‘Networking as an information behaviour during job search: a study of active job seekers in the Scottish youth labour market‘ is about the role of networking amongst 16-24 year old active job seekers living in Scotland. Continue reading
RIVAL returns! Follow #lisrival today follow to hear the latest from the RIVAL network on research, impact, value and LIS
Today Dr Bruce Ryan and I are hosting the second of the four Royal Society of Edinburgh funded Research Impact Value and Library and Information Science (RIVAL) network events. The members of the RIVAL network are meeting in central Edinburgh at St Cecilia’s Hall from 10:00 onwards to discuss the impact and value of library and information science research and – in particular – the ways to maximise this in practice. Continue reading
Newly published: autumn 2019 edition of the Centre for Social Informatics flyer
We have a newly updated Centre for Social Informatics flyer for autumn 2019. Please follow the link to read about the work of our group, including details of research expertise, funders, recent PhD completions, and recent publications. The flyer includes profiles of the academic and research staff within our group: Continue reading
An award and an appointment at ASIST in Australia #asist2019 #asist19
Last week many members of the worldwide Information Science community gathered in Melbourne, Australia for the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST). I was sorry not to be there myself. This was due to my teaching commitments this semester, in particular my final year undergraduate Knowledge Management module.

Dr Abebe Rorissa presents Dr Brian Detlor with Hazel’s ‘Outstanding Information Science Teacher’ award (Photo credit: Becky Willson)
Despite my lack of physical presence at the conference, I kept an eye on the hash-tagged tweets from the event (#asist2019; #asist19). I was particularly interested in the Twitter stream around breakfast time (in the UK) on Tuesday 22nd October when the delegates in Melbourne were sitting down for the conference dinner and awards ceremony. This was because Visiting Professor to the Centre for Social Informatics Dr Brian Detlor had kindly agreed to step up to the stage to accept the 2019 Clarivate Analytics Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award on my behalf.
The award was presented by Abebe Rorissa of the University of Albany – thank you! I should also thank Rebekah (Becky) Willson of McGill University for taking photographs during the presentation. Continue reading
Congratulations Dr Alicja Pawluczuk!
Congratulations to our Centre for Social Informatics colleague Dr Alicja Pawluczuk! Alicja was one of nine School of Computing PhD graduands at the Edinburgh Napier University graduation ceremony at the Usher Hall yesterday afternoon.
Alicja’s PhD is entitled Youth digital culture co-creation: measuring social impact in Scotland. The purpose of the research was to develop knowledge of social impact evaluation of youth digital projects in Scotland. Dr Gemma Webster was Alicja’s Director of Studies, her second supervisor was Dr Colin Smith, and I was her third supervisor. For further information about the specifics of the research questions, outcomes, theoretical contributions, and recommendations from the work, please see Alicja’s #digiIMPACT page on her web site at www.alicjapawluczuk.com.
Following the graduation ceremony, several of Alicja’s colleagues and fellow PhD students joined her at Café Grande in Bruntsfield to toast her success. Continue reading
Congratulations to Katherine Stephen for an excellent Masters dissertation on metaskills
Congratulations to our PhD student Katherine Stephen, who last week learnt that she was awarded 80% for the Masters dissertation component of her 1+3 PhD. Katherine’s studentship is a collaborative award funded by the ESRC and Skills Development Scotland, and comprises a Masters year at the University of Edinburgh (2018/19) prior to three years of doctoral study at Edinburgh Napier University (2019/22).
Katherine’s Masters dissertation took the form of an extended PhD proposal, and thus has the same title as her doctoral study: Metaskills maturity for future workplaces. The work that she completed for the dissertation last year included a small pilot study entitled Metacognitive experiences of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
In her dissertation Continue reading
Brian Detlor wins award for community engagement work on digital literacy
Congratulations to our visiting professor Brian Detlor, whose research was recognised at McMaster University last month when he received the DeGroote School of Business Award for Community Engaged Scholarship. Continue reading
Introducing new research students Rachel Salzano and Katherine Stephen
Welcome to Rachel Salzano and Katherine Stephen, who join us this week as new research students within the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University. Continue reading
Invitations to celebrations of Ada Lovelace Day at Edinburgh Napier University, 8th October 2019
Ada Lovelace Day is on Tuesday 8th October this year. Edinburgh Napier University is hosting two events to mark the day: one targeted at young women in the afternoon immediately after school, and the other a public lecture at 17:30 (open to all). Continue reading
Reputation management in a digital world – Dr Frances Ryan’s doctoral thesis now available as a full text pdf
Dr Frances Ryan graduated with her PhD in July 2019. Frances’ doctoral thesis Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations is now available to download as a full text pdf file from the Edinburgh Napier University repository. The abstract below summarises the thesis content.
Abstract
This work is concerned with the role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations. The main contributions of the research relate to: (1) the means by which people evaluate the personal reputations of others from the online evidence available to them, and (2) strategies for the building and management of personal reputations through the use of online information. Continue reading



