Professor Colin Davis (Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway) "Social influence in televised election debates: a potential distortion of democracy"

October 18, 2011.

Room: FW101.

Time: 5.15pm.

All Welcome.

Ben O'Loughlin and Alister Miskimmon will give the keynote address at the ISA-South 2011 Conference.  The conference will take place October 13-15, 2011 at the Elon University; Elon, North Carolina, USA. The theme of this year’s conference is the exploration of political communication and international studies, broadly conceived. Ben and Alister will talk about their Strategic Narratives research programme. 

They will also participate on a roundtable with Fritz Mayer, Harvard University, where Ben will talk about the narratives of crisis around Iran's nuclear programme, and Alister will discuss Germany's attempts to narrate a role for itself in world politics since the end of the Cold War.

See the ISA-South 2011 conference page for more details. ISA South is a regional body of the International Studies Association (ISA).

Andrew Chadwick and Ben O'Loughlin will each present papers at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, 25-27 August. Their panels are in the section, Internet and Politics: Bridging Current Research and Outlining Future Directions, chaired by Andrea Calderaro (European University Institute) and Anastasia Kavada (University of Westminster). Here are the details.

Ben O'Loughlin will address the relationship between social media monitoring techniques and the emergence and prediction of events at the following conference this Thursday. From the Arab Spring to the News International scandal it is clear that international events can catch policymakers off guard. Can analysis of our tweets and user comments help spot an event before it breaks? And if this is possible, what are the ethical consequences?

Mediating Diplomacy:

Strategies, Challenges, Methodologies

An International Workshop

The Open University, Camden Town

28 July 2011

1-5pm

PROGRAMME

1400-1415 Welcome and Introduction

Marie Gillespie and Hugh Mackay Public Diplomacy or Intercultural Dialogue?

1415-1515

Nick Cull The Future Landscape of Public Diplomacy

Annabelle Sreberny The Hubris of Public Diplomacy

1515-1615

Ali Fisher Networked Audiences: New Rules of Engagement

Ben O’Loughlin Can Social Media Monitoring Predict Events?

1645 -1700 DISCUSSION

1700-1900 RECEPTION     

'Responding to extremisms: media roles and responsibilities', Bournemouth University, 15 July 2011 .

Ben O'Loughlin is an invited speaker at this one-day conference at The Media School, Bournemouth University.  

The oxygen of publicity or the right to a platform? How are different forms of extremism covered in our national media, and does this serve to marginalise or legitimise extremist groups? What are the media strategies of these groups, and what potential do social media have to change their prospects? What are or should be the relations between media professionals and police and security services, community organisations and other stakeholders? How will the media influence the success or otherwise of the soon to be revised PREVENT strategy?

These and other questions will be discussed at this one-day event to be held in Bournemouth University's Executive Business Centre, organised by the University's Media School. There is no charge for registration; refreshments and lunch will be provided. Register here.

The conference will bring together academics, journalists and others professionally involved in responding to violent or potentially violent extremisms. Confirmed speakers so far include academics Professor Nigel Copsey (Teesside University) on the BNP, Professor Jonathan Githens-Mazer (University of Exeter) on jihadism, and Professor Andrew Hoskins (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Ben O'Loughlin (Royal Holloway University) on how extremist messages are presented in mainstream media. Inspector Alan Jenkins (Dorset Police) will talk about the EDL; Valentina Soria (Royal United Services Institute) will discuss Wikileaks, and Mark Gill (Woodnewton Associates) will review relevant public opinion data. Speakers offering journalist points of view will include Stephen Jukes (Dean of the Media School at Bournemouth University, former Reuters Head of Global News), and Gavin Rees (European Director of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma). The conference is linked to the development of a web-based resource for people working in this area, the Containing Extremism Research Briefing.


On 13 July 2011 the NPCU's Simon Collister will present at the event 'New Communications and Demonstrations' at the University of Leicester. Simon's talk is titled, Re-assembling the media: hybrid assemblages and political activism during the Egyptian uprising. 

For the event programme and details on how to register, click here. 

Ben O'Loughlin has been invited to speak as part of the Cyber Security and Electronic Terrorism stream at Counter Terror Expo 2011.

The programme is here.

Ben's stream will take place on Wednesday 20^th April 2011 in the Grand Hall at Olympia.

Andrew Chadwick will be presenting a paper, "The Political Information Cycle in a Hybrid News System: the British Prime Minister and the 'Bullygate' Affair," at the UK Political Studies Association Annual Conference at London's Novotel West on Tuesday April 19.

Click here for the panel details.

The research paper on which this presentation will be based may be downloaded here.

Full details on the CAMRI site.