William H. Dutton

The WikiLeaks story continues to develop in ways that promise to keep this on the agenda for some time. Here are two online panel discussions I participated in, one on the Guardian blog, and the other on Al Jazerra, which might be of interest to those following the debate: Tech weekly:  WikiLeaks, Anonymous and cyber [...]

The OII is collaborating with IN3 on a promising workshop on Internet Studies that will focus on studies of the consumer. Called Consumer and Internet Studies, the workshop is part of a series of workshops designed to inform our understanding of the scope and methods of this emerging field. I am working with Inma Rodriguez-Ardura, [...]

It is brilliant to see the UK government opening up the potential for greater use of the Internet in shaping policy agendas. Apparently, the coalition government plans to allow online petitions to raise issues that might be debated in parliament. This is a very responsible approach to enabling the public to express concerns and, in [...]

UNESCO is holding an ‘International Symposium on Freedom of Expression‘ on 26 January 2011, with the support of the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO. One panel session will focus on freedom of expression on the Internet, and we also expect that our UNESCO publication, entitled ‘Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression‘, will be launched. [...]

Democracy in a Network Society A Perspectives Workshop supported by Dagstuhl [27.09.09 - 02.10.09, Seminar 09402] Organized by: David Chaum (K.U. Leuven, BE) William H. Dutton (University of Oxford, GB) Miroslaw Kutylowski (Wroclaw University of Technology, PL) Tracy Westen (Center for Governmental Studies – Los Angeles, US) Summary The workshop was a meeting forum for [...]

This is a conference focused on information ethics, primarily from a philosophical perspective, but including a few empirical researchers such as myself and Helen Nissenbaum, and legal scholars, such as David Erdos. It is supported by the Uehiro Foundation, and organized by the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. Of course, [...]

I participated in a useful workshop on ‘Future Technology and Society’ in Brussels yesterday, 19 November 2010, organized by the Director General of the Information Society Programme (DG INFSO). I presented on ‘The Internet and Innovation for Society’ – my slides are available online through Slideshare at: http://www.slideshare.net/WHDutton/internet-and-innovation-for-society Presentations ranged from sweeping historical treatments on [...]

A Decade in Internet Time: Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society University of Oxford 21-24 September 2011 Event: Symposium Location: OxfordUniversity of Oxford with sessions at the Social Sciences Manor Road Building, and Said Business School Organized by: Oxford Internet Institute and iCS (the journal Information, Communication and Society) Sponsors include: Routledge [...]

Roundtable organized by the Oxford Internet Institute in collaboration with the Programme on Comparative Media Law and Policy, University of Oxford Thursday 30 September 2010  12:30-14:00 Location: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 1 St Giles’ Oxford OX1 3JS Registration: Free but please e-mail your name and affiliation, if any, to events@oii.ox.ac.uk or telephone +44 [...]

Many academics responded to 9/11 by doing research, perhaps all that we knew how to do in such a situation. I was so struck by the many news reports regarding the use of wireless and phones generally, from the planes, and from the crash sites, that I tried to take a more systematic look at [...]