RIVAL wrapped up… or is it?

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Hazel Hall

A week ago on Friday 12th February, Dr Bruce Ryan and I hosted part 2 of the last of the four networking events for our Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded RIVAL project. Over the course of the morning between 10:00 and 12:30, four teams worked online in break-out meetings on project outputs determined by the network members themselves. These are the delivery of a professional event in late 2021, an article for publication, a funding bid, and an evaluation report. In the last half hour of the meeting we all regrouped so that each of the coordinators of the four output teams had the opportunity to report back on their progress to everyone. Continue reading →

Risks of disclosing personal information online: new paper by Dr David Haynes (Napier) and Dr Lyn Robinson (City)

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Hazel Hall

Congratulations to my Centre for Social Informatics colleague Dr David Haynes and his co-author Dr Lyn Robinson of City University on the ‘online first’ publication of their paper ‘Delphi study of risk to individuals who disclose personal information online’. In their paper, the authors identify four priority areas for research into personal online risk: (1) personalisation versus privacy; (2) responsibility for privacy on social networks; (3) measuring privacy risk, and (4) perceptions of powerlessness and resulting apathy. Continue reading →

RIVAL network members gather (online) for event 4

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Hazel Hall

Today the members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded RIVAL network are meeting formally for the penultimate time at part 1 of RIVAL Event 4. As has been the case for so many professional activities since mid-March 2020, Dr Bruce Ryan, Rachel Salzano, Katherine Stephen and I are not hosting this event as originally envisaged. Rather than gathering face-to-face, at Edinburgh Napier University’s Sighthill campus for a full day on July 9th 2020, the RIVAL network members will be logging onto Teams for two half day meetings, the first of which is this afternoon, with the second on the morning of Friday 12th February. Continue reading →

Why did you get into computing and what do you get out of it? Ada Scotland Festival launches video competition

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Hazel Hall

Girls in Scottish schools and female students studying computing subjects (including IT and Digital Media) in Scottish colleges/universities (including apprentices) are invited to submit a video of up to 3 minutes in length for the Ada Scotland Festival video competition. Entries may be submitted by individuals, or by teams of up to 4 people. They should provide an answer to the question Why did you get into computing and what do you get out of it? Continue reading →

Registration opens for ‘digital proxies’ workshop for information workers

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Hazel Hall

Are you an information worker who supports citizens in their use online systems by accessing digital services on their behalf as their ‘digital proxy’? Perhaps this kind of activity has become part of your role working in local government, a public library service, civil society, and/or a third sector organisation?

If so, my Centre for Social Informatics colleagues Dr Gemma Webster, Dr David Brazier, Peter Cruickshank and Dr Bruce Ryan would like to invite you to participate at one of three free half-day online workshops next month. Continue reading →

Calling social science PhD students in Scotland! Register now for adaptability skills training event on 10th February 2021

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Hazel Hall

Changing research plans: how to move forward in times of uncertainty is a half-day interactive online training event for PhD students funded by the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. It takes place on the morning of February 10th 2021 (09:00-13:00). The event has been organised by Centre for Social Informatics PhD students Marina Milosheva and Thokozani Kachale. Continue reading →

Two exciting new vacancies at Edinburgh Napier University: Lecturer in Business Information Technology; Professor of Creative & Interactive Computing

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Hazel Hall

In 2020 Edinburgh was ranked in top 20 cities of the world for well-being

The School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University is currently recruiting. Please pass on word of these exciting opportunities to work with some great colleagues in one of the most beautiful and liveable cities of the world.

The vacancies are for full-time permanent posts within the Creative and Social Informatics Subject Group at Edinburgh Napier University. The Creative and Social Informatics Subject Group is one of three focus areas for research and teaching in the School of Computing. My Research Group – the Centre for Social Informatics – is one of the two Research Groups within this Subject Group.

The vacancies are for:

Lecturer in Business Information Technology, salary £40,322 to £49,553, interviews anticipated to take place on 12th March
Professor of Creative and Interactive Computing, salary £64,603 to £73,630, interviews anticipated to take place on 2nd and 9th March

Applications should be made through the Edinburgh Napier Jobs web pages for the closing date of 11th February 2021 (both posts). Continue reading →

Farewell 2020

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Hazel Hall

Social Informatcis staff and students all centre meeting December 2019

The way we were, December 2019. L to R: John Marshall, Peter Cruickshank, Lyndsey Middleton (now graduated with PhD), Katherine Stephen, Rachel Salzano, Marina Milosheva, Laura Muir (now retired), Hazel Hall, Leo Appleton (now graduated with PhD), Ella Taylor-Smith, David Haynes, David Brazier, Frances Ryan (now Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen), Colin Smith, Wegene Demeke, and Bruce Ryan.

Just over a year ago, on 22nd December 2019, I summarised the the previous six months of activities of the members of the Centre for Social Informatics. I illustrated this account with a jolly photograph of us all bunched closely together around the table a few days earlier in room C34a of Edinburgh Napier University’s Merchiston campus. Continue reading →

Information Research December 2020 issue available with six contributions from the Centre for Social Informatics

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Hazel Hall

The December 2020 issue of Information Research is now available. Alongside the ‘regular’ papers and book reviews, this issue incorporates all the papers and posters from the Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) conference hosted online by the Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa in September. Continue reading →

iConference acceptances for Marina Milosheva and Rachel Salzano #iConf2021 #iconf21

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Hazel Hall

Last week two of our Centre for Social Informatics PhD students learnt that they will be contributing to iConference 2021. Continue reading →