
Helen Margetts is Professor of Society and the Internet, a political scientist specialising in digital government and politics. She was Director of the OII from 2011-18.
Email: helen.margetts@oii.ox.ac.ukTel: +44 (0)1865 287207
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Helen Margetts is Professor of Society and the Internet. She is a political scientist specialising in digital era governance and politics, investigating political behaviour and political institutions in the age of the internet, social media and big data. She has published over a hundred books, articles and major research reports in this area, including Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action (with Peter John, scott Hale and Taha Yasseri, 2015); Paradoxes of Modernization (with Perri 6 and Christopher Hood, 2010); Digital Era Governance(with Patrick Dunleavy, 2006); and The Tools of Government in the Digital Age (with Christopher Hood, 2007). In 2003 she and Patrick Dunleavy won the ‘Political Scientists Making a Difference’ award from the UK Political Studies Association, in part for a series of policy reports onGovernment on the Internet for the UK National Audit Office (1999, 2002 and 2007), and she continues working to maximise the policy impact of her research. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Policy and Internet. She is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Faculty Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science.
Professor Margetts joined the OII in 2004 from University College London where she was a Professor in Political Science and Director of the School of Public Policy. She began her career as a computer programmer and systems analyst with Rank Xerox after receiving her BSc in mathematics from the University of Bristol. She returned to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1989, completing an MSc in Politics and Public Policy in 1990 and a PhD in Government in 1996. She worked as a researcher at LSE from 1991 to 1994 and a lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London from 1994 to 1999.
Areas of Interest for Doctoral Supervision
Digital government, public management, public policy, collective action, political participation, democracy, political science, data science, experiments.
Research interests
Digital government, public management reform, tools of public policy, collective action, political participation, social science experiments, data science, alternative electoral systems, political extremism.
Positions held at the OII
- Professor of Society and the Internet, October 2004 –
- Director, October 2011 – April 2018
- Director of Graduate Studies, October 2009 – August 2010
- Director of Research, October 2004 – September 2009
Students supervised at the OII
Current students
Past students
- Dr Max Loubser
- Dr Roy Nyberg
- Dr Amanda Clarke
Latest blog posts
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Stormzy 1: The Sun 0 — Three Reasons Why #GE2017 Was the Real Social Media Election
Date Published: 15 June 2017
Authors: Helen Margetts
After its initial appearance as a cynical but safe device by Teresa May to ratchet up the Conservative majority, the UK general election of ... Read More Stormzy 1: The Sun 0 — Three Reasons Why #GE2017 Was the Real Social Media Election
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Of course social media is transforming politics. But it’s not to blame for Brexit and Trump
Date Published: 9 January 2017
Authors: Helen Margetts
After Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, 2016 will be remembered as the year of cataclysmic democratic events on both sides of the ... Read More Of course social media is transforming politics. But it’s not to blame for Brexit and Trump
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Helen on politics and social media in German
Date Published: 16 December 2016
Authors: Helen Margetts
Author Helen Margetts spoke to Hendrik Lehmann of Digital Present on the opportunities and risks for politics in the age of social media. The ... Read More Helen on politics and social media in German
Current projects
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Elections and the Internet
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Scott A. Hale, Dr Jonathan Bright
This site collects elections research at the OII. We are interested in exploring the extent to which data from the social web can be used to predict interesting social and political phenomena, especially elections.
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Government on the Web
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Tobias Escher, Dr Scott A. Hale, Simon Bastow, Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Oliver Pearce, Jane Tinkler
Research dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of e-government and the impact of web-based technologies on government.
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OxIS: Oxford Internet Surveys
Participants: Professor William H. Dutton, Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Bianca Reisdorf, Dr Grant Blank, Ulrike Deetjen
Research on access, use and attitudes to the Internet in Britain based on biennial surveys covering (for example) digital and social inclusion and exclusion, social networking, safety and privacy concerns, Internet regulation, and behaviour.
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OXLab: Oxford eXperimental Laboratory
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Tobias Escher, Dr Nir Vulkan, Dr Scott A. Hale, Ingrid Boxall, Professor Peter John, Lucy Bartlett
Oxford eXperimental Laboratory is undertaking laboratory-based experiments (eg information-seeking tasks) on networked computers in two disciplines: Economics (interactive decision making) and Political Science (evaluating government information online).
Past projects
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Big Data: Demonstrating the Value of the UK Web Domain Dataset for Social Science Research
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Professor Eric T. Meyer, Dr Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon, Dr Scott A. Hale, Tom Nicholls, Dr Taha Yasseri, Dr Jonathan Bright
This project aims to enhance JISC's UK Web Domain archive, a 30 TB archive of the .uk country-code top level domain collected from 1996 to 2010. It will extract link graphs from the data and disseminate social science research using the collection.
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Breaking Barriers to e-Government
Participants: Professor William H. Dutton, Professor Helen Margetts, Professor Rebecca Eynon
Investigating the legal, organisational, technological and other barriers to expanding effective eGovernment services using the Internet and to define possible solutions at a European level to overcome such obstacles.
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Data Financing for Global Good: A Feasibility Study
Participants: Professor Vili Lehdonvirta, Dr Brent Mittelstadt, Dr Greg Taylor, Yin Yin Lu, Artem Kadikov, Professor Helen Margetts
This project, and the resulting report, provides a first step in the assessment of data financing as a mechanism for social good in the data economy.
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Information Exchange between Citizens and the Department of Work and Pensions
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Tobias Escher, Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Jane Tinkler
A value for money study for the National Audit Office (NAO) looking at information exchange between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and its benefit customers.
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Interactive Visualizations for Teaching, Research, and Dissemination
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Professor Mark Graham, Dr Scott A. Hale, Dr Monica Bulger, Joshua Melville
"InteractiveVis" aims to support easy creation of interactive visualisations for geospatial and network data by researchers: it will survey existing solutions, build currently missing features, and smooth over incompatibilities between existing libraries.
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Leaders and Followers in Online Activism
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon, Dr Ning Wang
Where do political and policy-oriented mobilizations (such as e-petitions or organized protests) start and how are they sustained? What affects the propensity of people to join a mobilization, and hence, the mobilization's success?
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Participation in Internet-mediated interactions
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Ingemar Cox, Steffen Huck
This research applied a multidisciplinary approach to developing a methodology for evaluating the web structure and 'health' of e-government, and investigating design mechanisms for fundraising on the Internet (including determinants of giving behaviour).
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The Internet, Political Science and Public Policy: Re-examining Collective Action, Governance and Citizen-Government Interactions in the Digital Era
Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Scott A. Hale, Tom Nicholls, Dr Taha Yasseri
This research programme aims to assess where political science understanding, knowledge and theory should be re-examined and developed in light of widespread use of the Internet, and to develop methodologies to study online behaviour.
Books
- (2015) Political Turbulence How Social Media Shape Collective Action. Princeton University Press.
- (2012) Information Technology in Government. Routledge.
- (2010) Paradoxes of Modernization. Oxford University Press.
- (2006) Digital Era Governance:. Oxford University Press.
Chapters
- (2017) "Analysing the UK web domain and exploring 15 years of UK universities on the web" In: The Web as History Brugger, N. and Schroeder, R. (eds.). London: UCL Press. 23-44.
- (2013) "Electronic Government: A Revolution in Public Administration?" In: Handbook of Public Administration: Concise Paperback Edition. SAGE Publications Ltd. 234-244.
- (2010) "Modernization Dreams and Public Policy Reform" In: Paradoxes of Modernization. Oxford University Press. 17-43.
- (2010) "Modernization, Balance, and Variety" In: Paradoxes of Modernization. Oxford University Press. 221-236.
- (2010) "The Drive to Modernize" In: Paradoxes of Modernization. Oxford University Press. 3-16.
- (2010) "Cyber-bureaucracy: If information technology is so central to public administration, why is it so ghetto-ized?" In: Comparative Administration Change: Lessons Learned. 114-135.
- (2007) "Virtual Organizations" In: The Oxford Handbook of Public Management. Oxford University Press.
- (2006) "Transparency and Digital Government" In: Transparency: The Key to Better Governance?. British Academy.
- (2006) "Cyber Parties" In: Handbook of Party Politics. SAGE Publications Ltd. 528-535.
- (2004) "The Handbook of Electoral System Choice" In: The Handbook of Electoral System Choice. Palgrave Macmillan UK. 294-306.
Conference papers
- (2014) "Mapping the UK Webspace: Fifteen Years of British Universities on the Web", CoRR. the 2014 ACM conference, 23 – 26 June 2014. ACM Press. abs/1405.2856 62-70. (Source info: Proceedings of WebSci, 2014)
- (2009) "How many people does it take to change a petition? Experiments to investigate the impact of on-line social information on collective action", ECPR General Conference.
- (2009) "Can the internet overcome the logic of collective action? An experimental approach to investigating the impact of social pressure on political participation", Political Studies Association Annual Conference.
- (2009) "Experiments for Web Science: Examining the Effect of the Internet on Collective Action", WebSci'09: Society On-Line.
- (2007) "Understanding governments and citizens online: learning from e-commerce", Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA).
- (2006) "Governing from the centre? Comparing the nodality of digital governments", Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA).
- (2006) "The Web Structure of E-Government - Developing a Methodology for Quantitative Evaluation", 15th international conference on World Wide Web.
- (2006) "The web structure of e-government - developing a methodology for quantitative evaluation.", WWW Carr, L., Roure, D.D., Iyengar, A., Goble, C.A. and Dahlin, M. (eds.). the 15th international conference, 23 – 26 May 2006. ACM. 669-678.
- (2005) "The structure of e-government", Conference of the Communications Research Network.
Journal articles
- (2019) "Rethinking democracy with social media", Political Quarterly. 90 107-123.
- (2018) "How digital design shapes political participation: A natural experiment with social information", PLoS ONE. 13 (4) e0196068.
- (2017) "Public Policy in the Platform Society", Policy and Internet. 9 (4) 368-373.
- (2017) "Rapid rise and decay in petition signing", EPJ DATA SCIENCE. 6 (1).
- (2017) "Why Social Media May Have Won the 2017 General Election", The Political Quarterly. 88 (3) 386-390.
- (2017) "The Data Science of Politics", Political Studies Review. 15 (2) 201-209.
- (2017) "Political behaviour and the acoustics of social media", Nature Human Behaviour. 1 (4).
- (2016) "Big Data and Public Policy: Can It Succeed Where E-Participation Has Failed?", Policy and Internet. 8 (3) 218-224.
- (2015) "Leadership without Leaders? Starters and Followers in Online Collective Action", Political Studies. 63 (2) 277.
- (2014) "Governments and Citizens Getting to Know Each Other? Open, Closed, and Big Data in Public Management Reform", Policy & Internet. 6 (4) 393-417.
- (2014) "Investigating Political Participation and Social Information Using Big Data and a Natural Experiment", CoRR. abs/1408.3562.
- (2013) "Addressing the policy challenges and opportunities of “Big data”", Policy and Internet. 5 (2) 139-146.
- (2013) "The second wave of digital-era governance: a quasi-paradigm for government on the Web", Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical and physical sciences. 371 (1987) 20120382.
- (2013) "Leadership Without Leaders? Starters and Followers in Online Collective Action", Political Studies. 63 (2) 278-299.
- (2011) "PARADOXES OF MODERNIZATION: UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF PUBLIC POLICY REFORM - edited by Helen Margetts, Perri 6 and Christopher Hood", Public Administration. 89 (4) 1691-1693.
- (2011) "The Internet and Transparency", The Political Quarterly. 82 (4) 518-521.
- (2011) "Social information and political participation on the Internet: an experiment", European Political Science Review. 3 (03) 321-344.
- (2011) "Experiments for Public Management Research", Public Management Review. 13 (2) 189-208.
- (2010) "Mapping and Measuring Cybercrime", OII Working Paper. (18).
- (2010) The Second Wave of Digital Era Governance.
- (2009) "The Latent Support for the Extreme Right in British Politics", West European Politics. 32 (3) 496-513.
- (2009) "The Internet and Public Policy", Policy & Internet. 1 (1) 1-21.
- (2008) "Organisational solutions for overcoming barriersto e-Government", European Journal of ePractice.
- (2008) "Australian e-Government in comparative perspective", Australian Journal of Political Science. 43 (1) 13-26.
- (2006) "Transparency and digital government", Proceedings of the British Academy. 135 197-207.
- (2006) Governing from the Centre? Comparing the Nodality of Digital Governments.
- (2006) "New Public Management Is Dead--Long Live Digital-Era Governance", Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 16 (3) 467-494.
- (2006) "E-Government in Britain—A Decade On", Parliamentary Affairs. 59 (2) 250-265.
- (2005) "Smartening up to risk in electronic government", Information Polity. 10 (1-2) 81-94.
- (2005) "The Impact of UK Electoral Systems", Parliamentary Affairs. 58 (4) 854-870.
- (2004) "How proportional are the ‘British AMS’ systems?", Representation. 40 (4) 316-328.
- (2003) "Policy punctuations in the UK: fluctuations and equilibria in central government expenditure since 1951", Public Administration. 81 (3) 411-432.
- (2001) "Constitutional Reform, New Labour in Power and Public Trust in Government", Parliamentary Affairs. 54 (3) 405-424.
- (2001) "From Majoritarian to Pluralist Democracy?", Journal of Theoretical Politics. 13 (3) 295-319.
- (2001) "From majoritarian to pluralist democracy? Electoral reform in Britain since 1997", Journal of Theoretical Politics. 13 (3) 295-319.
- (2000) "Feminist Ideas and Domestic Violence Policy Change", Political Studies. 48 (2) 239-262.
- (1999) "The Solitary Center: the Core Executive in Central and Eastern Europe", Governance. 12 (4) 425-453.
- (1999) "Mixed Electoral Systems in Britain and the Jenkins Commission on Electoral Reform", The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 1 (1) 12-38.
- (1999) "Regime Politics in London Local Government", Urban Affairs Review. 34 (4) 515-545.
- (1998) "Sexing London: The Gender Mix of Urban Policy Actors", International Political Science Review. 19 (2) 147-171.
- (1998) "Review", Representation. 35 (1) 79-83.
- (1997) "The Electoral System", Parliamentary Affairs. 50 (4) 733-749.
- (1997) "The 1997 British general election: New labour, new Britain?", West European Politics. 20 (4) 180-191.
- (1996) "Public Management Change and Sex Equality within the State", Parliamentary Affairs. 49 (1) 130-142.
- (1995) "The Automated State", Public Policy and Administration. 10 (2) 88-103.
- (1995) "Rational Choice and Community Power Structures", Political Studies. 43 (2) 265-277.
- (1995) "Understanding the Dynamics of Electoral Reform", International Political Science Review. 16 (1) 9-29.
- (1994) "CAN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS BE INFLEXIBLE TECHNOLOGY? THE OPERATIONAL STRATEGY REVISITED", Public Administration. 72 (1) 55-72.
- (1993) "Information technology in public services: Disaster faster?", Public Money & Management. 13 (2) 49-56.
- (1993) "The Business Value of Computer: An Executive's Guide", European Journal of Information Systems. 2 (1) 65-66.
- (1993) "The 1992 election and the legitimacy of British democracy", British Elections and Parties Yearbook. 3 (1) 177-192.
- (1992) "How Britain would have voted under Alternative Electoral Systems in 1992", Parliamentary Affairs. 45 (4) 640-655.
- (1992) "Information Technology as Policy Instrument in the UK Social Security System: Delivering an Operational Strategy", International Review of Administrative Sciences. 58 (3) 329-347.
- (1992) "Proportional representation in action: A report on simulated PR elections in 1992", Representation. 31 (113) 14-18.
- (1991) "THE COMPUTERIZATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY: THE WAY FORWARD OR A STEP BACKWARDS?", Public Administration. 69 (3) 325-343.
Reports
- (2015) Explaining Usage Patterns in Open Government Data: The Case of Data.Gov.UK.
- (2014) "The use of social media for research and analysis: a feasibility study" In: Report of research carried out by the Oxford Internet Institute on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. Department for Work and Pensions.
- (2012) Social influence and collective action: an experiment investigating the effects of visibility and social information moderated by personality.
- (2009) Department for Work and Pensions. Communicating with Customers. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 421 Session 2008-2009. London: The Stationery Office.
- (2009) "Department for Work and Pensions: Communicating with Customers" In: Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. London: The Stationery Office..
- (2007) "Government on the Internet" In: Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. London: The Stationery Office..
- (2006) Achieving innovation in central government organisations: Detailed research findings. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. HC 1447-II, Session 2005-2006. London: The Stationery Office.
- (2006) Achieving innovation in central government organisations. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 1447-I, Session 2005-2006. London: The Stationery Office.
- (2006) Report on Seven Focus Groups conducted for the Achieving innovation in central government organisations report. Published alongside Achieving innovation in central government organisations: HC 1447-I, Session 2005-2006..
- (2006) The BNP: the roots of its appeal.
- (2006) Research into Barriers and Incentives for Businesses Filing Returns Online. Article to accompany NAO value for money report Filing VAT and Company Tax returns. London.
- (2006) Summaries of innovations submitted for the Achieving innovation in central government organisations report. Published alongside Achieving innovation in central government organisations: HC 1447-I, Session 2005-2006.
- (2005) Report on Four Focus Groups conducted for the Citizen Redress NAO report. Published alongside Citizen Redress: What citizens can do if things go wrong with public services: HC 21 Session 2004-2005, 9 March 2005..
- (2005) Report on the 'Mystery Shopper' exercise conducted for the Citizen Redress NAO report. Published alongside Citizen Redress: What citizens can do if things go wrong with public services: HC 21 Session 2004-2005, 9 March 2005..
- (2005) Citizen Redress: What citizens can do if things go wrong with public services. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 21 Session 2004-2005, 9 March 2005..
- (2003) Difficult Forms: How government agencies interact with citizens. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 1145 Session 2002-2003, 31 October 2003..
- (2003) Report on Ten Focus Groups conducted for the 'Difficult Forms' NAO report. Published alongside Difficult Forms: How government agencies interact with citizens: HC 1145 Session 2002-2003, 31 October 2003..
- (2003) Form Survey Questions. Supporting Evidence for Difficult Forms: How government agencies interact with citizens. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. HC 1145 Session 2002-2003, 31 October 2003..
- (2003) Incentivization of e-government. Article to accompany NAO report: 'Transforming the performance of HM Customs and Excise through Electronic Service Delivery'. London.
- (2002) Government on the Web II. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. HC 764 Session 2001-2002, 25 April 2002. London.
- (2002) Better Public Services through e-government': Academic Article in support of Better Public Services through e-government. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 704-III, Session 2001-2002: 4 April 2002. London.
- (2001) Policy Learning and Public Sector Information Technology: Contractual and E-Government Changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Paper for the American Political Science Association's Annual Conference.
- (2001) The Cyber Party. Paper to workshop 'The Causes and Consequences of Organisational Innovation in European Political Parties' at European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Joint Sessions of Workshops.
- (2000) The Advent of Digital Government: Public Bureaucracy and the State in the Internet Age. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association.
- (2000) The Advent of a Digital State and Government-Business Relations. Paper to the Annual Conference of the UK Political Science Association.
Posters
- (2010) Emergent Leadership in Collective Action: An Experimental Approach. Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association.
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Experimental Approaches
This course will prepare students to interpret and practice the experimental method, an increasingly important area of social science research in general, as well as design of policy.
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Symposium on Big Data and Human Development: Panel Discussion
Recorded: 16 September 2016
Duration: 01:20:17
Peter Tufano (University of Oxford) Prof. Helen Margetts (University of Oxford), Prof. Bitange Ndemo (University of Nairobi Business School), Prof. Sandy Pentland (MIT) and Dr Linnet Taylor (Tilburg University).
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Turing Lecture: The Data Science of Politics
Recorded: 30 March 2016
Duration: 01:02:04
Helen Margetts discusses how data science might help us to understand, explain and even predict 'political turbulence', by making use of data generated by politics co-ordinated, communicated and organized through social media.
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Social Big Data for Policy-making
Recorded: 19 November 2015
Duration: 01:24:45
Helen Margetts, Professor of Society and the Internet at University of Oxford, visits UEA to talk at the Big Data lecture series.
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Governance in the Digital Era
Recorded: 25 June 2015
Duration: 02:05:51
Professor Helen Margetts speaks at the Oxford-HKUST Leadership and Public Policy Series "Global Change and Local Challenges"
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Building Data Science into Policy Design?
Recorded: 1 June 2014
Duration: 00:21:52
Helen Margetts presents a paper that visualizes and models user data for all petitions created on the UK government petition platform over a three year period.
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Helen Margetts at the 2014 World Economic Forum: The Power of Participation
Recorded: 22 January 2014
Duration: 00:05:24
A tweet, Facebook like, or e-petition are tiny acts of political participation. But they can scale up into collective action and leave behind data that can transform political science, says Helen Margetts from the Oxford Internet Institute.
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Helen Margetts Interviewed at the Chances and Risks of Social Participation conference (HIIG)
Recorded: 22 November 2013
Duration: 00:06:30
Helen Margetts is interviewed about her keynote presentation at the "Chances and Risks of Social Participation" conference (HIIG, Berlin).
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Potential and Challenges of Big Data for Public Policy-Making (IPP 2012 Plenary Panel)
Recorded: 21 September 2012
Duration: 01:00:14
Panellists discuss the opportunities and challenges posed by big data for research and public policy-making at the conference "IPP2012: Big Data: Big Challenges".
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Mapping and Measuring Cybercrime (Public Forum)
Recorded: 22 January 2010
Duration: 01:30:17
This public panel discussion focuses on the most appropriate ways of mapping and measuring cybercrime to inform legislative, research and policy debates. It highlights the findings of an all-day invited forum on the topic.
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Parties, Campaigns and Representation: The Political Impact of Blogs and Social Media
Recorded: 18 September 2009
Duration: 00:30:13
Are social media tools likely to prove effective in engaging any voters except those who are already interested in politics? Is their apparent 'democratisation' of traditional party structures to be believed?
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The Virtue of Forgetting
Recorded: 18 September 2009
Duration: 00:32:54
Digital technology empowers us to find and share information as never before, but we do not always foresee the consequences of these new powers. Can the dangers of everlasting digital memory be avoided? Can we reintroduce our capacity to forget?
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Prof. Helen Margetts to receive Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Politics & Technology
20 June 2018
The first Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Politics & Technology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) will be awarded to Helen Margetts, Professor at the University of Oxford.
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OII’s Professor Helen Margetts to lead new programme at the Alan Turing Institute
9 May 2018
Former Director and OII faculty member, Professor Helen Margetts, will lead a new research programme in data science and AI for public policy at the Alan Turing Institute.
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Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action awarded the Political Studies Association book prize
5 December 2017
Professor Helen Margetts, Professor Peter John, Dr Scott Hale, and Dr Taha Yasseri have won the W. J. M. Mackenzie Book Prize at the Political Studies Association (PSA)’s Annual Awards in Westminster on 5 December 2017.
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A ‘stranglehold’ on the data that could help explain political extremism
4 April 2017
The advent of social media has led to a vast increase in the amount of social information that we see about others’ political behaviour and this has important implications for democracy, argues Professor Helen Margetts in Nature Human Behaviour.
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Conference Call for Papers: “Crowdsourcing Politics and Policy” (IPP2014)
5 November 2013
We are pleased to call for papers for the 2014 Internet, Politics, Politics conference, convened by the OII for the journal Policy and Internet, in collaboration with the ECPR Standing Group on Internet and Politics.
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Public Administration Select Committee publishes report on Government and IT
26 January 2012
The Commons Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) publishes its report on Government and IT that insists Government has still to address the challenges of "intelligent" procurement. Helen Margetts was an expert witness.
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Professor Helen Margetts Elected Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences
23 March 2011
Professor Helen Margetts is elected Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.
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Professor Margetts acts as an expert witness to the House of Commons Public Administration Committee (Video)
11 March 2011
Helen Margetts acts as an expert witness to the House of Commons Public Administration Committee, which is running an investigation entitled Good Governance: The effective use of Information Technology.
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Professor Helen Margetts awarded ESRC Professorial Fellowship to Re-examine Collective Action, Governance and Citizen-Government Interactions in the Digital Era
1 March 2011
Professor Helen Margetts has been awarded an ESRC Professorial Fellowship for 'The Internet, Political Science and Public Policy: Re-examining Collective Action, Governance and Citizen-Government Interactions in the Digital Era'.
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New Report: State of UK Government on the Internet
13 July 2007
The UK National Audit Office publishes a report on the state of UK government on the Internet, based on research by Helen Margetts (OII) and Patrick Dunleavy (LSE)
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Snagged up in the web? New report on how the government is using the internet
13 July 2007
A new report to parliament on whether the UK government's own websites are effective is published by the UK National Audit Office (NAO), written and researched by an OII-LSE team
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Electing the House of Lords: Political scientists call for a 280 seat Senate, elected using proportional representation
8 March 2007
Professor Helen Margetts comments on the House of Commons' vote for an entirely elected second chamber
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Helen Margetts becomes University of Oxford’s Professor of Society and the Internet
22 April 2004
Helen Margetts becomes the University of Oxford's Professor of Society and the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, also taking up a Professorial Fellowship in Mansfield College
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Post-truth: what is it and what can we do about it?
7 February 2017
Oxford Dictionaries named ‘post-truth’ as its word of the year in 2016. The RSS, in association with Sense about Science, Full Fact and the Oxford Internet Institute is delighted to host a discussion to debate the phenomenon of ‘post-truth'.
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Living by Numbers: Politics by numbers: how social media shape collective action
1 February 2016
Professor Helen Margetts will talk about how the internet and social media can bring political change.
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Book Launch: Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action
27 January 2016
Drawing on large-scale data generated from the Internet and real-world events, this book shows how mobilizations that succeed are unpredictable, unstable, and often unsustainable.
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The Foundations of Social Data Science
14 December 2015
Registration for this workshop has closed. This workshop is a part of workshops presented with the Alan Turing Institute.
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How The Light Gets In Festival
25 May 2015
Helen Margetts will be speaking at the world’s largest philosophy and music festival, joining Dan Hodges and Nigel Shadbolt to discuss the end of secrecy and a transparent digital world.
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IPP2014: Crowdsourcing for Politics and Policy
Thursday 25 - Friday 26 September 2014
The IPP2014 conference will explore the new research frontiers opened up by crowdsourcing for politics and policy. Taking place in Oxford, it is convened by the OII, the journal Policy and Internet, and the ECPR.
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Computational Social Science: From Social Contagion to Collective Behaviour (ECCS ’13)
19 September 2013
This satellite meeting of the ECCS conference will address the question of ICT-mediated social phenomena emerging in multiple scales ranging from the interactions of individuals to the emergence of self-organized global movements.
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Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges? (IPP2012)
Thursday 20 - Friday 21 September 2012
Reprising the very successful 'IPP2010', this conference organised by the journal Policy and Internet subjects the relationship between the Internet, Politics and Policy to multi-disciplinary scrutiny, focusing this time on the challenges of 'Big Data'.
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Essentially Digital Governance in Austerity: ‘NPM Rising from the Dead’ or a New Quasi-Paradigm for Public Management Reform?
16 May 2012
This workshop series aims to explore how far managerial or IT changes or any combination of the two, have actually delivered hoped-for productivity increases in the past and to explore the potential for them to do so in the future.
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Undergraduate Lecture Series (H1): Politics and the Internet
17 January 2011
What impact do ICTs have on the core activities and institutions of government and politics? Do these technologies serve to reinforce, undermine or otherwise alter traditional political models or patterns of behaviour?
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Policy, Information, and Technology – An OII Policy Forum
19 May 2010
The aim of the forum is to discuss the general argument of the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy's (WRR) draft report on the changing relationship between government and its citizens, and further specific themes.
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Technology, Public Policy Reform and Austerity – ESRC Public Services Programme and Oxford Internet Institute Public Policy Workshop Series
Wednesday 03 February - Wednesday 03 March 2010
This workshop series takes a historical look at the way technology and public policy change have figured in past periods of austerity, and how spending cuts have been achieved by these means.
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Can forgetting be a virtue?
18 November 2009
Digital technology empowers us to find and share information as never before, but we do not always foresee the consequences of these new powers. Can the dangers of everlasting digital memory be avoided? Can we reintroduce our capacity to forget?
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The New Economic Context of Internet Governance
27 April 2009
Summary to come.
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WebSci’09: Society On-line
Wednesday 18 - Friday 20 March 2009
WebSci'09: Society On-line, the first international conference of Web Science, will take place March 18-20 2008 in Athens. The OII is collaborating through its participation in the Networks for Web Science project. Helen Margetts is a Programme Chair.
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The Internet and Democracy: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions (Invited Workshop)
Thursday 05 - Friday 06 March 2009
Summary to come.
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Technology, Individuality and Public Policy (ESRC Public Services Programme and OII Public Service Workshop Series)
Wednesday 04 February - Wednesday 11 March 2009
This workshop brings together participants from several disciplines that are relevant to understanding the interaction of the internet, cultural change and other technological developments on government and public services.
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Paradoxes of Modernization: Puzzles and Unintended Consequences (ESRC/OII Public Service Workshop Series HT2008)
Tuesday 22 January - Tuesday 04 March 2008
Summary to come.
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Breaking Barriers to e-Government Workshop: Solutions for eGovernment
31 October 2007
Summary to come.
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Fostering Innovation in eGovernment
9 March 2007
Summary to come.
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Unintended Consequences of Public Policy Initiatives and Reforms (ESRC/OII Public Service Workshop Series HT2007)
Tuesday 23 January - Tuesday 27 February 2007
Summary to come.
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The Next Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS)
24 November 2006
This interactive workshop will seek to gain feedback on the first two Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS), conducted in 2003 and 2005, with a view to informing the design of the next survey, scheduled for spring 2007.
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From Barriers to Benefits: Efficiency and Effectiveness of eGovernment
22 November 2006
This workshop brings together researchers and practitioners who are exploring ways to overcome the barriers that are hindering the progress of eGovernment in Europe, in order for governments to reap the benefits of innovation in this area.
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Learning from Experience in eGovernment: Why Projects Fail and Why They Succeed
26 June 2006
There have been a number of experiments in consulting with the public online. This talk considers how the public regards such opportunities, and some policy options which take into account existing barriers and opportunities.
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OII Research and Policy Workshop
27 March 2006
A workshop showcasing two areas of the OII's research addressing questions of real concern to government, industry and NGOs: generational and age-related patterns of Internet use, and Internet filtering conducted by national governments.
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Ranking Public Services: from Local to Global (ESRC Public Services Programme and OII Public Service Workshop Series)
Tuesday 24 January - Tuesday 28 February 2006
This is a small informal group of faculty and graduate students interested in the analysis of public services and executive government.
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e-Participation in Established and Emerging Democracies: Early Experiences in Eastern Europe
8 December 2005
The focus of this workshop is to explore the role of the Internet in civic participation and democratic conversations with a focus on experience in the new democracies of Eastern Europe.
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The Strategic Use of Information Technology and Outsourcing: A Conversation with Bob Carlson
27 October 2005
Summary to come.
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Breaking Barriers to e-Government Workshop
17 June 2005
This workshop will provide an overview of the 'eGovernment Barriers' project, which investigates the legal, organisational, technological and other barriers to expanding effective e-Government services using the Internet.
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Whose Responsibility is Digital Inclusion?
11 April 2005
This half-day seminar will explore the very latest evidence on Internet use from the Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), and discuss whether Government still has responsibilities to increase uptake, and, if so, which Department should be responsible.
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The Internet and Governance: The Global Context
Thursday 08 - Saturday 10 January 2004
This conference brings together experts with diverse approaches to governance and the Internet in different continents.
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Stormzy 1: The Sun 0 — Three Reasons Why #GE2017 Was the Real Social Media Election
15 June 2017
Author: Helen Margetts
After its initial appearance as a cynical but safe device by Teresa May to ratchet up the Conservative majority, the UK general election of ... Read More Stormzy 1: The Sun 0 — Three Reasons Why #GE2017 Was the Real Social Media Election
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Of course social media is transforming politics. But it’s not to blame for Brexit and Trump
9 January 2017
Author: Helen Margetts
After Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, 2016 will be remembered as the year of cataclysmic democratic events on both sides of the ... Read More Of course social media is transforming politics. But it’s not to blame for Brexit and Trump
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Helen on politics and social media in German
16 December 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Author Helen Margetts spoke to Hendrik Lehmann of Digital Present on the opportunities and risks for politics in the age of social media. The ... Read More Helen on politics and social media in German
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Political Turbulence one of the ‘best political books of 2016’
1 December 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
We are honoured Guardian columnist and former political editor of the Observer Gaby Hinsliff included Political Turbulence in her column on the best political ... Read More Political Turbulence one of the ‘best political books of 2016’
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Computational Social Science Winter Symposium
30 November 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts was a keynote at the 3rd annual Computational Social Science Winter Symposium in Cologne, Germany. Details of her talk are available on ... Read More Computational Social Science Winter Symposium
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Don’t Shoot the Messenger! What part did social media play in 2016 US election?
15 November 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Young activists gather at Lafayette Park in protest at the presidential campaign of presumptive Republican nominee Donald J. Trump. By Stephen Melkisethian (Flickr). Commentators ... Read More Don’t Shoot the Messenger! What part did social media play in 2016 US election?
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Social information and Trump
9 November 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
What role might social information have played in the Trump campaign? Political Turbulence Author Helen Margetts explores this issue in a blog post for ... Read More Social information and Trump
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Podcast: Listen to Helen and Peter talk about Political Turbulence
27 October 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Authors Helen Margetts and Peter John visited the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) on 27 October 2016 to ... Read More Podcast: Listen to Helen and Peter talk about Political Turbulence
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Political Turbulence at eGoverment-eParticipation
6 September 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Author Scott A. Hale presented research from Political Turbulence as the keynote of the 15th IFIP Electronic Government (EGOV) and 8th Electronic Participation (ePart) ... Read More Political Turbulence at eGoverment-eParticipation
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Back to the bad old days, as civil service infighting threatens UK’s only hope for digital government
10 August 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Technology and the public sector have rarely been happy bedfellows in the UK, where every government technology project seems doomed to arrive late, unperform and ... Read More Back to the bad old days, as civil service infighting threatens UK’s only hope for digital government
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Advancing Good Governance in International Development
9 June 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Peter John will speak about Political Turbulence as part of an upcoming seminar entitled Advancing Good Governance in International Development held at Rhodes House, ... Read More Advancing Good Governance in International Development
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Peter John speaking at ‘I Will if You Will, Too’: Conditional Commitment in Collective Action
3 June 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Political Turbulence co-author Peter John will keynote at a research workshop co-organized by King’s College London, City University London, and the University of Swansea ... Read More Peter John speaking at ‘I Will if You Will, Too’: Conditional Commitment in Collective Action
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Alan Turing Institute and OII: Summit on Data Science for Government and Policy Making
31 May 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
The benefits of big data and data science for the private sector are well recognised. So far, considerably less attention has been paid to ... Read More Alan Turing Institute and OII: Summit on Data Science for Government and Policy Making
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Hay Festival 2016
27 May 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Author Helen Margetts discussed Political Turbulence at the 2016 Hay Festival. As people spend increasing proportions of their daily lives using social media such ... Read More Hay Festival 2016
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Helen Margetts in Conversation with Ethan Zuckerman
3 May 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts will speak about the research behind Political Turbulence in conversation with Ethan Zuckerman at MIT on 3 May 2016. Further details are ... Read More Helen Margetts in Conversation with Ethan Zuckerman
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Talk at Harvard University
2 May 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts will speak about Political Turbulence at the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University on 2 May 2016. Full ... Read More Talk at Harvard University
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Talk at CRASSH, University of Cambridge
26 April 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts will speak about Political Turbulence on 26 April 2016 at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities, University ... Read More Talk at CRASSH, University of Cambridge
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Keynote at ACM Web Science Conference
19 April 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts will speak about Political Turbulence in her keynote at the 2016 ACM Conference on Web Science in Hannover, Germany. The keynote is ... Read More Keynote at ACM Web Science Conference
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Oxford Literary Festival
3 April 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts spoke about Political Turbulence at the 2016 Oxford Literary Festival on 3 April 2016. [The authors] demonstrate how most attempts at collective ... Read More Oxford Literary Festival
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The Economist: A new kind of weather
26 March 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
A special report on technology and politics in The Economist examines questions of democracy, data, politics, and social media referencing the findings reported in ... Read More The Economist: A new kind of weather
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Referenced in The Guardian
21 February 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
John Naughton referenced Political Turbulence in his column in The Guardian entitled, “#Twitter crisis? Not if it decides that it can be a smaller, ... Read More Referenced in The Guardian
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Reviewed in openDemocracyUK
20 February 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Stuart Weir has reviewed Political Turbulence in openDemocracyUK. A few years back I was intrigued and captivated, as a largely analogue political animal, by ... Read More Reviewed in openDemocracyUK
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DW interview
8 February 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts spoke with Deutsche Welle last week about the book and a range of topics from the role of social media in mobilizations ... Read More DW interview
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Green Templeton: Living by numbers lecture series
28 January 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Helen Margetts will speak about Political Turbulence at Green Templeton College on Monday 1 February 2016. Her talk is entitled, “Politics by numbers: How ... Read More Green Templeton: Living by numbers lecture series
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Reviewed in Times Higher Education
21 January 2016
Author: Helen Margetts
Ivor Gaber reviewed Political Turbulence on 21 January in Times Higher Education (THE). “Chaotic pluralism…a new kind of pluralism, highly decentred and chaotic” is ... Read More Reviewed in Times Higher Education
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Reviewed in the Hurriyet Daily News
17 December 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
William Armstrong reviewed Political Turbulence in the Hurriyet Daily News on 17 December 2015. Turkey’s Gezi Park protests seem a long time ago. Back ... Read More Reviewed in the Hurriyet Daily News
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Helen Margetts on Start the Week
5 October 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
Lead author, Helen Margetts, discussed Political Turbulence on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015. Listen to the interview or download an MP3 from the ... Read More Helen Margetts on Start the Week
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Publication: Leadership without Leaders?
5 June 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
Our journal article entitled Leadership without Leaders? Starters and Followers in Online Collective Action has been published in Political Studies. The Internet has been ... Read More Publication: Leadership without Leaders?
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LiveFriday Love Bites Results
18 May 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
Thank you to everyone who participated in our experiment on the effects social information in the Gillray ‘Love Bites’ exhibition on Friday night. Here ... Read More LiveFriday Love Bites Results
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Social information and voting
18 May 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
A key feature of many online platforms is social information, which is information about what other people are doing. We recreated this form of ... Read More Social information and voting
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Digital Disconnect: Parties, Pollsters and Political Analysis in #GE2015
11 May 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
Digital data generated during election campaigns are a valuable – but underused – source of information for political parties, pollsters and political analysts alike. ... Read More Digital Disconnect: Parties, Pollsters and Political Analysis in #GE2015
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Donations Experiment at #LiveFriday
11 May 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
Research shows that when you are deciding whether and how much to donate to a good cause, all kinds of factors will influence your ... Read More Donations Experiment at #LiveFriday
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The Social Information and Voting Experiment at #LiveFriday
10 May 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
Research shows that when we know that other people like something, it makes us more likely to like it too. This ‘social information’ about ... Read More The Social Information and Voting Experiment at #LiveFriday
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Social media are not just for elections
6 May 2015
Author: Helen Margetts
The Oxford West and Abingdon hopefuls recreated in Lego for BBC Radio Oxford by Andrew Beaumont. #GE2015 is the ‘is it a social media ... Read More Social media are not just for elections
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Technological innovation and disruption was a big theme of the WEF 2014 in Davos: but where was government?
30 January 2014
Author: Helen Margetts
The 2014 meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) aimed to develop the insights, initiatives and actions necessary to respond to the profound political, ... Read More Technological innovation and disruption was a big theme of the WEF 2014 in Davos: but where was government?
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Five recommendations for maximising the relevance of social science research for public policy-making in the big data era
4 November 2013
Author: Helen Margetts
In a previous post, OII Director Helen Margetts outlined ways in which the environment in which public policy is made has entered a period ... Read More Five recommendations for maximising the relevance of social science research for public policy-making in the big data era
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The promises and threats of big data for public policy-making
28 October 2013
Author: Helen Margetts
The environment in which public policy is made has entered a period of dramatic change; one in which ‘big data’ presents both promises and ... Read More The promises and threats of big data for public policy-making
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BBC: First day is crucial for success
4 September 2013
Author: Helen Margetts
An ongoing research programme at the Oxford Internet Institute Research has collected information on petitions and signature activity for various online platforms since 2009. ... Read More BBC: First day is crucial for success
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Publication: Growth and Success Rates on the UK No. 10 Downing Street Website
2 April 2013
Author: Helen Margetts
What petitions succeed and what petitions fail? This is the subject of our 2013 paper at the ACM Web Science Conference: Now that so ... Read More Publication: Growth and Success Rates on the UK No. 10 Downing Street Website
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Experiments are the most exciting thing on the UK public policy horizon
28 February 2013
Author: Helen Margetts
OII Professor Helen Margetts discusses how the massive growth in Internet-mediated interactions creates a need for innovative methods to research online activity. Experimental laboratories ... Read More Experiments are the most exciting thing on the UK public policy horizon
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Invisible Election: How political parties target you for your vote
15 May 2017 Sky News
Helen Margetts discusses targeting of political advertisements on social media.
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Social networks’ grip on data ‘stalls political science research’
5 April 2017 Times Higher Education
Social media platforms’ “stranglehold on data” prevents scholars tackling pressing questions such as the rise of political polarisation and extremism, says Helen Margetts.
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How are social media changing democracy?
28 March 2016 The Economist
The Economist explains the role of social media in political campaigning and draws heavily on the work of Helen Margetts and others in recently published 'Political Turbulence'
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The data republic
26 March 2016 The Economist
An in-depth article about the effect, benefit and drawbacks of the internet and the use of data in politics quotes Helen Margetts and refers to the work of Luciano Floridi.
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A new kind of weather
26 March 2016 The Economist
Examining collective action and the role of social media, the Economist draws on the work of Helen Margetts and colleagues in recently published 'Political Turbulence'
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The Social revolution
26 February 2016 Science
Review of ‘Political Turbulence’ by Helen Margetts, Peter John, Taha Yasseri and Scott Hale. It ‘contributes an important series of creatively and rigorously researched insights into the social mechanics of Internet-based collective action’
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Snapchat inadvertently encourages teenagers to send ‘sext’ messages, government’s expert panel warns
17 February 2016 The Telegraph
Coverage of the findings of the government report on child access and use of pornography led by Vicki Nash.
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Review: ‘Political Turbulence: how social media shape collective action’
17 February 2016 openDemocracy UK
Stuart Weir extensively reviews recently published ' Political Turbulence' which he describes as revelatory. He also highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of OII research.
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#Twitter crisis? Not if it decides that it can be a smaller, smarter platform
14 February 2016 Guardian Online
In a in-depth article about the influence of Twitter, John Naughton references recently published, 'Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action' by Helen Margetts and colleagues.
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Howyou can win a Facebook argument
13 February 2016 Daily Herald
Taha Yasseri points out that the internet is mostly a self-organised and bottom-up system but that does not imply it is democratic or horizontal
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Political Turbulence: we’re ‘dripping with data’ and it may make democracy better
4 February 2016 Deutsche Welle
Helen Margetts is interviewed about 'Political Turbulence' the book she co-authored with OII researchers, on the effects of social media on collective action.
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Interview with Professor Margetts
27 January 2016 BBC R4
Helen Margetts talks about the tiny acts of online political participation which feature in ‘Political turbulence’ a new book which she co-authored. Sometimes these acts can scale up to mobilise change but most fail. (54.25 on the clock)
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Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action, by Helen Margetts, Peter John, Scott Hale and Taha Yasseri
21 January 2016 Times Higher Education
In his review of recently published 'Political Turbulence', by Helen Margetts and colleagues, Ivor Gabor says that organising and agitating online can be a powerful mover of change.
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Start the Week
5 October 2015 BBC R4
OII Director Helen Margetts joined authors Jonathan Franzen and Gillian Tett on the Radio 4 flagship show to discuss issues raised in their new books.
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What will the future of the internet look like?
11 November 2014 World Economic Forum
In a World Economic Forum blog following the recent meeting in Dubai, Helen Margetts’ is extensively quoted on governance and surveillance of the Internet.
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The unpredictability of politics in the age of social media
12 December 2013 Eurozine
Eurozine, the cultural magazine, invited Helen Margetts to write about politics in the age of social media. In this long piece article, she discusses her work on political participation and the uncertain outcomes.
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How to turn open data into better government
22 October 2013 The Guardian
Helen Margetts looks at the evidence for the popularly held view that open data is an unalloyed benefit. First, she says, we need more data about open data to make a judgement.
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First day ‘is crucial for success of e-petitions’
4 September 2013 BBC News, Politics
Nearly all e-petitions are doomed to become 'digital dust' say Helen Margetts and colleagues whose work on 'Big Data and Collective Action' is featured in an in-depth article on BBC News online.
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Governo deve usar rede social para entender reivindicações, diz cientista política
25 July 2013 Folha de S.Paulo
Government should use social networking to understand claims says political scientist. Helen Margetts talks to Brazil’s influential daily paper about online political participation.
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New Digital Advisory Board supports Government to deliver online services revolution
25 April 2012 UK Cabinet Office
Helen Margetts, OII Director and leading expert on e-government and digital era governance, is a member of a new group of experts, announced by the Cabinet office, to support the Government in delivering high-quality public service online by default.
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Digital by default bolstered by new advisory board
25 April 2012 The Guardian
Helen Margetts is among experts drawn from industry, retail and academia who will advise and support Government on its digital by default delivery of public services as members of the Digital Advisory Board announced by the Cabinet Office.
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Government launches Digital Advisory Board
25 April 2012 Computer Weekly
Computer Weekly report on the newly announced Digital Advisory Board, quotes Board member Helen Margetts. She talks of her plan to analyse the usage of gov.uk but says "the key challenge would be getting the rest of government on board."
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Digital Advisory Board to support Government Digital Service
25 April 2012 Wired
In an article about the newly announced Digital Advisory Board of experts to advise and support the Government Digital Service, Board Member Helen Margetts said "we need to make sure that interacting with the government is easy to do".
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Private sector focus to digital by default panel
25 April 2012 UKauthorITy.com
The public sector technology news site notes that the membership of the new Digital Advisory Board includes, among other "well known figures in the e-government community," Professor Helen Margetts.
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Digital – the channel of choice for public services
26 January 2012 Publicservice.co.uk
Helen Margetts tells the 'Digital by Default' conference that there is a general acceptance of the digital by default position: digital could make government "more tailored to citizens' needs, to their actual behaviour, to preferences".
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Whitehall refusing to probe cartel claims, say MPs
26 January 2012 UKAuthority.com
In a follow-up report into last summer's "recipe for rip-offs" investigation into government IT, the PASC warns that, despite good intentions, the government is not doing enough to prevent future project failures. Helen Margetts was an expert witness.
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Riots going viral
12 August 2011 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Helen Margetts says that riots have taken place before and after the advent of the Internet and social media. In a feature for the ESRC she discusses the implications of the methods of communication used by those involved in recent riots.
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IT giants ‘ripping off Whitehall’, say MPs
28 July 2011 BBC
The Public Administration Committee (PAC) finds that "current arrangements have led to a perverse situation in which governments have wasted an obscene amount of public money" on big government IT projects. Helen Margetts and Ian Brown gave evidence.
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The Potentially Revolutionary Political Role of Fried Chicken
3 April 2011 The Atlantic
Helen Margetts is quoted in response to doubts about the role of the Internet in political participation at the recent Midwest Political Science Association session on "The Internet Generation: Engaged Citizens of Political Dropouts" .
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UK government IT is ‘uniquely bad’ MPs are told
9 March 2011 Computer Weekly
Professor Helen Margetts acts as an expert witness to the House of Commons Public Adminstration Select Committee. Using evidence from the Government on the Web study she said that the UK Government IT is far worse than comparable countries.
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Government needs to bring IT skills in-house
9 March 2011 The Guardian
Professor Helen Margetts acts as an expert witness to the House of Commons Public Adminstration Select Committee.
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Opinion: The net effect
1 March 2011 Economic and Social Research Council
Professor Helen Margetts is featured on the The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) website writing about the importance of the Internet to contemporary protest.