Media & Communications

We study how social media shapes, and is shaped by, a variety of different issues and practices. These include military conflict and interpersonal violence, health beliefs and behaviour, and political attitudes or events, such as those associated with Brexit. Our members' interdisciplinary research explores how social media captures audience members’ attention and shapes their emotional and cognitive responses in ways which shape the decisions they make. We also study the cultural and sociological aspects of social media, including humour and ‘digital detoxification’ practices. Some researchers engage with industry bodies to develop software to better cope with the more problematic aspects of social media, such as the dissemination of ‘fake news’.

Our members study cinema, documentary film, television and other screen-based media. Some scholars are practitioners who engage in award-winning forms of research-as-practice. Others undertake empirical and theoretical investigations of the ways in which the screen animates social, political, aesthetic and economic relations, drawing on a range of disciplinary and critical perspectives from area studies, the arts and humanities, social anthropology, human geography, international development, and participatory politics. 

In addition to our work on the visual representation of data, cluster members analyse and design different kinds of digital media, including comics, games and immersive media. They also study how digital media shape the lived experiences, cultures and practices of users, including their interactions with space and place. Finally, cluster members are interested in using digital design to solve problems in the ‘real world’, as well as supporting those working in these areas within the creative industries in several ways, including investigating the application of copyright within online media.

We are interested in how data can be communicated through different kinds of media, how data structures different modes of digital communication, and the effects of data on other socio-economic practices. Our members design different ways to represent data visually, and to encourage ethical participation in the creation of data infrastructure and datasets. We also critique the ways in which algorithms and other kinds of data shape different forms of labour, surveillance, messaging, governance and accountability processes. Finally, our members study how data informs political activism and personal decision-making, as well as the policies of media and other organisations.

We define political communication broadly: researching the manifold ways in which media shape, and are shaped by, political processes. This includes analysing how social and mainstream media support or undermine effective political participation in Scotland and beyond. It also includes interrogating how media constructs relations between nation states, communities, genders, political parties and other interest groups, especially during armed conflict and post-conflict peace processes. Finally, the persuasive properties of media are a key area of investigation for our researchers, including so-called ‘fake news’, political protests, and other forms of mediated activism, including humanitarian and human rights advocacy.