William H. Dutton

I spent two stimulating days at the Library of Congress (LC) last week. The first involved meeting with staff of the LC who are involved in thinking through short and long-range plans for the Library’s future, everything from space to holdings that will help the LC take a leading position in the US and globally [...]

A classic study of public opinion found that while Americans generally supported abstract principles of freedom of expression, many would not support the application of these principles in concrete cases, such as permitting an extreme group to speak at a local school (McCloskey and Brill 1983). That the public can support concrete actions that undermine [...]

About this series Scholars collaborate online. Data are collected, delivered, analysed, and distributed via the Internet. Communication, both formal publications and informal exchanges, have moved online. Yet face-to-face conversations are still valued, seminars and lectures retain prestige, conferences proliferate, and frequent flyer miles accumulate. This lecture series will provoke a rich discussion of innovations in [...]

The Economist recently addressed the chilling effect that libel law is likely to have on Twitter, arguing that: ‘Now it [Twitter] seems to fall under the law’s shadow to a greater extent than similar speech does on the offline world’ (November 24, 2012: 37). But it is not simply libel law that could undermine freedom [...]

Oliver Smithies Lecture MT 2012 Professor Christine Borgman Oliver Smithies Lecture, Michaelmus Term 2012 Wednesday 28 November at 5pm in Lecture Room XXIII, Balliol College Digital Scholarship: Three Decades in Internet Time by Christine Borgman Abstract “In a few short decades, the practices of scholarship have been transformed by the use of digital resources, tools, [...]

The OII is involved with a wide range of collaborating partners in the organization of two joined events focused on China and the New Internet World. Running over two days, the first event on Friday, 14 June 2013, will be an pre-conference to the 2013 International Communication Association’s Annual Conference. The preconference will be held [...]

I had the honor of participating in a launch of Robin Mansell’s new book, Imagining the Internet (Oxford University Press, 2012). Here is a podcast of the launch, featuring an overview by Robin. Download: Audio, Video, Slides – R MansellSpeaker(s): Professor Robin Mansell, Professor William H Dutton, Professor Robert Wade Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone Recorded [...]

I’ve received a new grant from ictQATAR for extending my work with others on the Global Values Project to the Arabic world. This grant will build on my work with the World Economic Forum that led to the WEF report entitled The New Internet World. See: http://www.weforum.org/reports/new-internet-world In addition, my colleagues, including Professor Soumitra Dutta, [...]

I’ve certainly been involved in research on the role of new information and communication technologies in shaping local and urban communities, such as with my work on Wired Cities from the late-1970s, when interactive cable communication was expected to support local and interactive communication in ways that would support community. Later I was involved with [...]

I spoke this morning (14 March 2012) at the OUP’s Journals Day conference, giving a talk entitled ‘Digital Academe: A Perspective from Digital Social Research‘.  My colleague, Eric Meyer at the OII followed me with a report on his research on digital research in the humanities and physical sciences, which featured a great set of [...]