A new two year research project will look at the way global digital communications is changing politics thanks to funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
The project is being undertaken by the Anglia Research Centre in Digital Culture (ARC Digital) - a part of Anglia Ruskin University - and is one of the first awards made by the AHRC under its new Research Networking scheme.
The two year project 'Exploring New Configurations in Network Politics', beginning in October, aims to generate a permanent on-line resource in network politics and culture.
Leading the research will be Dr Joss Hands, Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media and Dr Jussi Parikka, Reader in Media Theory and History and Pathway Leader for Media Studies.
Speaking about the research, Dr Hands said "The traditional process of voting for a candidate every four years and letting the elected get on with it is changing, the fast flow of communication and the capacity of ordinary people to become their own source of information is creating many interesting and profound shifts in power and expectations of politics, and we want to explore how and with what consequences."
The project will focus on current network culture and politics, looking at the use of social media, including such mainstream applications as Twitter and Facebook; as well as observing new upcoming applications and experimental media as they emerge and facilitate new kinds of politics and activism. One recent example of social media changing the very nature of politics is seen in Iran where Twitter is being used to coordinate demonstrations and evade governmental control of the internet.
You can learn more about the project at
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/news/fbooktwit_implications.html
And
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/arc/research___the_centre.html
Notes for Editors:
Media contact: Emi Spinner, Communications Officer e.spinner@ahrc.ac.uk,
T: 0117 9876 770
The Anglia Research Centre in Digital Culture (ARCDigital) promotes research in digital culture through the organisation of a research seminar series and conferences, and support for collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. They are dedicated to experimental, theoretical and practical encounters in the interzone between cultural theory, arts and the emerging sciences of network culture. http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/arc.html
The AHRC Research Networking scheme is designed to encourage and enable discussion and development of ideas on a specified thematic area, issue or problem through, for example, new research networks or running a short-term series of workshops, seminars or similar events. Proposals of up to £30,000 full economic costs for a period of up to two years may be submitted.
About Arts and Humanities Research Council - Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. Arts and humanities researchers constitute over a quarter of all research-active staff in the higher education sector. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.