For immediate release - Thursday 6th March 2008
Is the internet a friend or foe? Social scientists, media professionals and marketing experts will gather in Manchester on Wednesday 12 March to discuss the implications for society and researchers of the rapidly evolving worldwide web.
The event is part of the National Festival of Social Science, organised by the Economic and Social Research Council to showcase cutting edge research and highlight important issues in the social sciences. The Manchester forum will take a critical look at so-called Web 2.0 (referred to as 'web two'), the term given to the latest development of the internet as a medium that allows much more participation by its users than previously.
The event has been organised by Dr Andrew Miles, a senior research fellow in the ESRC's Centre for Research on Socio-cultural Change at the University of Manchester, working in conjunction with the Northwest Culture Observatory, which is the research arm of the regional cultural consortium Culture Northwest.
"Web 2.0 is considered to be a far more open and democratic form of the internet," said Dr Miles. "It is no longer simply a repository of information. People contribute their own content in the form of personal information on social networking sites such as Facebook, their own blogs and entries to information sources such as Wikipedia."
A number of key issues arise from this 'free for all'. The quantity of information available for academic social science researchers, for example, is vast. But can the information be trusted? "As researchers, the internet offers huge amounts of information on people's attitudes and behaviour - but does this information have the appropriate legitimacy for research?" Dr Miles said. "There is also the question of surveillance - government and commerce obtaining data on citizens through the web."
Researchers in the academic and commercial sectors need to understand how best to approach and make use of this huge quantity of 'new' information - what the potential advantages might be and where the pitfalls might lie.
Participants at the event, which will be held at the Manchester Digital Development Agency on Portland Street, will hear from a range of speakers from the academic and commercial research sectors and be given an opportunity to discuss the issues raised during workshops.
"Essentially we are trying to get a discourse between academics, commercial researchers and people in the cultural sector who have different interests to see what kind of potential collaborations can be developed," Dr Miles said. "This is about creating dialogue between different research interests, policy makers and practitioners."
Anyone interested in attending the event should contact Josine Opmeer (Tel: +44 (0)161 275 8990; e-mail josine.opmeer@manchester.ac.uk).
For more information contact
- Josine Opmeer, ESRC Centre for Research on Sociocultural Change, University of Manchester (Tel: +44 (0)161 275 8990; e-mail josine.opmeer@manchester.ac.uk)
- ESRC Press Office:
Notes for editors:
- The event 'Surveying 2.0 Digital Technologies, Market Intelligence and Social Media' will be held on Wednesday 12 March, 9.30am - 4pm, at the Manchester Digital Development Agency, 117-119 Portland Street, Manchester.
- The ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) is a major international research centre that aims to provide an integrated programme of theoretically directed, inter-disciplinary empirical research on socio-cultural change in the UK, placing this in comparative and historical perspective, so that its findings can shape academic research, and can be drawn upon by users of cultural research. The centre's research programme seeks to overcome current barriers between academic disciplines and between academics and users. More at www.cresc.ac.uk
- The ESRC Festival of Social Science is an annual week-long programme of events held across the UK to celebrate some of the country's leading social science research and to show how social science impacts on our lives. The events take a variety of formats, from traditional lectures and seminars to exhibitions, film screenings and topical debates. The festival events are aimed at a range of different audiences, including policy makers, business, the media, the general public and students of all ages. This year's Festival will take place from 7-16 March 2008. Further information about the festival including a programme of events can be found at www.esrcfestival.ac.uk
- The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It supports independent, high quality research relevant to business, the public sector and voluntary organisations. The ESRC's planned total expenditure in 2007 - 08 is £181 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
- ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk