Introduction to Academic Blogging: Political Analysis in the Digital Age

Stuart White, Director of the Public Policy Unit, DPIR

On Tuesday 25 February, from 13:00 to 17:00, the Department of Politics and International Relations hosted an event on the subject of Academic Blogging: Political Analysis in the Digital Age in the Lecture Theatre of Manor Road Building.


Blogging is becoming an increasingly important aspect of academic life - a way to increase academic output, reach new audiences and foster original debates. This event was an opportunity to learn about opportunities in the world of academic blogging, understand current trends, and gain insight and advice from the experts.

The full programme is available here

You can also watch YouTube clips taken from this event: http://bit.ly/1gIJnmX

 

Programme and speakers' presentations

Introduction:

Stuart White, Director of the Public Policy Unit, DPIR

 

Session 1 'Why blog?': Exploring the phenomena of blogging – motivations and consequences – with UK academic blogs producers

Chair: Katharine Brooks (Deputy Graduate Editor, Politics in Spires, DPIR)            

Presentations and first Round Table

Blake Ewing (Graduate Editor, Politics in Spires, DPIR)

Chris Gilson (Managing Editor, LSE USApp – American Politics and Policy) [Download presentation]

Sierra Williams (Managing Editor, LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog) [Download presentation]

Chris Bertram (Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, blogger with the group blog Crooked Timber)

 

Session 1 'Why blog?' continued: Analyses of the wider effects: what is at stake in contributing academic analysis on-line?

Chair: Katharine Brooks (Deputy Graduate Editor, Politics in Spires, DPIR)

William Dutton - Get Ready to Meet the Fifth Estate – how networked individuals and institutions are reshaping academe (Oxford Internet Institute) [Download presentation]

David Levy – Blogging, journalism and the consumption of news (Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism) [Download presentation]

Will de Frietas – Introduction to a new on-line academic publishing project – The Conversation (Business & Economy Editor, The Conversation)

 

Session 2 'How to blog effectively': What do we know about audiences, readership and patterns of use of political analysis on-line?

Chair: Blake Ewing (Graduate Editor, Politics in Spires, DPIR)

Andrew Sparrow The rise of the Guardian Politics Blog, (Editor, Guardian Politics Blog)

Chris Prosser Uses of analytics data (Deputy Graduate Editor, Politics in Spires, DPIR) [Download presentation]

Rosemary Bechler openDemocracy: A public service on the web? (Editor, openDemocracy)

Vicki Nash Current research on on-line risk (Oxford Internet Institute) [Download presentation]

 

Closing Remarks:

Discussion and summing up (Stuart White)

Niki Seth-Smith and Stuart White: launch of the 'Democratic Wealth' e-book by openDemocracy and Politics in Spires

[Download eBook]