Huw's interests and projects can be broadly described as digital sociology - the study of how society shapes technology and vice versa.
Email: huw.davies@oii.ox.ac.ukTel: 01590 616995
- Profile
- Research
- Publications
- Blog
- Press
Research interests:
- Digital inequalities particularly relative to educational inequalities.
- Young people’s digital skills and literacies.
- Filter bubbles, mis/disinformation & conspiracy theories.Digital methodologies including graph databases and ontologies.
- Social theory; especially Bourdieu, Foucault, and Critical Realism.
- Children’s safety & privacy online relative to the Internet of Toys.
- The sociology of crowd working and freelancing that is mediated by digital platforms.
- The relationship between AI and education now and in the future.
Huw is a co-convenor of the BSA’s Digital Sociology Study Group which seeks to provide a forum for sociologists who are using digital methods and critically examining digital technology’s impact on society. Because technology doesn’t exist outside of society, Huw is committed to helping to make the sociology of race, gender, and class central to the study of digital technology,
Positions held at the OII
- Researcher, June 2015 –
Latest blog posts
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From private profit to public liabilities: how platform capitalism’s business model works for children
Date Published: 14 September 2017
Authors: Huw Davies
Young people choose to use platforms for play, socialising and expressing their identity. Image by Brad Flickinger (Flickr: CC BY 2.0) Two concepts have recently ... Read More From private profit to public liabilities: how platform capitalism’s business model works for children
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How and why is children’s digital data being harvested?
Date Published: 10 May 2017
Authors: Huw Davies
“Whether your child is an artist, a storyteller, a singer or a scientist, I’m the lovable little friend that will bring that out!” says ... Read More How and why is children’s digital data being harvested?
Current projects
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Skills formation and skills matching in online platform work: Practices and policies for promoting crowdworkers’ continuous learning (CrowdLearn)
Participants: Professor Vili Lenhdonvirta, Professor Anoush Margaryan, Dr Isis Hjorth, Dr Huw C. Davies, Laura Pinkerton
Despite the rapid growth of online platform labour, little is known about how crowdworkers acquire and develop their skills. This project seeks to address this important gap in our knowledge.
Past projects
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Child safety on the Internet: looking beyond ICT actors
Participants: Dr Vicki Nash, Dr Huw Davies
This project will map the range of non-ICT companies engaging digitally with children and identify areas where their actions might affect a child’s exposure to online risks such as data theft, adverse online experiences or sexual exploitation.
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Tackling Digital Inequality Amongst Young People: The Home Internet Access Initiative
Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Huw C. Davies, Laura Pinkerton
This participatory research project explores a two year initiative that provides all year 10 students with a laptop and Internet connection if they require one at home in three secondary schools.
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Transmedia Literacy
Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Cristobal Cobo, Dr Huw C. Davies, Laura Pinkerton
The transliteracy project aims to examine how young people use technology to learn outside formal educational settings.
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Using graph databases to conceptualise social class: a proof of concept study
Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Huw C. Davies
This study will critically examine the value of graph databases for the social sciences through a focus on social class.
Chapters
- (2015) "Young People and the Web: Understanding Their Engagement with Online Information through the Concept of Habitus" In: Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: The Art of Application. 167-182.
- (2015) "Young people and the web: Understanding their engagement with online information through the concept of habitus" In: Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: The Art of Application. 167-182.
Conference papers
- (2012) "Digital Natives? Investigating young people's critical skills in evaluating web based information", Proceedings of the 4th Annual ACM Web Science Conference, WebSci'12. volume 78-81.
Journal articles
- (2018) "Is digital upskilling the next generation our ‘pipeline to prosperity’?", New Media and Society. 20 (11) 146144481878310.
- (2018) "Redefining Filter Bubbles as (Escapable) Socio-Technical Recursion", Sociological Research Online. 23 (3) 136078041876382.
- (2017) "Learning to Google: Understanding classed and gendered practices when young people use the Internet for research", New Media and Society. 20 (8) 146144481773232.
- (2017) "Addressing digital inequalities amongst young people: conflicting discourses and complex outcomes", Oxford Review of Education. 43 (3) 332-347.
- (2017) "Neoliberal gremlins? How a scheme to help disadvantaged young people thrive online fell short of its ambitions", Information, Communication and Society. 20 (6) 860-875.
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From private profit to public liabilities: how platform capitalism’s business model works for children
14 September 2017
Author: Huw Davies
Young people choose to use platforms for play, socialising and expressing their identity. Image by Brad Flickinger (Flickr: CC BY 2.0) Two concepts have recently ... Read More From private profit to public liabilities: how platform capitalism’s business model works for children
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How and why is children’s digital data being harvested?
10 May 2017
Author: Huw Davies
“Whether your child is an artist, a storyteller, a singer or a scientist, I’m the lovable little friend that will bring that out!” says ... Read More How and why is children’s digital data being harvested?
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Why education is the only antidote to fake news
19 February 2018 The New Statesman
Opinion piece by OII's Dr Huw Davies on how education may be the only way to combat disinformation, and what provisions currently exist in England and Wales
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Five ways politicians can win over young voters
25 June 2017 BBC News
Surveillance, misuse of data, privacy and hacking are all issues that Dr Huw Davies of the Oxford Internet Institute believes young voters of the future will be concerned about.