This year’s iConference was hosted by my former colleagues at Edinburgh Napier University, with on-site sessions for 340 delegates taking place at the University’s Craiglockhart campus between 29th March and 2nd April 2026. I was delighted to join the event to catch up with old colleagues and external work friends, and to learn about new directions in information science research from the next generation of researchers. Continue reading
March 8th 2026 marks a decade since staff in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh posted the first entry to the Dangerous Women Project web site on International Women’s Day 2016. In the year that followed, over 350 provocation pieces were added to the site in a bid to answer the question What does it mean to be a ‘dangerous woman’? Continue reading
Dr Bruce Ryan
After 13 years at Edinburgh Napier University, Dr Bruce Ryan’s role as Senior Research Fellow has come to an end. Last Friday, I joined Bruce for a special meal to mark his last day in paid employment at the University. Amongst the other guests were our (former) colleagues Dr Peter Cruickshank, Dr David Haynes, and Dr Rachel Salzano.
I worked closely with Bruce for over a decade when we were colleagues in the Centre for Social Informatics. Of the many projects on which we collaborated, three stand out: Continue reading
One of the questions most often asked of doctoral students is What are you going to do when you finish your PhD? For some students it is also one of the most dreaded, especially when it comes from family members or friends who barely understand the title of the doctoral research in question. An obvious, and truthful, answer is ‘No longer work on my thesis’. However, this isn’t really a suitable response. The questioner is interested in hearing about ‘proper’ job ambitions, and the value of these to a successful future career. Continue reading
Poster by Edinburgh Napier Social Informatics Research Group colleagues presented at #ASIST23
The main programme of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology opens today in London. Sadly I cannot be there in person with my (lucky) Edinburgh Napier University Social Informatics Research Group colleagues*. Continue reading
Professors Brian Detlor & Hazel Hall
Dr Brian Detlor, Visiting Professor to the Social Informatics Research Group at Edinburgh Napier University, has been in the Edinburgh for the past week. Last Friday I was pleased to participate in one of the events organised to mark Brian’s visit: a lightening talk showcase of some the excellent research undertaken by researchers in the Social Informatics Research Group.
My own presentation was about the AHRC/Creative Informatics funded Platform to Platform project that I completed last year with Dr Bruce Ryan (PI) and Dr Iain McGregor (Co-I). This work involved the creation of a podcast series based on Lorna Lloyd’s Diary of the war, and an assessment audience engagement with archives in two different digital formats – (1) a Blipfoto journal of text and images, and (2) sound in podcast episodes. The slides for my presentation are available on SlideShare. Continue reading
What can you do with a PhD from the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University? Find out here with news of four former PhD students who graduated between 2018 and 2020. Continue reading
Dr Peter Cruickshank, Dr David Brazier, Dr David Haynes, Dr Hazel Hall, Katherine Stephen, Dr Bruce Ryan, and Dr JP Vargheese pose for a post-meeting selfie
For the first time since 18th December 2019, this week members of my research group gathered for an end of year ‘all centre’ meeting to celebrate our recent research highlights.
Although not everyone could make it on this occasion, those who could enjoyed spending the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd June together. We took it in turns to deliver short personal updates to the rest of the group on our own research. We also read out details sent to us by email from those who could not participate in person, and gave each absent colleague a round of applause. Continue reading
PhD supervisors from the Centre for Social Informatics
The School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University is currently advertising ten fully-funded PhD studentships across a wide range of subjects, from sound technologies to cybersecurity. Amongst these are four proposed by Centre for Social Informatics colleagues: Continue reading
This evening, on International Women’s Day 2022, I will be attending the online book launch of Dangerous women. Edited by Jo Shaw, Ben Fletcher-Watson and Abrisham Ahmadzadeh, the book comprises fifty essays on social and political structures, everyday life, attitudes, and identity to question what it means for a woman to be considered ‘dangerous’, as well the danger that a woman may present to others. I am looking forward to listening to the speakers at the launch. They include Mab Jones, Sujana Crawford, Laura Waddell, Glynis Ridley, and Rachel McCrum.
The perspectives in the book are drawn from a larger body of contributions to the Dangerous Women Project, which ran between International Women’s Day 2016 (I blogged a review of the launch event) and 2017. Continue reading
Hazel Hall 