A workshop aimed at doctoral students in the areas of information science, library science, web science, Internet studies, or related disciplines who are working on topics related to the Internet and other networked technologies.

Who Should Attend?

Doctoral students in the areas of information science, library science, web science, Internet studies, or related disciplines who are working on topics related to the Internet and other networked technologies, are invited to apply to attend this workshop. The main theme of the day will be translating research ideas in research practice in the context of Internet Research. Three sessions will address:

  • Operationalizing research questions using an appropriate framework

  • Addressing potential ethical issues in research

  • Practical considerations when working with data obtained from others

How to Apply

Fill out the Information and Web Science Doctoral Workshop Application Form in Adobe Acrobat PDF (12kb) or Application Form in Microsoft Word (60kb) and return to events@oii.ox.ac.uk by 24 February 2009. Each student should prepare a short (3-5 min, 4 slides max.) summary of their work that focus on their central research question and topic: it is hoped that these short presentations will lead to longer, more substantive discussions during breaks and dinner.

Deadline for applications: 24 February 2009.

Workshop Schedule

Time

Sessions

10:30-11:00

Arrival and coffee

11:00-11:30

Welcome by the organizers: Dr Christine Urquhart (Aberystwyth University) and Dr Eric T. Meyer (Oxford University). Introduction: Internet Research Trends (Prof. William H. Dutton, OII Director)

11:30-12:30

Translating theory into practical research methods: Eric Meyer discusses how he used an approach called the STIN strategy (Socio-Technical Interaction Networks) to translate fundamental social informatics topics into concrete, researchable questions. This talk will draw on his dissertation research: ‘Socio-Technical Perspectives on Digital Photography: Scientific Digital Photography Use by Marine Mammal Researchers’, which won the ProQuest Dissertation of the Year award given annually to the best dissertation in the field of information science

12:30-13:15

Lunch provided

13:15-14:30

Student Presentations

14:30-14:45

Coffee break

14:45-15:45

Internet research ethics debate and discussion: Doing research on and about the Internet raises ethical issues, but are they new ethical issues, or just old wine in new bottles? This panel will engage students in discussion of key ethical issues facing Internet researchers, and discuss what students need to consider in their own research. Panelists: Dr Rebecca Eynon, Dr Ralph Schroeder.

15:45-16:45

Optional practical session: Working with secondary datasets, including the problems of messy data, data interpretation, and data management. Working with data you have created yourself is challenging, but it is often even more difficult to work with data that someone else has created. This session will cover some of the main issues in working with secondary data, including cleaning and managing data. Presenters: Dr Ellen J. Helsper and Dr Eric T. Meyer.

17:00-19:00

Break

19:00-21:00

Drinks and dinner at Oriel College. Founded in 1326, it is one of the University of Oxford’s oldest colleges.

After the Workshop: All students are invited to attend Humanities on the Web: Is it working? (Thursday, 19 March 2009, 10:00-14:00), a one day event that will be discussing ways of measuring the impacts of digitised materials on the web, and new tools for working with archival material, such as that housed in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

This workshop is offered by the Oxford Internet Institute and Aberystwyth University Dept of Information Studies, with finding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Aberystwyth UniversityArts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

About the speakers

  • Professor William H. Dutton

    Affiliation: Professor of Internet Studies, Oxford Internet Insitute, University of Oxford

  • Professor Rebecca Eynon

    Affiliation: Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Insitute, University of Oxford

    Rebecca Eynon has written and taught on various issues related to the ethics of Internet research.

  • Professor Ralph Schroeder

    Affiliation: Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Insitute, University of Oxford

    Ralph Schroeder has written and taught on various issues related to the ethics of Internet research.

  • Dr Ellen J. Helsper

    Affiliation: Survey Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Insitute, University of Oxford

    Ellen J. Helsper is an expert in data collection and analysis and is responsible for the biennial OxIS Internet surveys.

  • Professor Eric T. Meyer

    Affiliation: Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Insitute, University of Oxford

    Dr Eric T. Meyer is a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, where his research focuses on the social aspects of new research technologies and e-Research. His dissertation work in social informatics was done at Indiana University under the direction of Howard Rosenbaum and the late Rob Kling. Meyer has over a decade of experience managing and analysing large biomedical datasets.

  • Dr Christine Urquhart

    Affiliation: Aberystwyth University
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