspect of this media, banal stories about lost pets, and suggests that hyperlocal media offers a unique but sometimes problematic platform for community discussions in which readers and editors work together to source, write and share online content to a collaborative end. This paper demonstrates through this prism of animal stories the value of hyperlocal media in offering unique opportunities for residents to be heard and participate within their communities, whilst appreciating the tensions inherent in such an editorially and technologically mediated online space.
Research Interests:
The public interest value of news is often viewed through the prism of its relationship to democracy. In this respect news should act as: a source of accurate and plural information for citizens; a watchdog on elites; a mediator and/or... more
The public interest value of news is often viewed through the prism of its relationship to democracy. In this respect news should act as: a source of accurate and plural information for citizens; a watchdog on elites; a mediator and/or representative of communities; and as an advocate of the public in campaigning terms. All of these roles are under pressure in the United Kingdom’s commercial local news sector. This has led many to speculate, often without evidence, that the output of a new generation of (mainly online) hyperlocal citizen news producers might (at least partially) play some of these roles. To test this assumption, we completed 34 semi-structured interviews with producers, the largest content analysis to date of UK hyperlocal news content (1941 posts on 313 sites), and the largest ever survey of UK community news practitioners (183 responses). We found that these sites produce a good deal of news about community activities, local politics, civic life and local business. Official news sources get a strong platform, but the public (local citizens, community groups) get more of a say than in much mainstream local news. Although there was little balanced coverage in the traditional sense, many community journalists have developed alternative strategies to foster and inform plural debate around contentious local issues. The majority of hyperlocal news producers cover community campaigns and a significant minority have initiated their own. We also found that critical public-interest investigations are carried out by a (surprisingly) large number of community news producers.
Research Interests:
In recent years, a new wave of hyperlocal community news websites has developed in the United Kingdom (UK), with many taking advantage of new opportunities provided by free open-source publishing platforms. Given the trend in the UK... more
In recent years, a new wave of hyperlocal community news websites has developed in the United Kingdom (UK), with many taking advantage of new opportunities provided by free open-source publishing platforms. Given the trend in the UK newspaper industry towards closure and retrenchment of their local and regional press titles, it is perhaps understandable that policy-makers have shifted their gaze to these sites. This article examines the viability of hyperlocal news services with a particular focus on those that are independently owned and managed. Such operations often have a longevity that sits in contrast to a number of failed attempts by major media organisations to operate in the hyperlocal space. Yet many of the business models that underpin these sites seem precarious, often benefiting from a degree of self-exploitation. Drawing on 35 interviews with hyperlocal news publishers from across the UK, this article argues that publishers draw upon a civic discourse in order to make sense of their practice. This framing may limit the potential to develop economic sustainability and risks alienating policy-makers keen to work with an idealised “fictive” hyperlocal entrepreneur.
Research Interests:
This chapter explores the nature of hyperlocal media content on UK Facebook Pages and Groups and how audiences read and use it. We specifically explore this in relation to discourses of fake news and misinformation in mainstream media,... more
This chapter explores the nature of hyperlocal media content on UK Facebook Pages and Groups and how audiences read and use it. We specifically explore this in relation to discourses of fake news and misinformation in mainstream media, noting the risks of open, citizen-led, participatory platforms such as Facebook. The chapter draws on two ethnographic studies of local Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK, including analysis of posts and interactions and interviews with editors and audience members. We discuss factors likely to engender trust in the shared content in these spaces: the editors’ identity as peer residents of the neighbourhood, online and offline; the audience’s moulding of the spaces in their own vision, as they source stories for inclusion. The risks emerge when we recognise that the editors are unable to monitor all interactions and resulting Facebook comments, even if a story started with their initial “facts” – thus, a competency-based trust model (trusting in someone’s shared experience or reliability) must be considered alongside an integrity-based trust model (trusting someone’s motivation). Therefore, we recognise the potential for “fake news” in such platforms, even at a local, everyday level, but also that mainstream media might learn from practices and approaches in hyperlocal media that largely engender trust.
Research Interests:
Newsworthiness has historically been understood through studying mainstream news content. But in alternative forms of community media, the audience has agency to determine the output. This chapter investigates news value from their... more
Newsworthiness has historically been understood through studying mainstream news content. But in alternative forms of community media, the audience has agency to determine the output. This chapter investigates news value from their perspective. Studies of newsworthiness and shareability are first introduced, before focussing on the field of ‘hyperlocal media’. The chapter then draws on ethnographic fieldwork from two UK neighbourhoods with highly participatory local Facebook Pages, spaces of local knowledge and information maintained and shared by the audience, demonstrating their investment in certain story types and local subject matter. The chapter closes by recognising how audiences share content based on what they deem to be immediately functional, but also socially valuable, and how such insights might prove useful to the wider field of journalism.
Research Interests:
As the internet has evolved through the emergence of social media, so too have the communicative practices of The Archers listeners. Many of them now use Twitter to comment, discuss the show or participate in the omnibus episode... more
As the internet has evolved through the emergence of social media, so too have the communicative practices of The Archers listeners. Many of them now use Twitter to comment, discuss the show or participate in the omnibus episode ‘tweetalong’. Primarily, this chapter recognises the hundred-plus Twitter accounts which have been created by listeners to authentically roleplay characters, organisations, animals and even objects from the show. I frame these practices and ground the chapter in academic discourses of ‘fan fiction’. Reflecting on my own activity as @borsetpolice, I look at the role and place of this fan fiction from the individual practitioner’s perspective but also the wider listener base. In this chapter, I develop an argument that these practices contribute towards the community of listeners online, as well as the show itself. I explore the types of activities and accounts involved, where they often focus around major storylines, and then reflect in detail on the individual’s motivations and practice. I situate this in terms of an opportunity to become involved in an online community that aspires towards everyday rural ideals, and how this can be understood as a significant affective experience for listeners. This need for escapism into ‘banal’ worlds, the desire to participate, and the sense that fan fiction is a game that we take part in are also drawn out as significant.
Turner, J., 2017. Being@ borsetpolice: Autoethnographic Reflections on Archers Fan Fiction on Twitter. In Custard, Culverts and Cake: Academics on Life in The Archers (pp. 283-304). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Turner, J., 2017. Being@ borsetpolice: Autoethnographic Reflections on Archers Fan Fiction on Twitter. In Custard, Culverts and Cake: Academics on Life in The Archers (pp. 283-304). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Research Interests:
Co-author with Giota Alevizou, Katerina Alexiou, Dave Harte, Shawn Sobers, and Theodore Zamenopoulos. The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the... more
Co-author with Giota Alevizou, Katerina Alexiou, Dave Harte, Shawn Sobers, and Theodore Zamenopoulos.
The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the contemporary struggle to re-make democratic institutions and procedures in an age of 'monitory democracy' (Keane 2009), taking full advantage of the 'super-abundance' of digital social media, whilst also recognising and managing the civic limitations of these communications technologies at a time when conventional, mainstream politics appears to be in sustained decline.
The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the contemporary struggle to re-make democratic institutions and procedures in an age of 'monitory democracy' (Keane 2009), taking full advantage of the 'super-abundance' of digital social media, whilst also recognising and managing the civic limitations of these communications technologies at a time when conventional, mainstream politics appears to be in sustained decline.
Research Interests:
Co-author on this book chapter with Catherine Greene, Shawn Sobers, Theo Zamenopoulos and Caroline Chapain , as part of the Creative Citizens Unbound book. The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative... more
Co-author on this book chapter with Catherine Greene, Shawn Sobers, Theo Zamenopoulos and Caroline Chapain , as part of the Creative Citizens Unbound book.
The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the contemporary struggle to re-make democratic institutions and procedures in an age of 'monitory democracy' (Keane 2009), taking full advantage of the 'super-abundance' of digital social media, whilst also recognising and managing the civic limitations of these communications technologies at a time when conventional, mainstream politics appears to be in sustained decline.
The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the contemporary struggle to re-make democratic institutions and procedures in an age of 'monitory democracy' (Keane 2009), taking full advantage of the 'super-abundance' of digital social media, whilst also recognising and managing the civic limitations of these communications technologies at a time when conventional, mainstream politics appears to be in sustained decline.
Research Interests:
Lead author on this book chapter with Dan Lockton and Jon Dovey , as part of the Creative Citizens Unbound book. The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of... more
Lead author on this book chapter with Dan Lockton and Jon Dovey , as part of the Creative Citizens Unbound book.
The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the contemporary struggle to re-make democratic institutions and procedures in an age of 'monitory democracy' (Keane 2009), taking full advantage of the 'super-abundance' of digital social media, whilst also recognising and managing the civic limitations of these communications technologies at a time when conventional, mainstream politics appears to be in sustained decline.
The Creative Citizen Unbound explores the nature and value of creative citizenship and examines its place at the heart of the contemporary struggle to re-make democratic institutions and procedures in an age of 'monitory democracy' (Keane 2009), taking full advantage of the 'super-abundance' of digital social media, whilst also recognising and managing the civic limitations of these communications technologies at a time when conventional, mainstream politics appears to be in sustained decline.
Research Interests:
Since the mid-2000s, ‘hyperlocal’ has been identified as an emergent form of web-based, locally-focussed journalism practice that is seen to be playing an important role in offering news content that is “grounded in local, hermeneutic... more
Since the mid-2000s, ‘hyperlocal’ has been identified as an emergent form of web-based, locally-focussed journalism practice that is seen to be playing an important role in offering news content that is “grounded in local, hermeneutic knowledge,” (Jones and Salter 2012: 96). Much research has focused on the civic value of hyperlocal (Metzgar et al. 2011, Kurpius 2010) with claims made about its ability to “make a distinctive contribution to local social capital, cohesion and civic involvement” (Flouch and Harris 2010: 6). This potential has been explored in a strand of a major Connected Communities project focused on the notion of “Creative Citizenship”, building on John Hartley’s discussions of the impact on citizenship of new media technologies whereby “‘ordinary’ people, using ‘new’ media produce discursive associative relations” (Hartley 2010: 245). This chapter draws on case study work undertaken on the Castle Vale estate in East Birmingham. ‘The Vale’ as it is known locally has been the subject of significant urban regeneration initiatives since the early 90s, the area having by then gained “a negative perception by residents and other communities” (Coatham & Martinali 2010: 91). Community Media has played a role in addressing these perceptions through the funding of a community radio station, hyperlocal website and a newspaper. Through interviews with residents and the community media organisation the chapter offers insight into the precariousness of such operations and reveals ways in which assumptions about the democratizing function of such media come up against the tensions over representation that exist between readers and producers. The chapter offers a critical account of how research into ‘connected communities’ needs to take account of the ‘banality’ of everyday activism by citizens sensitive to what David Parker and Christian Karner describe as externally-imposed “negative reputational geographies” (2011:309).
Research Interests:
Conference presentation at Global Fact 9, June 2022: https://www.poynter.org/global-fact-9/ Check Global is a media literacy development program, currently operating in 26 countries across North Africa Western Asia, Latin America,... more
Conference presentation at Global Fact 9, June 2022:
https://www.poynter.org/global-fact-9/
Check Global is a media literacy development program, currently operating in 26 countries across North Africa Western Asia, Latin America, SubSaharan Africa and the APAC region. It is led by Meedan, a technology non-profit company that builds software and programs to strengthen global journalism, digital literacy and equal access to quality information in the Global South, in collaboration with researchers based at Birmingham City University. Such tools and initiatives are aimed at journalists, activists and civil society organisations that document, verify and moderate online content. By default, this typically involves fact-checkers being exposed to large volumes of graphic imagery depicting conflict and hate speech. Efforts by large technology companies to mitigate the harm caused by such content through automation and algorithms, and/or human-led content moderation techniques (which presents itself with its own set of ethical issues) is relatively well-known and well documented (Roberts, 2019; Gillespie, 2020; Oliva, 2020, etc.). We know less about the experiences of fact-checkers in smaller grassroot organisations, and the kinds of support they might have access to.
Drawing on ethnographic interviews with Check Global partners in two of its areas of focus (NAWA and APAC), this paper is an exploration of grassroot practices around issues of individual and grassroot fact-checker / content moderator safety - mental, emotional, and/or physical. After an initial mapping of the main challenges they face, we investigate potential solutions or mitigations for helping them deal with such issues in their everyday practice. These might be technology interventions or new approaches currently being trialed within civil society groups - ultimately, this paper aims at advocating for a more productive engagement with issues of mental health and physical safety for grassroot fact-checkers and content moderators within the global tech and human rights funding ecosystem.
https://www.poynter.org/global-fact-9/
Check Global is a media literacy development program, currently operating in 26 countries across North Africa Western Asia, Latin America, SubSaharan Africa and the APAC region. It is led by Meedan, a technology non-profit company that builds software and programs to strengthen global journalism, digital literacy and equal access to quality information in the Global South, in collaboration with researchers based at Birmingham City University. Such tools and initiatives are aimed at journalists, activists and civil society organisations that document, verify and moderate online content. By default, this typically involves fact-checkers being exposed to large volumes of graphic imagery depicting conflict and hate speech. Efforts by large technology companies to mitigate the harm caused by such content through automation and algorithms, and/or human-led content moderation techniques (which presents itself with its own set of ethical issues) is relatively well-known and well documented (Roberts, 2019; Gillespie, 2020; Oliva, 2020, etc.). We know less about the experiences of fact-checkers in smaller grassroot organisations, and the kinds of support they might have access to.
Drawing on ethnographic interviews with Check Global partners in two of its areas of focus (NAWA and APAC), this paper is an exploration of grassroot practices around issues of individual and grassroot fact-checker / content moderator safety - mental, emotional, and/or physical. After an initial mapping of the main challenges they face, we investigate potential solutions or mitigations for helping them deal with such issues in their everyday practice. These might be technology interventions or new approaches currently being trialed within civil society groups - ultimately, this paper aims at advocating for a more productive engagement with issues of mental health and physical safety for grassroot fact-checkers and content moderators within the global tech and human rights funding ecosystem.
Research Interests:
Conference paper presented at: Association for Journalism Conference 2022 https://ajeuk.org/book-aje-summer-conference-2022-tickets-now-available/ Abstract: This paper is an autoethnographic account of teaching Tiktok journalism to... more
Conference paper presented at:
Association for Journalism Conference 2022
https://ajeuk.org/book-aje-summer-conference-2022-tickets-now-available/
Abstract:
This paper is an autoethnographic account of teaching Tiktok journalism to second-year students, when I had never used the social media platform myself, and the shared learning experience that ensued.
In previous years, the Disruptive Publishing module I taught on had included a fortnight on ‘sequential storytelling’, exploring how Instagram and Snapchat ‘stories’ could be applied and approached as news media. In 2021, it was appropriate to add Tiktok to the list, given its increasing popularity. The first challenge for our students was in reframing and experimenting with Tiktok beyond their understanding of it as an everyday ‘youth culture’ and celebrity platform (Kennedy, 2020), to one that could be used to engage news audiences (Vázquez-Herrero et al., 2020)
My own experience of Tiktok was in watching my own children glued to the seemingly inane and banal constant stream of videos. Having a background in online video and social media production, I prepared for my classroom sessions by downloading the app, but felt culturally and technologically adrift. Rather than struggle with this alone, I instead opted to embrace this position treated the classroom experience as one of co-learning: the students would teach me about Tiktok itself, and together we would consider how practices and standards of journalism could be applied there. We explored how to use the platform in ways that still ‘felt’ like Tiktok videos, and would be likely to engage audiences, but performed a journalistic role; many of the students having used Tiktok passively before, but never created their own content.
Therefore, this paper explores how a teacher can embrace such a positionality of ‘not knowing’, to create collaborative learning spaces and experiences, and use such disruptive technologies to explore the wider nature of news media.
Association for Journalism Conference 2022
https://ajeuk.org/book-aje-summer-conference-2022-tickets-now-available/
Abstract:
This paper is an autoethnographic account of teaching Tiktok journalism to second-year students, when I had never used the social media platform myself, and the shared learning experience that ensued.
In previous years, the Disruptive Publishing module I taught on had included a fortnight on ‘sequential storytelling’, exploring how Instagram and Snapchat ‘stories’ could be applied and approached as news media. In 2021, it was appropriate to add Tiktok to the list, given its increasing popularity. The first challenge for our students was in reframing and experimenting with Tiktok beyond their understanding of it as an everyday ‘youth culture’ and celebrity platform (Kennedy, 2020), to one that could be used to engage news audiences (Vázquez-Herrero et al., 2020)
My own experience of Tiktok was in watching my own children glued to the seemingly inane and banal constant stream of videos. Having a background in online video and social media production, I prepared for my classroom sessions by downloading the app, but felt culturally and technologically adrift. Rather than struggle with this alone, I instead opted to embrace this position treated the classroom experience as one of co-learning: the students would teach me about Tiktok itself, and together we would consider how practices and standards of journalism could be applied there. We explored how to use the platform in ways that still ‘felt’ like Tiktok videos, and would be likely to engage audiences, but performed a journalistic role; many of the students having used Tiktok passively before, but never created their own content.
Therefore, this paper explores how a teacher can embrace such a positionality of ‘not knowing’, to create collaborative learning spaces and experiences, and use such disruptive technologies to explore the wider nature of news media.
Research Interests:
This paper offers a case study in how journalism students can develop an understanding of global issues through undertaking local and community journalism. The ‘Global and Community Impact’ module has been running for two years on... more
This paper offers a case study in how journalism students can develop an understanding of global issues through undertaking local and community journalism. The ‘Global and Community Impact’ module has been running for two years on journalism undergraduate programmes at Birmingham City University and is intended to enable students to engage with critical research, undertake journalistic practice and critically reflect on the value of the journalism they produce. The module draws on techniques from community hyperlocal journalism to embed students within communities and identify aspects of everyday life where local stories are situated in a global context. We draw on our own and students’ reflections of teaching and learning during a series of community ‘pop-up’ newsrooms in Birmingham. Through a blended learning approach, students were first encouraged to analyse existing mainstream news articles in order to draw out potential alternative positions and consider where community voices might be absent. They were then encouraged to explore the everyday life of communities through a process of ‘disruption’, considering how ordinary spaces (the church, community centre, local café) were routes into extraordinary stories that resonated with global issues. Further, they explored how their stories operate in a networked context and tracked how place-based content can secure wider audiences. At one level the outcomes of the module speak to the need for journalism students to be offered non-newsroom approaches to newsgathering practices in the context of industry shifts. More importantly however, the module allows for the development of authentic relationships with communities and supports the development of reflexive journalism practitioners.
February 17th, 2021. Online, see link for the full video.
February 17th, 2021. Online, see link for the full video.
Research Interests:
Presented in a panel: MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network: Trust in Local and Community Media. At: Responsible Journalism and Communication conference, Sep 15, 2020.
Research Interests:
28 Feb - 1 March 2020, Academic Archers 2020, Reading University Fandom is often framed as a love/hate relationship, as any long-time listener of The Archers can appreciate, given frustrations with the characters’ behaviour,... more
28 Feb - 1 March 2020, Academic Archers 2020, Reading University
Fandom is often framed as a love/hate relationship, as any long-time listener of The Archers can appreciate, given frustrations with the characters’ behaviour, scriptwriting, or storylines. The “anti-fan” (Sandvoss, 2005) or “snark fandom” (Haig, 2013; Harman and Jones, 2013) are concepts which help us understand how we critique a text, sometimes actively deriding or parodying in creative works. Sandvoss, sets this apart from “non-fan” identity.
This conference intervention explores the family and friendship tensions between The Archers fans and non-fans. Familiar to any listener is the child’s refrain from the back of the car, “This is boring, can we have Radio 1 on?”. The ambient nature of this everyday radio drama has historically forced itself on fans and non-fans alike.
I explore this by asking The Archers non-fans (recruited online from their fan counterparts) to complete and tweet the phrase #ihatethearchersbecause. Each response will be printed on a slip of paper and: handed out to conference attendees on registration; introduced around the conference in small poster forms; woven into the conference in other novel ways. As an intervention, this helps us understand collectively the extent to which non-fans’ views might be seen as valid or as personal attacks, and how such relationships are maintained in the home and beyond - in effect, what happens when fans and non-fans collide?
Haig F (2013) Critical pleasures: Twilight, snark and critical fandom. In: Clayton W and Harman S (eds) Screening Twilight: Critical Approaches to a Cinematic Phenomenon. London: IB Tauris.
Harman, S. and Jones, B., 2013. Fifty shades of ghey: Snark fandom and the figure of the anti-fan. Sexualities, 16(8), pp.951-968.
Sandvoss C (2005) Fans: The Mirror of Consumption. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fandom is often framed as a love/hate relationship, as any long-time listener of The Archers can appreciate, given frustrations with the characters’ behaviour, scriptwriting, or storylines. The “anti-fan” (Sandvoss, 2005) or “snark fandom” (Haig, 2013; Harman and Jones, 2013) are concepts which help us understand how we critique a text, sometimes actively deriding or parodying in creative works. Sandvoss, sets this apart from “non-fan” identity.
This conference intervention explores the family and friendship tensions between The Archers fans and non-fans. Familiar to any listener is the child’s refrain from the back of the car, “This is boring, can we have Radio 1 on?”. The ambient nature of this everyday radio drama has historically forced itself on fans and non-fans alike.
I explore this by asking The Archers non-fans (recruited online from their fan counterparts) to complete and tweet the phrase #ihatethearchersbecause. Each response will be printed on a slip of paper and: handed out to conference attendees on registration; introduced around the conference in small poster forms; woven into the conference in other novel ways. As an intervention, this helps us understand collectively the extent to which non-fans’ views might be seen as valid or as personal attacks, and how such relationships are maintained in the home and beyond - in effect, what happens when fans and non-fans collide?
Haig F (2013) Critical pleasures: Twilight, snark and critical fandom. In: Clayton W and Harman S (eds) Screening Twilight: Critical Approaches to a Cinematic Phenomenon. London: IB Tauris.
Harman, S. and Jones, B., 2013. Fifty shades of ghey: Snark fandom and the figure of the anti-fan. Sexualities, 16(8), pp.951-968.
Sandvoss C (2005) Fans: The Mirror of Consumption. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Research Interests:
8-10 January 2020, MeCCSA Conference, Brighton ‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media (Metzgar, 2011). Whilst some early citizen initiatives were very much established with an agenda of ‘filling’ the... more
8-10 January 2020, MeCCSA Conference, Brighton
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media (Metzgar, 2011). Whilst some early citizen initiatives were very much established with an agenda of ‘filling’ the local news gap left by receding newspapers, scholars such as Bowman and Willis (2003) have defined taxonomies that also take into account the use of social media accounts for engaging and sourcing from audiences at a more banal, everyday, social and functional level (Postill, 2011). These are just as likely to include lost pet or charity event stories as political or activist narratives.
However, as much as online platforms provide the means for such participation, following Williams (1990), we cannot assume a determinist stance. In many cases, the audience must in fact overcome certain barriers to participation in the hyperlocal space. This paper draws on my ethnographic work studying audience use of two local Facebook Pages (B31 Voices and WV11) from 2013-16, and explores their workarounds or innovative approaches to ensure that their contribution is visible and noted. Here I employ Clark’s notion of the “kludge” (1987: 227), drawn from computer science, to understand the often ugly but effective ways that the audience participate through unusual uses of technology both on- and offline to enable acts of everyday activism and information sharing. Finally, this paper frames these practices in terms of their effectiveness and immediacy, rather than more traditional notions of professionalism and technical expertise.
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media (Metzgar, 2011). Whilst some early citizen initiatives were very much established with an agenda of ‘filling’ the local news gap left by receding newspapers, scholars such as Bowman and Willis (2003) have defined taxonomies that also take into account the use of social media accounts for engaging and sourcing from audiences at a more banal, everyday, social and functional level (Postill, 2011). These are just as likely to include lost pet or charity event stories as political or activist narratives.
However, as much as online platforms provide the means for such participation, following Williams (1990), we cannot assume a determinist stance. In many cases, the audience must in fact overcome certain barriers to participation in the hyperlocal space. This paper draws on my ethnographic work studying audience use of two local Facebook Pages (B31 Voices and WV11) from 2013-16, and explores their workarounds or innovative approaches to ensure that their contribution is visible and noted. Here I employ Clark’s notion of the “kludge” (1987: 227), drawn from computer science, to understand the often ugly but effective ways that the audience participate through unusual uses of technology both on- and offline to enable acts of everyday activism and information sharing. Finally, this paper frames these practices in terms of their effectiveness and immediacy, rather than more traditional notions of professionalism and technical expertise.
Research Interests:
At Academic Archers, April 2019, University of Sheffield From kitchens to smartphones: Updating our understanding of The Archers listening practices in the digital age Daytime radio shows such as The Archers have typically been... more
At Academic Archers, April 2019, University of Sheffield
From kitchens to smartphones: Updating our understanding of The Archers listening practices in the digital age
Daytime radio shows such as The Archers have typically been associated with the home (Moores, 2000). Dorothy Hobson’s studies revealed the ways in which radio accompanied the routine and flow of household chores (1980) and could be considered a lifeline to the outside world (Hobson, 1978). Raymond Williams (1990) later applied his theory of “mobile privatisation” to television, a view of the medium as paradoxically mobile in taking the viewer ‘out of their home’, while being firmly situated within it – until technologies such as the Walkman freed the listener from physical location (Bull, 2000; Gay et al., 2013). I suggest that in mobile, everyday technologies as the smartphone and BBC’s iPlayer service, a sense of the home travels with us, so that we can feel ‘at home’ while consuming media away from it.
Drawing on such contexts, this paper focuses specifically on Archers listening practices, given the continuation of regular broadcasts (radio) as well as more portable options (podcast, iPlayer). My audience survey will explore the ways in which people listen to The Archers, as well as where and how, with a stress on how such contexts might affect their association, connection and interpretation of the drama. This paper therefore seeks to update our understanding of The Archers listeners, and audiences in general, in the context of such expanding, developing technologies.
Bull, M. (2000) Sounding out the city: Personal stereos and the management of everyday life. Berg.
Gay, P. du, Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A.K., Mackay, H. and Negus, K., (2013) Doing cultural studies: The story of the Sony Walkman. Sage.
Hobson, D. 1978. Housewives: Isolation as Oppression, pp. 79-95 in Women's Studies Group (ed.), Women Take Issue. London: Hutchinson. Google Scholar
Hobson, D. 1980. Housewives and the Mass Media, pp. 105-114 in Stuart Hall et al. (eds), Culture, Media, Language. London: Hutchinson.
Moores, S. 2000. Media and everyday life in modern society. Edinburgh University Press.
Williams, R. (1990) Television: Technology and cultural form. Routledge.
From kitchens to smartphones: Updating our understanding of The Archers listening practices in the digital age
Daytime radio shows such as The Archers have typically been associated with the home (Moores, 2000). Dorothy Hobson’s studies revealed the ways in which radio accompanied the routine and flow of household chores (1980) and could be considered a lifeline to the outside world (Hobson, 1978). Raymond Williams (1990) later applied his theory of “mobile privatisation” to television, a view of the medium as paradoxically mobile in taking the viewer ‘out of their home’, while being firmly situated within it – until technologies such as the Walkman freed the listener from physical location (Bull, 2000; Gay et al., 2013). I suggest that in mobile, everyday technologies as the smartphone and BBC’s iPlayer service, a sense of the home travels with us, so that we can feel ‘at home’ while consuming media away from it.
Drawing on such contexts, this paper focuses specifically on Archers listening practices, given the continuation of regular broadcasts (radio) as well as more portable options (podcast, iPlayer). My audience survey will explore the ways in which people listen to The Archers, as well as where and how, with a stress on how such contexts might affect their association, connection and interpretation of the drama. This paper therefore seeks to update our understanding of The Archers listeners, and audiences in general, in the context of such expanding, developing technologies.
Bull, M. (2000) Sounding out the city: Personal stereos and the management of everyday life. Berg.
Gay, P. du, Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A.K., Mackay, H. and Negus, K., (2013) Doing cultural studies: The story of the Sony Walkman. Sage.
Hobson, D. 1978. Housewives: Isolation as Oppression, pp. 79-95 in Women's Studies Group (ed.), Women Take Issue. London: Hutchinson. Google Scholar
Hobson, D. 1980. Housewives and the Mass Media, pp. 105-114 in Stuart Hall et al. (eds), Culture, Media, Language. London: Hutchinson.
Moores, S. 2000. Media and everyday life in modern society. Edinburgh University Press.
Williams, R. (1990) Television: Technology and cultural form. Routledge.
Research Interests:
The Community Panel method: working collaboratively with participants in Facebook Groups, Methodological innovations to meet 21st Century societal challenges, University of Manchester, June 2019 The Community Panel method: working... more
The Community Panel method: working collaboratively with participants in Facebook Groups, Methodological innovations to meet 21st Century societal challenges, University of Manchester, June 2019
The Community Panel method: working collaboratively with participants in Facebook Groups.
The study of society across offline and online spaces provides challenges for the researcher. How can we better understand online practices, while grappling with the ethical and practical concerns of observation, covert or otherwise? Studies of social media describe the opportunity it offers when recruiting participants, or tend to treat it as a vessel of data (Baron, 2010), as discussed by Kosinski et al. (2015). It is in more immersive, ethnographic methods, however, that these concerns are met more sensitively, exploring ways to work with online participants more collaboratively (Boellstorff et al., 2012; Pink et al., 2015).
This paper explores my online ethnographic practice, studying audiences of two ‘hyperlocal’ news Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK, 2013-2016. I employed a participant observer approach (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007) which allowed me to meet the audience in their own space, whilst dealing with challenges of declaring my presence in the space without introducing observer effect (LeCompte and Goetz, 1982: 46). Most significantly though, I developed an approach which allowed me to use Facebook spaces to collaborate with participants, as well as studying their practices there.
I devised the Community Panel method to invite the audience to participate in ways they felt most comfortable. Given the entrenchment of Facebook in their everyday practice, I developed a Facebook Group as part of this, that sat parallel to the Facebook Page I was studying in south Birmingham. This was defined as a ‘research’ space used to collectively interview the 50 Group members, combining the approach of a focus group with the longitudinality of a research diary. Participants there also worked collaboratively to pose their own group questions or observations. This paper addresses the practical application of the method, the benefits to both researcher and participants, and suggests how others might apply a similar collaborative ethos to their own studies.
Baron, N. (2010) Always on: Language in an online and mobile world. Oxford University Press.
Boellstorff, T., Nardi, B., Pearce, C. and Taylor, T. L. (2012) Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A handbook of method. Princeton.
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (2007) Principles in practice. London: Tavistock.
LeCompte, M.D. and Goetz, J.P. (1982) Problems of reliability and validity in ethnographic research. Review of educational research, 52(1), pp. 31-60.
Kosinski, M., Matz, S.C., Gosling, S.D., Popov, V. and Stillwell, D. (2015) Facebook as a research tool for the social sciences: Opportunities, challenges, ethical considerations, and practical guidelines. American Psychologist, 70(6), pp. 543-555
Pink, S., Horst, H., Postill, J., Hjorth, L., Lewis, T. and Tacchi, J. 2015. Digital ethnography: principles and practice, Sage.
The Community Panel method: working collaboratively with participants in Facebook Groups.
The study of society across offline and online spaces provides challenges for the researcher. How can we better understand online practices, while grappling with the ethical and practical concerns of observation, covert or otherwise? Studies of social media describe the opportunity it offers when recruiting participants, or tend to treat it as a vessel of data (Baron, 2010), as discussed by Kosinski et al. (2015). It is in more immersive, ethnographic methods, however, that these concerns are met more sensitively, exploring ways to work with online participants more collaboratively (Boellstorff et al., 2012; Pink et al., 2015).
This paper explores my online ethnographic practice, studying audiences of two ‘hyperlocal’ news Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK, 2013-2016. I employed a participant observer approach (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007) which allowed me to meet the audience in their own space, whilst dealing with challenges of declaring my presence in the space without introducing observer effect (LeCompte and Goetz, 1982: 46). Most significantly though, I developed an approach which allowed me to use Facebook spaces to collaborate with participants, as well as studying their practices there.
I devised the Community Panel method to invite the audience to participate in ways they felt most comfortable. Given the entrenchment of Facebook in their everyday practice, I developed a Facebook Group as part of this, that sat parallel to the Facebook Page I was studying in south Birmingham. This was defined as a ‘research’ space used to collectively interview the 50 Group members, combining the approach of a focus group with the longitudinality of a research diary. Participants there also worked collaboratively to pose their own group questions or observations. This paper addresses the practical application of the method, the benefits to both researcher and participants, and suggests how others might apply a similar collaborative ethos to their own studies.
Baron, N. (2010) Always on: Language in an online and mobile world. Oxford University Press.
Boellstorff, T., Nardi, B., Pearce, C. and Taylor, T. L. (2012) Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A handbook of method. Princeton.
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (2007) Principles in practice. London: Tavistock.
LeCompte, M.D. and Goetz, J.P. (1982) Problems of reliability and validity in ethnographic research. Review of educational research, 52(1), pp. 31-60.
Kosinski, M., Matz, S.C., Gosling, S.D., Popov, V. and Stillwell, D. (2015) Facebook as a research tool for the social sciences: Opportunities, challenges, ethical considerations, and practical guidelines. American Psychologist, 70(6), pp. 543-555
Pink, S., Horst, H., Postill, J., Hjorth, L., Lewis, T. and Tacchi, J. 2015. Digital ethnography: principles and practice, Sage.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Paper presented at The Place I Call Research, University of Manchester, June 15th, 2018 ‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focused community media often framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap”... more
Paper presented at The Place I Call Research, University of Manchester, June 15th, 2018
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focused community media often framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers or encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011). These constitute blogs, social media accounts or “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008) such as Facebook Pages, whereby citizen-editors maintain and manage participation from an active audience of “produsers” (Bruns, 2006). Where such online platforms are used by the audience in the everyday contexts of mobile technologies such as smartphones, such spaces have been considered as “public spheres” (Baines, 2012; Habermas, 1991).
This paper challenges any assumption that such online spaces can be studied in isolation; their value, role, and use amongst local citizens must be situated within experiences of the wider neighbourhood both on- and offline. The paper draws on my ethnographic studies of the audiences of two local Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK. Given that I was living in the localities during these consecutive studies, I employed offline and online methods which drew on my own everyday experiences as a resident, as much as more direct participant observation, interviews, and focus groups (following Postill (2011)). I discuss these methods, and how they allow us to understand these online spaces as offering a narrative of the locality - they are by no means definitive, being used by only a portion of the local population, and also being situated amongst other media. Neither do they replace local mainstream media or entirely deal with any perceived lack of local community spaces (Putnam, 2000). However, these online spaces are still significant in allowing audience members to engage in their local community and keep informed.
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focused community media often framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers or encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011). These constitute blogs, social media accounts or “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008) such as Facebook Pages, whereby citizen-editors maintain and manage participation from an active audience of “produsers” (Bruns, 2006). Where such online platforms are used by the audience in the everyday contexts of mobile technologies such as smartphones, such spaces have been considered as “public spheres” (Baines, 2012; Habermas, 1991).
This paper challenges any assumption that such online spaces can be studied in isolation; their value, role, and use amongst local citizens must be situated within experiences of the wider neighbourhood both on- and offline. The paper draws on my ethnographic studies of the audiences of two local Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK. Given that I was living in the localities during these consecutive studies, I employed offline and online methods which drew on my own everyday experiences as a resident, as much as more direct participant observation, interviews, and focus groups (following Postill (2011)). I discuss these methods, and how they allow us to understand these online spaces as offering a narrative of the locality - they are by no means definitive, being used by only a portion of the local population, and also being situated amongst other media. Neither do they replace local mainstream media or entirely deal with any perceived lack of local community spaces (Putnam, 2000). However, these online spaces are still significant in allowing audience members to engage in their local community and keep informed.
Research Interests:
Presented at: Digital Opportunities and Challenges: Researching Journalism and Media in a Digital Age 26 & 27 January 2017 University of Sheffield ‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed... more
Presented at: Digital Opportunities and Challenges: Researching Journalism and Media in a Digital Age
26 & 27 January 2017
University of Sheffield
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers, encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011) or creating “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008). However, studies rarely explore the extent to which the highly participatory audiences have a role in defining these hyperlocal spaces, especially when social media platforms such as Facebook are often used by hyperlocal organisations to create online, local spaces where stories are disseminated but also sourced, discussed, corroborated and contested.
This paper draws on two ethnographic studies in the West Midlands where offline and online methods (following Postill (2011)) reveal audience practices which frame the space as one of ‘information’ rather than ‘news’(Radcliffe, 2015), and explores how the audience’s use of hyperlocal platforms challenges the values and standards of traditional news journalism. Audiences source stories, comment, and share content which services the neighbourhood and local economy in unique ways, and fosters placemaking and civic pride, if not always directly fuelling everyday activism (Pink, 2012). However, such open and participatory practices also create tensions of agenda and power; while the content is typically mediated by citizen editors, and dually enabled and restrained by the technological platform, the audience often pulls in a third direction according to their own needs and it is these tensions which this paper ultimately addresses.
Bruns, A., Wilson, J. A. and Saunders, B. J. 2008. Building spaces for hyperlocal citizen journalism.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. 2011. Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, Vol 13, No 5, pp. 772-787.
Pink, S. 2012. Situating Everyday Life: Practices and Places, SAGE Publications.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Radcliffe, D. 2015. Where are we now? UK hyperlocal media and community journalism in 2015. Nesta.
N.B. This presentation is of my PhD work, which I am currently writing up for submission in 2017
26 & 27 January 2017
University of Sheffield
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers, encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011) or creating “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008). However, studies rarely explore the extent to which the highly participatory audiences have a role in defining these hyperlocal spaces, especially when social media platforms such as Facebook are often used by hyperlocal organisations to create online, local spaces where stories are disseminated but also sourced, discussed, corroborated and contested.
This paper draws on two ethnographic studies in the West Midlands where offline and online methods (following Postill (2011)) reveal audience practices which frame the space as one of ‘information’ rather than ‘news’(Radcliffe, 2015), and explores how the audience’s use of hyperlocal platforms challenges the values and standards of traditional news journalism. Audiences source stories, comment, and share content which services the neighbourhood and local economy in unique ways, and fosters placemaking and civic pride, if not always directly fuelling everyday activism (Pink, 2012). However, such open and participatory practices also create tensions of agenda and power; while the content is typically mediated by citizen editors, and dually enabled and restrained by the technological platform, the audience often pulls in a third direction according to their own needs and it is these tensions which this paper ultimately addresses.
Bruns, A., Wilson, J. A. and Saunders, B. J. 2008. Building spaces for hyperlocal citizen journalism.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. 2011. Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, Vol 13, No 5, pp. 772-787.
Pink, S. 2012. Situating Everyday Life: Practices and Places, SAGE Publications.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Radcliffe, D. 2015. Where are we now? UK hyperlocal media and community journalism in 2015. Nesta.
N.B. This presentation is of my PhD work, which I am currently writing up for submission in 2017
Research Interests:
Paper presented at The 12th Annual International Ethnography Symposium: Politics and Ethnography in an Age of Uncertainty Abstract: ‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen... more
Paper presented at The 12th Annual International Ethnography Symposium: Politics and Ethnography in an Age of Uncertainty
Abstract:
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers or encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011). These typically constitute blogs but many organisations also run social media accounts or create “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008) such as Facebook pages, whereby the citizen-editors maintain and manage participation from an active audience of “produsers” (Bruns, 2006). Where such online platforms are used by the audience in the everyday contexts of mobile technologies such as smartphones, such spaces have been considered as “public spheres” (Baines, 2012; Habermas, 1991), or at the very least publics: “citizens who interact with each other and with power-holders of various kinds” (Dahlgren, 2006: 275). This paper explores these expectations and assumptions of hyperlocal media, questioning whether the full potential and ideals of public sphere, civic engagement and activism can be demonstrated in such spaces.
This paper draws on my ethnographic studies of the audiences of two local Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK. Given that I was living in the localities during these consecutive studies, I was able to draw on offline and online methods (following Postill (2011)). These revealed audience practices which frame the space as one of ‘information’ rather than ‘news’ (Radcliffe, 2015), and explored how the audience’s use of hyperlocal platforms challenges the values and standards of traditional news journalism. For example, stories of violent crime and traffic incidents are just as likely to appear alongside more ‘banal’, everyday appeals regarding lost dogs or charity events (Turner, 2015). Audiences source, corroborate and contest stories, comment, and share content which services the neighbourhood and local economy in unique ways.
However, while such audience practices sometimes fostered placemaking and civic pride, it did not always directly fuel everyday activism (Pink, 2012). Where public opinion was exercised and formed over civic matters, and police or the local councils were often criticised, the public sphere ideal of then directly challenging authority was rarely followed through. Rather, we might highlight concerns that the public sphere as presented in Facebook Pages also provides a melting pot that the state may, by turns, choose to dip into, covertly monitoring citizens as well as hearing their voice (Morozov, 2012). It is not the case that civic engagement and activism is not welcomed in these spaces, as the editors, who present themselves as resident peers of the audience, often directly encourage and initiate such practices. However, whilst it might be hoped that online participation could inform offline activism too, perhaps it is the offer of social media, in being too accessible that gives the audience the impression of being involved when they take part in a conversation, or ‘Like’ a story (White, 2010). Rather than grasping the opportunity to become mobilised online, seeking to identify solutions in the collective voice, or challenging authority directly, the refrain of the individual is often that “somebody should do something”. I will explore these issues through narratives drawn directly from my ethnographic work, which I am currently writing up for submission of my PhD in 2017.
Baines, D. 2012. Hyper-local news: A glue to hold rural communities together? Local Economy, 27, pp.152-166.
Bruns, A. 2006. Towards produsage: Futures for user-led content production.
Bruns, A., Wilson, J. A. and Saunders, B. J. 2008. Building spaces for hyperlocal citizen journalism.
Dahlgren, P. 2006. Doing citizenship The cultural origins of civic agency in the public sphere. European journal of cultural studies, 9, pp.267-286.
Habermas, J. 1991. The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society, MIT press.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. 2011. Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, Vol 13, No 5, pp. 772-787.
Morozov, E. 2012. The net delusion: The dark side of Internet freedom, PublicAffairs.
Pink, S. 2012. Situating Everyday Life: Practices and Places, SAGE Publications.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Radcliffe, D. 2015. Where are we now? UK hyperlocal media and community journalism in 2015. Nesta.
Turner, J., 2015. Good dog, bad dog: Exploring audience uses and attitudes to hyperlocal community news media through the prism of banal pet stories. Anthropological Notebooks, 21(3), pp.39-50.
White, M. 2010. Clicktivism is ruining leftist activism. The Guardian, [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/aug/12/clicktivism-ruining-leftist-activism. [Accessed 31 March 2017].
Abstract:
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers or encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011). These typically constitute blogs but many organisations also run social media accounts or create “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008) such as Facebook pages, whereby the citizen-editors maintain and manage participation from an active audience of “produsers” (Bruns, 2006). Where such online platforms are used by the audience in the everyday contexts of mobile technologies such as smartphones, such spaces have been considered as “public spheres” (Baines, 2012; Habermas, 1991), or at the very least publics: “citizens who interact with each other and with power-holders of various kinds” (Dahlgren, 2006: 275). This paper explores these expectations and assumptions of hyperlocal media, questioning whether the full potential and ideals of public sphere, civic engagement and activism can be demonstrated in such spaces.
This paper draws on my ethnographic studies of the audiences of two local Facebook Pages in the West Midlands, UK. Given that I was living in the localities during these consecutive studies, I was able to draw on offline and online methods (following Postill (2011)). These revealed audience practices which frame the space as one of ‘information’ rather than ‘news’ (Radcliffe, 2015), and explored how the audience’s use of hyperlocal platforms challenges the values and standards of traditional news journalism. For example, stories of violent crime and traffic incidents are just as likely to appear alongside more ‘banal’, everyday appeals regarding lost dogs or charity events (Turner, 2015). Audiences source, corroborate and contest stories, comment, and share content which services the neighbourhood and local economy in unique ways.
However, while such audience practices sometimes fostered placemaking and civic pride, it did not always directly fuel everyday activism (Pink, 2012). Where public opinion was exercised and formed over civic matters, and police or the local councils were often criticised, the public sphere ideal of then directly challenging authority was rarely followed through. Rather, we might highlight concerns that the public sphere as presented in Facebook Pages also provides a melting pot that the state may, by turns, choose to dip into, covertly monitoring citizens as well as hearing their voice (Morozov, 2012). It is not the case that civic engagement and activism is not welcomed in these spaces, as the editors, who present themselves as resident peers of the audience, often directly encourage and initiate such practices. However, whilst it might be hoped that online participation could inform offline activism too, perhaps it is the offer of social media, in being too accessible that gives the audience the impression of being involved when they take part in a conversation, or ‘Like’ a story (White, 2010). Rather than grasping the opportunity to become mobilised online, seeking to identify solutions in the collective voice, or challenging authority directly, the refrain of the individual is often that “somebody should do something”. I will explore these issues through narratives drawn directly from my ethnographic work, which I am currently writing up for submission of my PhD in 2017.
Baines, D. 2012. Hyper-local news: A glue to hold rural communities together? Local Economy, 27, pp.152-166.
Bruns, A. 2006. Towards produsage: Futures for user-led content production.
Bruns, A., Wilson, J. A. and Saunders, B. J. 2008. Building spaces for hyperlocal citizen journalism.
Dahlgren, P. 2006. Doing citizenship The cultural origins of civic agency in the public sphere. European journal of cultural studies, 9, pp.267-286.
Habermas, J. 1991. The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society, MIT press.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. 2011. Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, Vol 13, No 5, pp. 772-787.
Morozov, E. 2012. The net delusion: The dark side of Internet freedom, PublicAffairs.
Pink, S. 2012. Situating Everyday Life: Practices and Places, SAGE Publications.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Radcliffe, D. 2015. Where are we now? UK hyperlocal media and community journalism in 2015. Nesta.
Turner, J., 2015. Good dog, bad dog: Exploring audience uses and attitudes to hyperlocal community news media through the prism of banal pet stories. Anthropological Notebooks, 21(3), pp.39-50.
White, M. 2010. Clicktivism is ruining leftist activism. The Guardian, [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/aug/12/clicktivism-ruining-leftist-activism. [Accessed 31 March 2017].
Research Interests:
Being @borsetpolice: proposing an (auto)ethnographic understanding of Archers fan fiction on Twitter 5 minute pitch The Twitter hashtag #thearchers can be understood as a platform where listeners voice opinion regarding storylines and... more
Being @borsetpolice: proposing an (auto)ethnographic understanding of Archers fan fiction on Twitter
5 minute pitch
The Twitter hashtag #thearchers can be understood as a platform where listeners voice opinion regarding storylines and character. Significance is implied by the BBC’s participation and their regular compiling of tweets into blog posts. Such listener practices also connect them to at least part of the collective audience, whilst many engage in other practices (Thomas, L. and Lambrianidou, 2008; Thomas, 2009).
However, some listeners also perform Twitter fan fiction (Bore and Hickman, 2013), ‘roleplaying’ characters in response to current storylines. Drawing on my experiences of running @welovethebull, @amfloodrelief and, more recently, @borsetpolice, I propose an (auto)ethnographic study of Archers fan fiction, which would observe practice and also seek interview with those fans, to:
• Understand motivations, e.g. the appeal of anonymity, the sense of ‘playing’ with fiction or performing the gaps in storylines.
• Explore the value to the audience, e.g. entertainment or as a means to directly engage with The Archers world.
• Identify the value to the producers (BBC), e.g. where fan fiction can be understood as transmedia. Who is responsible for this online presence, and how can it be valued?
Bore, I.L.K. and Hickman, J., 2013. Continuing The West Wing in 140 characters or less: Improvised simulation on Twitter. The Journal of Fandom Studies, 1(2), pp.219-238.
Thomas, L. and Lambrianidou, M., 2008. Radio listeners online: a case study of The Archers. Institute for the Study of European Transformations.
Thomas, L., 2009. The Archers: an everyday story of old and new media.Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 7(1), pp.49-66.
5 minute pitch
The Twitter hashtag #thearchers can be understood as a platform where listeners voice opinion regarding storylines and character. Significance is implied by the BBC’s participation and their regular compiling of tweets into blog posts. Such listener practices also connect them to at least part of the collective audience, whilst many engage in other practices (Thomas, L. and Lambrianidou, 2008; Thomas, 2009).
However, some listeners also perform Twitter fan fiction (Bore and Hickman, 2013), ‘roleplaying’ characters in response to current storylines. Drawing on my experiences of running @welovethebull, @amfloodrelief and, more recently, @borsetpolice, I propose an (auto)ethnographic study of Archers fan fiction, which would observe practice and also seek interview with those fans, to:
• Understand motivations, e.g. the appeal of anonymity, the sense of ‘playing’ with fiction or performing the gaps in storylines.
• Explore the value to the audience, e.g. entertainment or as a means to directly engage with The Archers world.
• Identify the value to the producers (BBC), e.g. where fan fiction can be understood as transmedia. Who is responsible for this online presence, and how can it be valued?
Bore, I.L.K. and Hickman, J., 2013. Continuing The West Wing in 140 characters or less: Improvised simulation on Twitter. The Journal of Fandom Studies, 1(2), pp.219-238.
Thomas, L. and Lambrianidou, M., 2008. Radio listeners online: a case study of The Archers. Institute for the Study of European Transformations.
Thomas, L., 2009. The Archers: an everyday story of old and new media.Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 7(1), pp.49-66.
Research Interests:
Presented at: ‘Doing Ethnographic Fieldwork’ Conference at BCU, 25th June, 2016 Narratives of exiting the field are significant for the closure and authorisation they offer, as well as a distinction between “the field” and “home”(Gupta... more
Presented at: ‘Doing Ethnographic Fieldwork’ Conference at BCU, 25th June, 2016
Narratives of exiting the field are significant for the closure and authorisation they offer, as well as a distinction between “the field” and “home”(Gupta and Ferguson, 1997; Pratt, 1986) or, rather, fieldwork and writing up, and it is here that I focus on the practicalities of this transitional phase. How can we hope to include those voices who have not yet spoken, and ensure that our more active participants feel they have been fairly treated and heard? How do we make the switch from participant observer to participant, and is a disconnection possible or even desirable? Even as we look to collate and analyse data, how do we deal with the creeping fear of ‘not enough’?
This paper reflects on my experience of drawing a year of ethnography to a close over the final few weeks in March 2016. The study focused on the audience of a hyperlocal online community media web site in south Birmingham, practically involving online observation through research diary, autoethnographic observation as a resident, and a variety of methods employed with my Community Panel of participants, including interviews. The paper outlines the broader concerns identified, but also describes specific strategies for exiting both digitally and physically-situated communities, for example introducing final, innovative engagement methods, such as occupying shops spaces to run public ‘drop-in’ days, as means of effectively, fairly and safely removing ourselves from the field.
Gupta, A. and Ferguson, J., 1997. Discipline and practice:“The field” as site, method, and location in anthropology. Anthropological locations: Boundaries and grounds of a field science, 100, pp.1-47.
Pratt, M.L., 1986. Fieldwork in common places. Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography, pp.27-50.
Narratives of exiting the field are significant for the closure and authorisation they offer, as well as a distinction between “the field” and “home”(Gupta and Ferguson, 1997; Pratt, 1986) or, rather, fieldwork and writing up, and it is here that I focus on the practicalities of this transitional phase. How can we hope to include those voices who have not yet spoken, and ensure that our more active participants feel they have been fairly treated and heard? How do we make the switch from participant observer to participant, and is a disconnection possible or even desirable? Even as we look to collate and analyse data, how do we deal with the creeping fear of ‘not enough’?
This paper reflects on my experience of drawing a year of ethnography to a close over the final few weeks in March 2016. The study focused on the audience of a hyperlocal online community media web site in south Birmingham, practically involving online observation through research diary, autoethnographic observation as a resident, and a variety of methods employed with my Community Panel of participants, including interviews. The paper outlines the broader concerns identified, but also describes specific strategies for exiting both digitally and physically-situated communities, for example introducing final, innovative engagement methods, such as occupying shops spaces to run public ‘drop-in’ days, as means of effectively, fairly and safely removing ourselves from the field.
Gupta, A. and Ferguson, J., 1997. Discipline and practice:“The field” as site, method, and location in anthropology. Anthropological locations: Boundaries and grounds of a field science, 100, pp.1-47.
Pratt, M.L., 1986. Fieldwork in common places. Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography, pp.27-50.
Research Interests:
Presented at: BSA Media Study Group: Gender, Crime and Media Seminar, Birmingham City University, Wednesday 8th June 2016 Digital mobile technologies afford young people of Generation M a number of opportunities in terms of... more
Presented at: BSA Media Study Group: Gender, Crime and Media Seminar, Birmingham City University, Wednesday 8th June 2016
Digital mobile technologies afford young people of Generation M a number of opportunities in terms of communication, creativity and connectivity in their social interactions. Yet their use of such technologies is often the source of moral panic (Cassell and Cramer, 2008), with accordant social anxiety especially prevalent in media representations of teen sexting. Thus far, most responses to youth sexting have largely been ineffective and unjust as adult authorities may blame victims of non-consensual sexting, use child pornography laws to criminalise those whom they are designed to protect (as in a 2015 UK case), and/or advise teenagers to abstain from the practice.
There is little research on young people’s experiences of navigating sex and relationships in the current digital media landscape, and their views on sexting are rarely solicited in the policy and educational strategies aimed at them. This paper presents findings from a pilot peer-to-peer/co-creation project that seeks to address this research-policy-education gap. In 2015/16, we (a team of interdisciplinary researchers from sociology, anthropology, media and education) undertook serial focus groups with separate cohorts of female and male students (aged 13 to 15) from a West Midlands school. This paper focuses on some of the findings regarding the interventions and communication channels the young people expressed they would like to create, for example, e.g. the pupils are, unusually, coming to the University to educate professionals at a conference rather than the other way around. Finally, the paper looks onwards towards our plans to develop this work more widely.
Digital mobile technologies afford young people of Generation M a number of opportunities in terms of communication, creativity and connectivity in their social interactions. Yet their use of such technologies is often the source of moral panic (Cassell and Cramer, 2008), with accordant social anxiety especially prevalent in media representations of teen sexting. Thus far, most responses to youth sexting have largely been ineffective and unjust as adult authorities may blame victims of non-consensual sexting, use child pornography laws to criminalise those whom they are designed to protect (as in a 2015 UK case), and/or advise teenagers to abstain from the practice.
There is little research on young people’s experiences of navigating sex and relationships in the current digital media landscape, and their views on sexting are rarely solicited in the policy and educational strategies aimed at them. This paper presents findings from a pilot peer-to-peer/co-creation project that seeks to address this research-policy-education gap. In 2015/16, we (a team of interdisciplinary researchers from sociology, anthropology, media and education) undertook serial focus groups with separate cohorts of female and male students (aged 13 to 15) from a West Midlands school. This paper focuses on some of the findings regarding the interventions and communication channels the young people expressed they would like to create, for example, e.g. the pupils are, unusually, coming to the University to educate professionals at a conference rather than the other way around. Finally, the paper looks onwards towards our plans to develop this work more widely.
Research Interests:
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers, encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011) or... more
‘Hyperlocal’ media is a form of online, locally-focussed community media typically framed as citizen journalism, with expectations of “filling the gap” exposed by receding local newspapers, encouraging civic engagement (Metzgar, 2011) or creating “third places” of communication (Bruns, et. al, 2008). However, studies rarely explore the extent to which the highly participatory audiences have a role in defining these hyperlocal spaces.
This paper draws on two ethnographic studies in the West Midlands where offline and online methods (following Postill (2011)) reveal audience practices which frame the space as one of ‘information’ rather than ‘news’(Radcliffe, 2015). Audiences source stories, comment, and share content which services the neighbourhood and local economy in unique ways, and fosters placemaking and civic pride, if not directly fuelling activism. However, such open and participatory practices also create tensions of agenda and power; while the content is typically mediated by citizen editors, and dually enabled and restrained by the technological platform, the audience often pulls in a third direction according to their own needs and it is these tensions which this paper ultimately addresses.
Bruns, A., Wilson, J. A. and Saunders, B. J. 2008. Building spaces for hyperlocal citizen journalism.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. 2011. Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, Vol 13, No 5, pp. 772-787.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Radcliffe, D. 2015. Where are we now? UK hyperlocal media and community journalism in 2015. Nesta.
This paper draws on two ethnographic studies in the West Midlands where offline and online methods (following Postill (2011)) reveal audience practices which frame the space as one of ‘information’ rather than ‘news’(Radcliffe, 2015). Audiences source stories, comment, and share content which services the neighbourhood and local economy in unique ways, and fosters placemaking and civic pride, if not directly fuelling activism. However, such open and participatory practices also create tensions of agenda and power; while the content is typically mediated by citizen editors, and dually enabled and restrained by the technological platform, the audience often pulls in a third direction according to their own needs and it is these tensions which this paper ultimately addresses.
Bruns, A., Wilson, J. A. and Saunders, B. J. 2008. Building spaces for hyperlocal citizen journalism.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. 2011. Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, Vol 13, No 5, pp. 772-787.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Radcliffe, D. 2015. Where are we now? UK hyperlocal media and community journalism in 2015. Nesta.
Research Interests:
Turner, J. (2015) Engaging and working with community participants in ethnographic contexts: The Community Panel method: Presentation at: How To Play Knowledge, Birmingham, 2015. Research within communities always faces specific... more
Turner, J. (2015) Engaging and working with community participants in ethnographic contexts: The Community Panel method: Presentation at: How To Play Knowledge, Birmingham, 2015.
Research within communities always faces specific challenges of explaining the aims and objectives to those participants we might consider ‘objects of study’ at one level, but in other contexts, should rather be thought of in terms of co-creation partners, or participants in the sense that the work is potentially owned, designed and carried out in partnership, rather than just by the researchers.
I am in the third year of study for my PhD at the School of Media, having completed a pilot 10-month ethnography of hyperlocal community media audiences in Wolverhampton, and now in the middle of a second, 12-month study in south Birmingham, in the vein of John Postill’s work in Kuala Lumpur exploring both online and offline dimensions of everyday community living (2011), typical of approaches to online ethnography (Horst and Miller, 2013).
My paper explores ways of engaging, communicating with and recruiting community participants, where it is unlikely they will have been involved in academic research before. Whilst my pilot work in Wolverhampton was largely observational online, involving some attendance of local events, and a small number of interviews, in south Birmingham I have introduced the concept of a Community Panel. The panel is a convenient label for an online and offline grouping of participants into a pool, whereby we choose the methods best suited to all parties. Some I have met in tearooms, at events, or during their lunch breaks at work, whilst others have emailed statements, been involved in discussions in our Facebook group, Skyped, or shared photos with me online (Pink, 2013). The nature of such methods of course creates sprawling data types (along with my own daily research diary), but also builds on my earlier interview approach to ease access problems, and explores the everyday nature of hyperlocal media sites and their meanings for audiences.
Horst, H. A. and Miller, D. 2013. Digital anthropology, A&C Black.
Pink, S. (2013). Doing visual ethnography. Sage.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Research within communities always faces specific challenges of explaining the aims and objectives to those participants we might consider ‘objects of study’ at one level, but in other contexts, should rather be thought of in terms of co-creation partners, or participants in the sense that the work is potentially owned, designed and carried out in partnership, rather than just by the researchers.
I am in the third year of study for my PhD at the School of Media, having completed a pilot 10-month ethnography of hyperlocal community media audiences in Wolverhampton, and now in the middle of a second, 12-month study in south Birmingham, in the vein of John Postill’s work in Kuala Lumpur exploring both online and offline dimensions of everyday community living (2011), typical of approaches to online ethnography (Horst and Miller, 2013).
My paper explores ways of engaging, communicating with and recruiting community participants, where it is unlikely they will have been involved in academic research before. Whilst my pilot work in Wolverhampton was largely observational online, involving some attendance of local events, and a small number of interviews, in south Birmingham I have introduced the concept of a Community Panel. The panel is a convenient label for an online and offline grouping of participants into a pool, whereby we choose the methods best suited to all parties. Some I have met in tearooms, at events, or during their lunch breaks at work, whilst others have emailed statements, been involved in discussions in our Facebook group, Skyped, or shared photos with me online (Pink, 2013). The nature of such methods of course creates sprawling data types (along with my own daily research diary), but also builds on my earlier interview approach to ease access problems, and explores the everyday nature of hyperlocal media sites and their meanings for audiences.
Horst, H. A. and Miller, D. 2013. Digital anthropology, A&C Black.
Pink, S. (2013). Doing visual ethnography. Sage.
Postill, J. 2011. Localizing the Internet: an anthropological account, Berghahn Books.
Research Interests:
Williams, A., Turner, J., Dewey, S., Harte, D., and Mottershead, G. (2012) UK ‘Hyperlocal News: Findings from a content analysis’ Presentation in: ECREA 2012, 4th European Communication Conference, Istanbul
Research Interests:
Williams, A., Harte, D., Turner, J., and Mottershead, G. (2013), ‘Analysing Hyperlocal News Content’, Presentation in: Community Journalism Conference: Enabling and Empowering Communities. 16 January 2013, Cardiff.
Research Interests:
Given the newspaper industry’s trend towards closure and retrenchment of their local and regional press titles and the subsequent concerns about the impact this may have on the public sphere (Siles and Boczkowski 2012), it is perhaps... more
Given the newspaper industry’s trend towards closure and retrenchment of their local and regional press titles and the subsequent concerns about the impact this may have on the public sphere (Siles and Boczkowski 2012), it is perhaps understandable that policy-makers and commentators have shifted their gaze to the role of hyperlocal online news services and the “role that these services are likely to play in the local media ecosystem” (Ofcom 2012: 111)
This paper seeks to examine aspects of the practices of those who run hyperlocal websites and understand them in the context of debates around digital labour (Scholz 2013) and everyday activism (Pink 2012). It draws on interviews with hyperlocal producers and findings from a content analysis of 1941 stories published on 313 hyperlocal sites over a period of 10 days in May 2012. The paper examines publishing practices related to photography rights management, or lack thereof, and identifies how hyperlocal websites, through their practice, situate themselves outside of the existing political economy of media organisations.
The paper describes a landscape whereby the technologies and means exist for hyperlocal media to play into its perceived role as “a range of journalism acting in the public good and engagement facilitated through interactive media” (Metzgar 2011), but this is not necessarily mirrored in our content analysis.
The research forms part of a 30 month Research Council funded project, ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’, investigating the role of the Creative Economy in Connected Communities.
Dave Harte – Co-Investigator
Jerome Turner – Research Associate
Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research
Birmingham City University
Dr Andrew Williams – Co-Investigator
Glynn Mottershead – Co-Investigator
Scott Dewey – Research Assistant
Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
Cardiff University
References:
HARCUP, T. (2011) Alternative journalism as active citizenship. Journalism, Vol 12, No 1, pp. 15-31.
METZGAR, E & KURPIUS, D. & ROWLEY, K. (2011) Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, 13(5), p772 -787
PINK, S. (2012) Situating everyday life : practices and places. London: SAGE.
SCHOLZ, T. (2013) Digital labor : the Internet as playground and factory. New York: Routledge.
SILES, I. & BOCZKOWSKI, P. J. (2012) Making sense of the newspaper crisis: A critical assessment of existing research and an agenda for future work. New Media & Society.
This paper seeks to examine aspects of the practices of those who run hyperlocal websites and understand them in the context of debates around digital labour (Scholz 2013) and everyday activism (Pink 2012). It draws on interviews with hyperlocal producers and findings from a content analysis of 1941 stories published on 313 hyperlocal sites over a period of 10 days in May 2012. The paper examines publishing practices related to photography rights management, or lack thereof, and identifies how hyperlocal websites, through their practice, situate themselves outside of the existing political economy of media organisations.
The paper describes a landscape whereby the technologies and means exist for hyperlocal media to play into its perceived role as “a range of journalism acting in the public good and engagement facilitated through interactive media” (Metzgar 2011), but this is not necessarily mirrored in our content analysis.
The research forms part of a 30 month Research Council funded project, ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’, investigating the role of the Creative Economy in Connected Communities.
Dave Harte – Co-Investigator
Jerome Turner – Research Associate
Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research
Birmingham City University
Dr Andrew Williams – Co-Investigator
Glynn Mottershead – Co-Investigator
Scott Dewey – Research Assistant
Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
Cardiff University
References:
HARCUP, T. (2011) Alternative journalism as active citizenship. Journalism, Vol 12, No 1, pp. 15-31.
METZGAR, E & KURPIUS, D. & ROWLEY, K. (2011) Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, 13(5), p772 -787
PINK, S. (2012) Situating everyday life : practices and places. London: SAGE.
SCHOLZ, T. (2013) Digital labor : the Internet as playground and factory. New York: Routledge.
SILES, I. & BOCZKOWSKI, P. J. (2012) Making sense of the newspaper crisis: A critical assessment of existing research and an agenda for future work. New Media & Society.
Research Interests:
In recent years much attention has been given to an emerging tier of community news websites, dubbed ‘hyperlocal media operations’ (Metzgar et al., 2011). Policy-makers (Ofcom, 2012) and investors (Radcliffe, 2012) both frame hyperlocal... more
In recent years much attention has been given to an emerging tier of community news websites, dubbed ‘hyperlocal media operations’ (Metzgar et al., 2011). Policy-makers (Ofcom, 2012) and investors (Radcliffe, 2012) both frame hyperlocal as a ‘solution’ to the decline of local news coverage in mainstream media yet although the role and value of citizen journalism is well discussed by community media historians (Atton, 2004) there is relatively little attention given to hyperlocal’s role in place-making as a distinct emerging practice.
Given the role the decline of the press may have on the public sphere (Siles and Boczkowski, 2012) and the potential pressure this places on hyperlocal online news publishers to “fill the gaps” (Metzgar et al., 2011), it is timely to consider the relationship between those who run hyperlocals and the communities they serve.
This paper explores issues around audience reception of two hyperlocal publishers in the West Midlands, UK, with contrasting communities, backgrounds and working practices. Interviews with the hyperlocal producers explores their working practices, perceived role within their community, and methods of engagement. Workshops with citizens from those communities then explored their experiences of local news media. Issues of visibility, perception, and trust were evident and the paper explores the potential for communities of ‘produsers’ (Bruns, 2005) to be encouraged and developed.
The research forms part of a 30 month Research Council funded project, ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’, investigating the role of the creative economy in connected communities.
David Harte, Birmingham City University – Co-investigator, ‘Media, Community and the Creative Citizen’
Jerome Turner, Birmingham City University – Research Fellow, ‘Media, Community and the Creative Citizen’
References:
Atton, C. (2004) An alternative Internet, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
Bruns, A. (2005) Gatewatching: collaborative online news production, New York, Peter Lang.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. (2011) Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, 13, 772-787.
Ofcom (2012) The Communications Market Report 2012. London: Ofcom.
Radcliffe, D. (2012) Here and Now: UK hyperlocal media today. Nesta.
Siles, I. & Boczkowski, P. J. (2012) Making sense of the newspaper crisis: A critical assessment of existing research and an agenda for future work. New Media & Society, 14, 1375-1394.
Given the role the decline of the press may have on the public sphere (Siles and Boczkowski, 2012) and the potential pressure this places on hyperlocal online news publishers to “fill the gaps” (Metzgar et al., 2011), it is timely to consider the relationship between those who run hyperlocals and the communities they serve.
This paper explores issues around audience reception of two hyperlocal publishers in the West Midlands, UK, with contrasting communities, backgrounds and working practices. Interviews with the hyperlocal producers explores their working practices, perceived role within their community, and methods of engagement. Workshops with citizens from those communities then explored their experiences of local news media. Issues of visibility, perception, and trust were evident and the paper explores the potential for communities of ‘produsers’ (Bruns, 2005) to be encouraged and developed.
The research forms part of a 30 month Research Council funded project, ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’, investigating the role of the creative economy in connected communities.
David Harte, Birmingham City University – Co-investigator, ‘Media, Community and the Creative Citizen’
Jerome Turner, Birmingham City University – Research Fellow, ‘Media, Community and the Creative Citizen’
References:
Atton, C. (2004) An alternative Internet, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
Bruns, A. (2005) Gatewatching: collaborative online news production, New York, Peter Lang.
Metzgar, E. T., Kurpius, D. D. & Rowley, K. M. (2011) Defining hyperlocal media: Proposing a framework for discussion. New Media & Society, 13, 772-787.
Ofcom (2012) The Communications Market Report 2012. London: Ofcom.
Radcliffe, D. (2012) Here and Now: UK hyperlocal media today. Nesta.
Siles, I. & Boczkowski, P. J. (2012) Making sense of the newspaper crisis: A critical assessment of existing research and an agenda for future work. New Media & Society, 14, 1375-1394.
Research Interests:
Williams, A. and Turner, J. (2013) ‘UK Community News and the Public Interest’ Presentation in: IAMCR 2013 Conference: Crises, 'Creative Destruction' and the Global Power and Communication Orders, 25-29 June 2013, Dublin, Ireland.
Research Interests:
Professor Ian Hargreaves, Cardiff University David Harte, Birmingham City University Dr Andrew Williams, Cardiff University Glyn Mottershead, Cardiff University Jerome Turner, Birmingham City University Abstract The value of... more
Professor Ian Hargreaves, Cardiff University
David Harte, Birmingham City University
Dr Andrew Williams, Cardiff University
Glyn Mottershead, Cardiff University
Jerome Turner, Birmingham City University
Abstract
The value of news is often viewed through prism of its relationship to democracy (McNair 2009). Key to this is the idea that democracy enables good government most effectively if citizens’ decisions are based on reliable information (Habermas, 1989; Chambers and Costain, 2001). Numerous studies have found the crisis in the UK news industry is endangering the local-ness, quality and independence of local news (Franklin 2006, Williams and Franklin 2007, O’Neill and O’Connor 2009). These studies find that as revenues fall and staff are cut, mainstream local news relies more and more on official sources and PR (meaning only a very narrow range of sources routinely cited), it also becomes less local in focus (as editions are cut, and use of cheap national news agency filler becomes more prevalent). This has led to concerns about the industry’s ability to play its democracy-enabling roles.
However, the Internet has enabled a new generation of community-oriented news outlets often termed hyperlocal news (Bruns 2009, Metzgar et al 2011), which in the UK is little-understood but attracting sustained interest from the news industry and policy-makers (Ofcom, 2012). This paper examines hyperlocal news’ value as an emergent cultural form measured against both public-sphere influenced social roles for news and in relation to other, less traditionally rationalist and political indicators such as “cultural” (Miller 2006) and “DIY citizenship” (Hartley 2011).
As part of a 30-month UK Research Council funded project, ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’ our research outlines the role hyperlocal plays in enhancing community communications, drawing on a range of qualitative research – interviews, workshops, content analysis, co-creation activities.
Our findings suggest that the hyperlocal publishing scene plays a significant part in local media landscape of the UK yet issues of visibility, perception, and trust are evident. The paper explores the potential for communities of ‘produsers’ (Bruns, 2005) to be encouraged and developed. Given the role the decline of the press may have on the public sphere (Siles and Boczkowski, 2012) and the potential pressure this places on hyperlocal online news publishers to “fill the gaps” (Metzgar et al., 2011), this paper is timely in its consideration of the form, function and civic intent of the UK’s hyperlocal media scene.
References:
Bruns, A. (2005) Gatewatching: collaborative online news production, New York: Peter Lang
Metzgar, E., Kurpius, D., Rowley, K. (2011) “Defining Hyperlocal Media: Proposing a framework for discussion”, New Media and Society, 13:5, pp.772-787
Chambers, S. and Costain, A. (eds.) (2001) Deliberation, Democracy, and the Media, London: Rowman and Littlefield
Franklin, B. (1986) “Public Relations, the Local Press and the Coverage of Local Government”, Local Government Studies, Summer, pp.25–33.
Habermas, J. (1989) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press
Hartley, J. (2010) “Silly citizenship”, Critical Discourse Studies, 7:4, pp.233-248
McNair, B. (2009) “Journalism and Democracy”, in Wahl Jorgensen, K., and Hanitsch, T. (eds.) The Handbook of Journalism Studies, New York and London: Routledge, pp.237-249
Miller, T. (2006) Cultural Citizenship: Cosmopolitanism, consumerism, and television in a neoliberal age, Philadelphia: Temple University Press
O’Neill, D. and O’Conor, C. (2008) “The Passive Journalist; How Sources Dominate Local News”, Journalism Practice, 2:3, pp.487-500.
Williams, A. and Franklin, B (2007) Turning Around the Tanker: Implementing Trinity Mirror’s Online Strategy, Cardiff University, Available at: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Media/documents/2007/03/13/Cardiff.Trinity.pdf (last accessed 28th Dec 2012)
OFCOM 2012. The Communications Market Report: United Kingdom, London, Ofcom.
Siles, I. & Boczkowski, P. J. 2012. Making sense of the newspaper crisis: A critical assessment of existing research and an agenda for future work. New Media & Society, 14, 1375-1394.
David Harte, Birmingham City University
Dr Andrew Williams, Cardiff University
Glyn Mottershead, Cardiff University
Jerome Turner, Birmingham City University
Abstract
The value of news is often viewed through prism of its relationship to democracy (McNair 2009). Key to this is the idea that democracy enables good government most effectively if citizens’ decisions are based on reliable information (Habermas, 1989; Chambers and Costain, 2001). Numerous studies have found the crisis in the UK news industry is endangering the local-ness, quality and independence of local news (Franklin 2006, Williams and Franklin 2007, O’Neill and O’Connor 2009). These studies find that as revenues fall and staff are cut, mainstream local news relies more and more on official sources and PR (meaning only a very narrow range of sources routinely cited), it also becomes less local in focus (as editions are cut, and use of cheap national news agency filler becomes more prevalent). This has led to concerns about the industry’s ability to play its democracy-enabling roles.
However, the Internet has enabled a new generation of community-oriented news outlets often termed hyperlocal news (Bruns 2009, Metzgar et al 2011), which in the UK is little-understood but attracting sustained interest from the news industry and policy-makers (Ofcom, 2012). This paper examines hyperlocal news’ value as an emergent cultural form measured against both public-sphere influenced social roles for news and in relation to other, less traditionally rationalist and political indicators such as “cultural” (Miller 2006) and “DIY citizenship” (Hartley 2011).
As part of a 30-month UK Research Council funded project, ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’ our research outlines the role hyperlocal plays in enhancing community communications, drawing on a range of qualitative research – interviews, workshops, content analysis, co-creation activities.
Our findings suggest that the hyperlocal publishing scene plays a significant part in local media landscape of the UK yet issues of visibility, perception, and trust are evident. The paper explores the potential for communities of ‘produsers’ (Bruns, 2005) to be encouraged and developed. Given the role the decline of the press may have on the public sphere (Siles and Boczkowski, 2012) and the potential pressure this places on hyperlocal online news publishers to “fill the gaps” (Metzgar et al., 2011), this paper is timely in its consideration of the form, function and civic intent of the UK’s hyperlocal media scene.
References:
Bruns, A. (2005) Gatewatching: collaborative online news production, New York: Peter Lang
Metzgar, E., Kurpius, D., Rowley, K. (2011) “Defining Hyperlocal Media: Proposing a framework for discussion”, New Media and Society, 13:5, pp.772-787
Chambers, S. and Costain, A. (eds.) (2001) Deliberation, Democracy, and the Media, London: Rowman and Littlefield
Franklin, B. (1986) “Public Relations, the Local Press and the Coverage of Local Government”, Local Government Studies, Summer, pp.25–33.
Habermas, J. (1989) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press
Hartley, J. (2010) “Silly citizenship”, Critical Discourse Studies, 7:4, pp.233-248
McNair, B. (2009) “Journalism and Democracy”, in Wahl Jorgensen, K., and Hanitsch, T. (eds.) The Handbook of Journalism Studies, New York and London: Routledge, pp.237-249
Miller, T. (2006) Cultural Citizenship: Cosmopolitanism, consumerism, and television in a neoliberal age, Philadelphia: Temple University Press
O’Neill, D. and O’Conor, C. (2008) “The Passive Journalist; How Sources Dominate Local News”, Journalism Practice, 2:3, pp.487-500.
Williams, A. and Franklin, B (2007) Turning Around the Tanker: Implementing Trinity Mirror’s Online Strategy, Cardiff University, Available at: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Media/documents/2007/03/13/Cardiff.Trinity.pdf (last accessed 28th Dec 2012)
OFCOM 2012. The Communications Market Report: United Kingdom, London, Ofcom.
Siles, I. & Boczkowski, P. J. 2012. Making sense of the newspaper crisis: A critical assessment of existing research and an agenda for future work. New Media & Society, 14, 1375-1394.
Research Interests:
This document is evidence submitted to and published as part of the parliamentary Women and Equality Committee's 'Sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools inquiry'. Details of the inquiry can be found here:... more
This document is evidence submitted to and published as part of the parliamentary Women and Equality Committee's 'Sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools inquiry'. Details of the inquiry can be found here:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and-equalities-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/inquiry1/
Our evidence document is available to download here:
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/women-and-equalities-committee/sexual-harassment-and-sexual-violence-in-schools/written/34361.pdf
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and-equalities-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/inquiry1/
Our evidence document is available to download here:
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/women-and-equalities-committee/sexual-harassment-and-sexual-violence-in-schools/written/34361.pdf
Research Interests:
This online article forms part of the materials for the Centre for Community Journalism MOOC 2015, an online course targeted at hyperlocal media and citizen journalism practitioners, with over 10,000 signups. The article presents... more
This online article forms part of the materials for the Centre for Community Journalism MOOC 2015, an online course targeted at hyperlocal media and citizen journalism practitioners, with over 10,000 signups.
The article presents findings from my PhD study, with the intention of generating questions or raising issues for discussion.
The article presents findings from my PhD study, with the intention of generating questions or raising issues for discussion.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Work of the Creative Citizens project, which I worked on, has been recognised in Cardiff University's Centre for Community Journalism annual review, where they, in turn, "work with communities in Wales and beyond to support the... more
Work of the Creative Citizens project, which I worked on, has been recognised in Cardiff University's Centre for Community Journalism annual review, where they, in turn, "work with communities in Wales and beyond to support the development
of news services created by local people, for local people."
In discussing research, they said they: "learnt from and publicised Creative Citizens research carried out at Cardiff University and Birmingham City University into the value of hyperlocal news;" (Annual review, p11)
of news services created by local people, for local people."
In discussing research, they said they: "learnt from and publicised Creative Citizens research carried out at Cardiff University and Birmingham City University into the value of hyperlocal news;" (Annual review, p11)
Research Interests:
January 7th 2014: participated in a focus group run by Bryony Enright who works with Keri Facer, Fellow of AHRC's Connected Communities strand. This work specifically explores the changing nature of research based on co-creation methods,... more
January 7th 2014: participated in a focus group run by Bryony Enright who works with Keri Facer, Fellow of AHRC's Connected Communities strand. This work specifically explores the changing nature of research based on co-creation methods, working with communities.
Research Interests:
Cites my co-authored work investigating hyperlocal media practitioners as evidence that "these sites produce a lot of news about community activities, local politics, civic life, and local business" p. 52. Ofcom’s role in furthering the... more
Cites my co-authored work investigating hyperlocal media practitioners as evidence that "these sites produce a lot of news
about community activities, local politics, civic life, and local business" p. 52.
Ofcom’s role in furthering the interests of citizens includes seeking to ensure that people have access to the services and content they need in order to participate fully in society. This report provides an overview of people’s online use of such services and content in a range of citizen-orientated areas.
Work cited: Williams, A., Harte, D. and Turner, J. (2014) The Value of UK Hyperlocal Community News:
Findings from a content analysis, an online survey and interviews with producers.
about community activities, local politics, civic life, and local business" p. 52.
Ofcom’s role in furthering the interests of citizens includes seeking to ensure that people have access to the services and content they need in order to participate fully in society. This report provides an overview of people’s online use of such services and content in a range of citizen-orientated areas.
Work cited: Williams, A., Harte, D. and Turner, J. (2014) The Value of UK Hyperlocal Community News:
Findings from a content analysis, an online survey and interviews with producers.
Research Interests:
The rapid and extensive adoption of Moodle warrants an in-depth evaluation of its users' experience as a key part of determining its suitability as a platform for teaching and learning. This qualitative user experience study considers... more
The rapid and extensive adoption of Moodle warrants an in-depth evaluation of its users' experience as a key part of determining its suitability as a platform for teaching and learning. This qualitative user experience study considers both user groups of Moodle, staff and students within a large University Faculty of Art & Design and recognizes the relationship between the needs of the two user groups. Whilst both staff and students are successful at completing given tasks in Moodle in our specialist User Lab, many staff were found to display extreme dissatisfaction with the experience. As Moodle use is a one to many relationship, where relatively small numbers of staff operate Moodle for the benefit of scores of students, and as many of the problems observed relate to staff, this impacts on the whole learning experience and environment. Patchy use of Moodle by staff can lead to a student experience that may vary considerably depending on the member of staff teaching them and how well they have integrated the use of Moodle within their course delivery. Word clouds and System Usability Scores (SUS) provide powerful evidence of the gulf between the staff and student user experience.
Research Interests:
'We started work in May 2012 and we are due to complete in February 2015. This ‘first findings’ document is intended to provide a brief round- up of our work to date, for sharing with those attending or following remotely our Creative... more
'We started work in May 2012 and we are due to complete in February 2015. This ‘first findings’ document is intended to provide a brief round- up of our work to date, for sharing with those attending or following remotely our Creative Citizens Conference, at the Royal College of Art in London in September 2014. It is not an ‘end of project’ report because the conference itself will provide important inputs to our thinking.' - from the introduction by Principal Investigator, Ian Hargreaves
Research Interests:
Poster presented along with presentation at 12th Annual International Ethnography Symposium, Manchester, UK.
Research Interests:
This research poster was presented at ResCon 2015, Birmingham City University's annual research conference. Content by Jerome Turner; design by Kipp Jones, Wildilk http://wildilk.com/
Research Interests:
This research poster was presented at ResCon 2015, Birmingham City University's annual research conference.
Research Interests:
This won 1st prize for Staff Posters at BCU's ResCon 2014, describing pilot ethnography work to date for my PhD.
Research Interests:
A poster visualising hyperlocal practitioner practices, based on content analysis of hyperlocal media pages in collaboration with Cardiff University. I worked on the content analysis, and designed the poster, which was shown at a... more
A poster visualising hyperlocal practitioner practices, based on content analysis of hyperlocal media pages in collaboration with Cardiff University. I worked on the content analysis, and designed the poster, which was shown at a Connected Communities showcase event.
Research Interests:
A section of the Creative Citizens Variety Pack publication: Connect Cannock is a ‘hyperlocal’ news website serving a community where the local newspapers have ceased publication. In this project, Connect Cannock, together with... more
A section of the Creative Citizens Variety Pack publication:
Connect Cannock is a ‘hyperlocal’ news website serving a community where the local newspapers have ceased publication. In this project, Connect Cannock, together with researchers from Birmingham City University, encouraged local people to participate in the introduction of a new printed newspaper, which brought the website to the attention of a wider cross-section of the community.
Connect Cannock is a ‘hyperlocal’ news website serving a community where the local newspapers have ceased publication. In this project, Connect Cannock, together with researchers from Birmingham City University, encouraged local people to participate in the introduction of a new printed newspaper, which brought the website to the attention of a wider cross-section of the community.