Evaluation of engagement with hyperlocal e-participation systems by citizens and representatives: thesis PDF now available

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Hazel Hall

In July 2021 my Centre for Social Informatics colleague Peter Cruickshank was awarded a doctoral degree for his thesis Evaluation of engagement with hyperlocal e-participation systems by citizens and representatives.

The pdf of the thesis is now freely available for download from the Edinburgh Napier University repository. It will be of interest to all who conduct research on information behaviour and use, and particularly those investigating themes such as everyday life information seeking and information literacy in the context of e-participation. Continue reading →

Congratulations Associate Professor Dr Peter Cruickshank!

Posted on July 6, 2021 by Hazel Hall

Dr Peter Cruickshank

Normally at this time of year, thousands of newly-minted graduates collect their degree certificates at university graduation ceremonies across the UK. Were we not under pandemic restrictions, my colleague Peter Cruickshank would be one of those crossing the stage this month at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, marking the completion of his doctorate in May 2021. 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 →

All set for #isic2020

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Hazel Hall

The 2020 Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) conference is hosted this week by our colleagues at the Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Had circumstances been different, several members of the Centre for Social Informatics would be in South Africa now. The PhD students would be joining today’s doctoral workshop in person, and everyone preparing to present their papers and posters face-to-face over the course of the main conference from Tuesday to Thursday this week (as has been the case at past ISIC conferences, e.g. 2018 in Kraków, Poland, 2016 in Zadar, Croatia, 2014 in Leeds) . Continue reading →

Hyperlocal democracy, tacit knowledge sharing, digital youth participation, and online reputation building and management: four more papers in JoLIS

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Hazel Hall

The last four articles of the seven that I developed with Centre for Social Informatics colleagues from the conference papers that we presented at i3 in 2017 have worked their way through the publication process, and can now be found in the print form with assigned volume, issue and page numbers in the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. The article titles and themes are: Continue reading →

Why bother to share information for little visible return? Publication in press with Information Research

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Hazel Hall

Talking to imagined citizens? Information sharing practices and proxies for e-participation in hyperlocal democratic settings has recently been accepted for publication in Information Research.

This work is concerned with the extent to which existing models of information sharing based on the tenets of exchange are applicable across a full range of contexts. Specifically, in this paper, Peter Cruickshank and I deploy an information sharing practice-based approach to explore the means by which hyperlocal representatives in Scotland handle their information sharing roles, and how they address their relationships with online ‘lurker’ audiences. Continue reading →

Practices of community representatives in exploiting information channels for citizen democratic engagement: paper available on OnlineFirst

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Hazel Hall

The first of the seven articles that I recently co-authored for the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JoLIS) has now been published as an OnlineFirst paper, with the option to download it as a PDF.

In the paper entitled ‘Practices of community representatives in exploiting information channels for citizen democratic engagement‘ my co-authors Pete r Cruickshank and Bruce Ryan and I explore how elected (yet unpaid) community councillors in Scotland exploit information channels for democratic engagement with the citizens that they represent. Continue reading →

Information sharing, information literacy, and #Finland100

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Mural in Turku city centre

Last week I travelled to Turku to spend some time with colleagues at Åbo Akademi University. This was my first visit to Finland since my appointment last February as Docent in Information Studies within the Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics at the University. Continue reading →

Information Literacy for Democratic Engagement (IL-DEM) project: findings

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Peter Cruickshank, Dr Bruce Ryan and I recently completed the I nformation Literacy for Democratic Engagement (IL-DEM) project. This work set out to investigate levels of digital and information literacy within Scotland’s Community Council system. It was supported by a grant from the CILIP Information Literacy Group.

We explored how community councillors develop the skills required to inform and engage with the citizens that they represent, and how libraries support this work. In doing so have extended further two established research streams within the Centre for Social Informatics: (1) Cruickshank and Ryan’s work on digital engagement in local democracy (such as our DigiCC workshops), and (2) mine with Christine Irving on information literacy and life-long learning. This work also builds upon our group’s track record in library and information science research. Continue reading →

Information Literacy for Democratic Engagement: project update #IL-DEM

Posted on December 2, 2016 by Hazel Hall

The Centre for Social Informatics is currently undertaking a project entitled Information Literacy for Democratic Engagement (IL-DEM). Supported by a grant from the CILIP Information Literacy Group, our work investigates levels of digital and information literacy within Scotland’s Community Council system.

Specifically Peter Cruickshank, Dr Bruce Ryan and I are exploring how community councillors develop the skills required to inform and engage with the citizens that they represent, and how libraries support this work. In doing so we’re extending two established research streams within the Centre for Social Informatics: Cruickshank and Ryan’s work on digital engagement in local democracy (such as our DigiCC workshops), and mine with Christine Irving on information literacy and life-long learning. This work also builds upon our group’s track record in library and information science research. Continue reading →

Hazel Hall

Emeritus Professor, Edinburgh Napier University

Tag Archives: community councillors

Congratulations Associate Professor Dr Peter Cruickshank!