2.00–6.00 pm, 2 November, The Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, Westminster

Organised by the University of Manchester and the Hansard Society

This roundtable, organised as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science and taking place during Parliament Week (Oct 31 – Nov 6) brings together academics, politicians, activists, news producers and journalists to debate how social media are being used to promote protest and political change.

The discussion will look at the use of Twitter & Facebook and examine the development of social media based protest and how digital strategies for action are rapidly coalescing and becoming essential to any modern-day campaign. Finally, it will examine the role of ‘old’ media in facilitating and promoting the success of new media campaigns and ask if digital activism and online exposure are sufficient to drive the momentum offline or if it requires mainstream media coverage.

Agenda

2.00 – 2.30: Welcome, Registration and Refreshments

2.30 – 4.00: Roundtable discussion: The view from the ‘inside’ – Practitioners. Chair: Dr Andy Williamson.

- Mark Pack, Blogger (LibDemVoice)
- Dr Julian Huppert MP
- Baroness Deech
- Elizabeth Linder, Politics & Government Specialist (Facebook)

4.00 – 4.15: Refreshments

4.15 – 6.00: Roundtable discussion: The view from ‘outside’ – Media & Academic analysis.
Chair: Prof Rachel Gibson (University of Manchester).

- Matthew Eltringham (BBC UGC Hub)
- Alberto Nardelli (Tweetminster)
- Professor Andrew Chadwick (University of London, Royal Holloway)

For more information and to register for this event, please click here.