Dr Ralph Schroeder

Director of Research, MSc Programme Director and Senior Research Fellow

Dr Ralph Schroeder

Ralph Schroeder has interests in virtual environments, social aspects of e-Science, sociology of science and technology, and has written extensively about virtual reality technology. His current research is mainly related to e-science.

Email: ralph.schroeder@oii.ox.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1865 287224

Profile

Ralph Schroeder was formerly Professor in the School of Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers University in Gothenburg (Sweden). He completed his PhD about Max Weber at the LSE in 1988. His publications include Possible Worlds: The Social Dynamic of Virtual Reality Technology (Westview, 1996), Rethinking Science, Technology and Social Change (Stanford University Press, 2007) and Being There Together: Social Interaction in Virtual Environments (Oxford University Press, 2010).

He is currently working on shared virtual environments and on the social implications of e-science.

Research interests

virtual environments, social aspects of e-Science, sociology of science and technology

Positions held at the OII

  • Director of Research, October 2009 -
  • MSc Programme Director, January 2009 -
  • Senior Research Fellow, January 2009 -
  • James Martin Research Fellow, September 2004 - December 2008

Back to: profile top | page top

Research

Current projects

  • Humanities Information Practices

    February - November 2010

    Many humanities scholars are enthusiastic users of digital resources, however there is a potential mismatch between what (and how) resources are offered, and how scholars might use them. How should they be designed to ensure maximum use by scholars?

  • OeSS: The Oxford e-Social Science Project

    October 2005 -

    The Oxford e-Social Science project aims to understand how e-Research projects negotiate various social, ethical, legal and organizational forces and constraints, in order to help researchers avoid these problems when building scientific collaborations.

Past projects

  • Digitised Resources: A Usage and Impact Study

    June 2008 - April 2009

    This project combines quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure the impact of online scholarly resources and to develop a best practices toolkit that will allow assessment of the impact of digitisation projects by researchers and funding bodies.

  • World Wide Web of Humanities

    April 2008 - March 2009

    Establishing a framework for e-Humanities research using available open source tools and technologies and archived web content to create novel research interfaces to the first of many, scholarly, e-Humanities web collections.

  • PEACH: Presence Research in Action

    May 2006 - April 2010

    Presence research focuses on understanding and controlling the cognitive experience of being somewhere, or someone: we are analysing social impact scenarios to raise and address potential ethical and policy issues relating to Presence technologies.

  • Embedding e-science applications: designing and managing for usability

    April 2006 - March 2009

    The 'embedding e-science applications' project addresses the difficulty of managing requirements for usability in e-science projects, and developing collaborative approaches to system development that allow for communication of these requirements.

  • The e-Horizons Institute

    October 2005 - April 2009

    The e-Horizons Institute researches the coming technological breakthroughs in e-science that will have cross-sector social and economic implications as they are taken up by business, government and other actors.

  • The World Wide Web of Science: emerging global sources of expertise

    April 2005 - March 2006

    The World Wide Web of Science project assesses whether, and to what extent, the Internet and the Web are transforming access to sources of scientific expertise, and whether these sources are becoming more concentrated or more diversified.

Back to: research top | page top

Publications

Articles

Books

  • Schroeder, R. (2010) Being There Together: Social Interaction in Virtual Environments. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Schroeder, R. (2007) Rethinking Science, Technology, and Social Change. Stanford University Press.
  • Schroeder, R. and Axelsson, A.-S. (eds) (2006) Avatars at Work and Play. Activities in Shared Virtual Environments. London: Springer.

Chapters

  • Schroeder, R., den Besten, M. and David, P. (2010) Open Science and e-Science. In: W.H.Dutton and P.Jeffreys (eds) World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 299-316.
  • Schroeder, R. and Fry, J. (2010) Disciplinary Differences in e-Research. In: W.H.Dutton and P.Jeffreys (eds) World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 257-271.
  • Schroeder, R. (2009) Science, Technology and Globalization. In: Ohly, H.-P. (ed.) Globalisierung.
  • Schroeder, R. (2009) Open Science and Collaborative Research in e-Science: Realities of information access policies and practices at the project level. In: J.Hunsiger (ed.) Handbook of Internet Research. London: Springer.
  • Schroeder, R., Fry, J., den Besten, M. and Ackland, R. (2009) Probing Collaborative Activity among e-Science Projects in the UK. In: Anandarajan and Anandarajan (eds) E-Research Collaboration: Frameworks, Tools and Techniques.
  • Schroeder, R. and Fry, J. (2009) Towards a Sociology of e-Research: Shaping Practice and Advancing Knowledge. In: N.Jankowski (ed.) e-Research: Transformation in Scholarly Practice. New York: Routledge, pp. 35-53.
  • Eynon, R., Fry, J. and Schroeder, R. (2008) The Ethics of Internet Research. In: N.G.Fielding, R.M.Lee and G.Blank (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: Sage, pp. 23-41.
  • Schroeder, R. and Bailenson, J. (2008) Research Uses of Multi-user Virtual Environments. In: N.G.Fielding, R.M.Lee and G.Blank (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: Sage, pp. 327-342.
  • Fry, J., Virkar, S. and Schroeder, R. (2008) Search Engines and Expertise about Global Issues: Well-defined territory or Undomesticated Wilderness? In: M.Zimmer and A.Spink (eds) Web Search: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Springer, 255-275.
  • Schroeder, R. and Steed, A. (2007) Collaboration in Virtual Environments: How Copresence, Immersiveness and Technology Shape Interaction. In: Biocca, F. (ed.) Handbook of Virtual Environments.
  • Schroeder, R. (2007) Michael Mann. In: Stones, R. (ed.) Key Sociological Thinkers. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.338-54.
  • Axelsson, A.-S., Abelin, A. and Schroeder, R. (2007) Anyone speak Swedish? Tolerance for language shifting in graphical multi-user virtual environments. In: B.Danet and S.Herring (eds) The multilingual Internet: Language, culture and communication online. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pp. 362-381.
  • Schroeder, R. and Axelsson, A.-S. (2006) Avatars at Work and Play: Overlapping Themes and Intersecting Research Agendas. In: Schroeder, R. and Axelsson, A.-S. (eds) Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments. London: Springer, pp. ix-xv.
  • Schroeder, R., Heldal, I., Brathe, L. and Steed, A. (2006) Interaction Fragments influencing Collaboration in Distributed Virtual Environments. In: Schroeder, R. and Axelsson, A.-S. (eds) Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments. London: Springer, pp. 97-130.
  • Schroeder, R., Spante, M. and Axelsson, A.-S. (2006) The Good Inequality: Supporting Group Work in Shared Virtual Environments. In: Schroeder, R. and Axelsson, A.-S. (eds) Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments. London: Springer, pp. 151-166.
  • Schroeder, R. (2006) Introduction: The IEMP Model and its Critics. In: Schroeder, R. and Hall, J. (eds) An Anatomy of Power: Michael Mann's Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-16.
  • Spante, M., Axelsson, A.-S. and Schroeder, R. (2006) The good inequality: Supporting group-work in shared virtual environments. In: R.Schroeder and A.-S.Axelsson (eds) Avatars at Work and Play. Activities in Shared Virtual Environments. London: Springer, pp. 151-166.

Conference papers

Presentations

  • Schroeder, R., Power, L. and Meyer, E. (2009) Community-Driven Discovery in Biology. Presented at the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, Brisbane, July 12-16 2009.
  • Meyer, E.T., Schroeder, R. and Dutton, W.H. (2008) The Role of e-Infrastructures in the Transformation of Research Practices and Outcomes. iConference 2008, UCLA, Los Angeles, LA, 28 February-1 March 2008.
  • Eynon, R., Fry, J. and Schroeder, R. (2008) The Ethics of Internet Research. ESRC Methods Festival, St Catherine's College, University of Oxford, 30 June-3 July 2008.
  • Meyer, E.T. and Schroeder, R. (2008) The World Wide Web of Research and Access to Knowledge. 4th International Conference on e-Social Science, Manchester, UK, 18-19 June 2008.
  • Meyer, E.T., Schroeder, R. and Power, L. (2008) e-Research 2.0: Taking the Measure of Web 2.0 in e-Research. 4th International Conference on e-Social Science, Manchester, UK, 18-19 June 2008.
  • Ackland, R., Fry, J. and Schroeder, R. (2007) Scoping the Online Visibility of e-Research by Means of e-Research Tools. 3rd International Conference on e-Social Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 7-9 October 2007.
  • Schroeder, R. (2007) Defending Technological Determinism - In Theory and in Practices. Society for the Social Studies of Sciences (4S) Annual Conference 2007, Montreal, Canada, 11-13 October 2007.
  • Daw, M., Procter, R., Lin, Y., Hewitt, T., Jie, W., Voss, A., Baird, K., Turner, A., Birkin, M., Miller, K., Dutton, W., Jirotka, M., Schroeder, R., de la Flor, G., Edwards, P., Allan, R., Yang, X. and Crouchley, R. (2007) Developing an e-Infrastructure for Social Science. 3rd International Conference on e-Social Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 7-9 October 2007.
  • Schroeder, R., Fry, J. and De Beer, J. (2007) e-Research infrastructures and scientific communication. IATUL 2007, Stockholm, 11-14 June 2007.
  • Eynon, R., Fry, J. and Schroeder, R. (2007) The Ethics of Internet Research. Economic and Social Research Council e-Society Programme and SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods Colloquium, London, UK, 28-29 March 2007.
  • Schroeder, R. (2006) e-Sciences: Infrastructures that reshape the Global Contours of Knowledge. NCeSS Second International Conference on e-Social Science, Manchester, UK, 28-30 June 2006.
  • David, P., den Besten, M. and Schroeder, R. (2006) How Open is e-Science? 2nd IEEE International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 4-6 December 2006.
  • Fry, J., Virkar, S. and Schroeder, R. (2006) The World Wide Web of Science and Global Expertise: Democratizing Access to Knowledge? Presented at 'The World Wide Web and Access to Knowledge Workshop', Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 9-10 February 2006.
  • Schroeder, R., Caldas, A., Mesch, G. and Dutton, W. (2005) The World Wide Web of Science: Reconfiguring Access to Information. NCeSS First International Conference on e-Social Science, Manchester, UK, 22-24 June 2005.
  • Farber, D. (2004) The Societal Implications of Networking: A Personal Perspective. Presented at 'The Societal Implications of Networking: A Personal Perspective, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 12 October 2004.

Back to: publications top | page top

Teaching

Courses taught at the OII

  • Networks of Collaboration

    Providing an in-depth understanding about how research and collaboration are changing as they migrate online, and an overview of current findings and major topics in this field.

  • Social Dynamics of the Internet

    An overview of the major findings to date regarding the social implications of the Internet, drawing material from several social science disciplines, including communication studies, sociology, and political science.

  • Social Research Methods and the Internet (Parts I and II)

    Examining issues concerning application of traditional social research methods to the study of emerging ICTs, as well as the use of new methods, enabled by the Internet and ICTs, in the study of an array of social research problems.

DPhil students supervised at the OII

Current students

  • Tobias Escher

    The Internet and the Representativeness of Political Participation - A comparison of citizen-initiated contacts with Members of Parliament in Germany and the UK

  • Han-Teng Liao

    Nationalizing Governance in Chinese-Written Wikipedia

  • Lucy Power

    e-Research in the Life Sciences

Back to: teaching top | page top

Webcasts

  • Studying at the Oxford Internet Institute

    Recorded on: 27 October 2008 Duration: 00:00:00

    Thinking about applying for our DPhil or MSc courses? Want to know more about what it's like to study at the OII? In this ten minute video, faculty and students talk about the OII's DPhil and MSc programmes.

Back to: webcasts top | page top

News

Back to: news top | page top

Events

  • Undergraduate Lecture Series (M5): Being There Together: Social Interaction in Virtual Environments

    Monday 8 November 2010 16:00 - 17:30

    This lecture will give an overview of different types of shared virtual environments and how people interact in them. This includes virtual worlds like Second Life as well as immersive virtual reality environments.

  • Book Launch: 'World Wide Research'

    Wednesday 22 September 2010 16:00 - 18:00

    This event marks the publication of 'World Wide Research' by MIT Press, with a keynote on directions in digital social research and a panel discussion on the role of advanced Internet and Web technologies for research practices across disciplines

Back to: events top | page top

Last updated on: 6 September 2010