Data harvesting on social media as seduction

In an ideal world, customers would flock to our doors, buy our products over and over again, and happily tell others about their experiences with our brands. But, in the real world, that doesn’t usually happen. In the real world, marketers need to use various techniques to convince customers to use their product. For instance, … Continue reading Data harvesting on social media as seduction

Mothers on Facebook: England vs Trinidad

Let me give a big shout out to the project ‘Why We Post’, which explores the nuances in social media behaviour across the world, and what that reveals about the social media users’ context and values. The website for the project contains a number of fantastic resources, including downloadable books. While working on my … Continue reading Mothers on Facebook: England vs Trinidad

GPDR is great but not enough. A change in attitudes is urgently needed.

Did you survive #GDPRday, and the associated barrage of e-mails letting you know about updated privacy policies, or asking you to opt-in to mailing lists? Let’s hope this new regulation will be a catalyst for change in organisations’ attitudes towards personal data. However, we can neither lay all the blame on organisations, nor all … Continue reading GPDR is great but not enough. A change in attitudes is urgently needed.

Privacy threats: more than hacking or unauthorised surveillance

When we talk about privacy problems, we tend to focus on the collection or use of personal data without that person’s informed consent – for instance, hacking, unauthorised access, staff (mis)behaviour, or automated data collection. However, a person’s privacy may be compromised even when they willingly agreed to share their data. Dan Nunan and … Continue reading Privacy threats: more than hacking or unauthorised surveillance

July 2016 round-up

Hello from sunny California, where I travelled to in order to attend (and present at) the Academy of Management annual conference. I am presenting my research on the hidden biases of algorithms used in decision making – specifically, those present in algorithms that sort through our financial transactions. If you are interested in this topic, … Continue reading July 2016 round-up

Why parents talk about their children on social media

The increasing popularity of social media has led to the emergence of the phenomenon of sharenting, whereby adults (parents, relatives, school administrators, …) share, on social media, details (pictures, videos, status updates, …) about the children in their care. All very innocent, right? Well, there are many disadvantages, too – and I am … Continue reading Why parents talk about their children on social media

October 2015 round up

October was busy. Very busy. This included a lot of firefighting, which I tend to find very draining. My #5pm pictures show that I spent a lot of time at my desk. But, unfortunately, only a minority of that time was spent on writing or, for that matter, on anything remotely related to research. Instead, my month … Continue reading October 2015 round up

September 2015 round up

A few days ago, my line manager asked me if the start of the semester had felt like a great shock, following the sabbatical. That got me thinking about how different things are now and six months ago, and how I feel about it. Six months ago I was doing things (reading, writing, meeting, discussing…) … Continue reading September 2015 round up