Huw’s research combines social theory with mixed, digital and ethnographic, methods to help critically re-evaluate how we approach young people’s digital literacies.
Email: huw.davies@oii.ox.ac.uk- Profile
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The Oii and Oxford City Council have collaborated on the Home Access Project to offer disadvantaged young people from the Oxford area laptops and access to the Internet. Huw is currently working with Rebecca Eynon to support these young people as they explore the web’s affordances. The project’s empirical data has some powerful implications for how we address digital inequality in educational contexts.
After his undergrad degree in Sociology, Huw worked in the IT industry. Then, following seven years as a teacher, Huw did his Master’s degree and his PhD in Web Science at the University of Southampton which has given him a technical grounding in the latest web and data technologies. Huw is convenor of the BSA’s Digital Sociology Study Group which seeks to provide a platform for sociologists who are using digital methods and critically examining digital technology’s impact on society. Huw is also on the BSA’s research ethics committee.
Research interests
digital sociology, web science, cultural and social practice theory, digital methods, STS, Bourdieu, Foucault, research ethics, educational inequality, digital inequality, digital literacies
Positions held at the OII
- Researcher, June 2015 –
Latest blog posts
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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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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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Transmedia Literacy
Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Cristobal Cobo, Dr Huw C. Davies
The transliteracy project aims to examine how young people use technology to learn outside formal educational settings.
Past projects
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Tackling Digital Inequality Amongst Young People: The Home Internet Access Initiative
Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Huw C. Davies
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.
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
- (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.
- (2017) "Addressing digital inequalities amongst young people: conflicting discourses and complex outcomes", Oxford Review of Education. 43 (3) 332-347.
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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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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.