Online abuse: What can researchers do?
by Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd, Dr. Chris Tenove and Dr. Victoria O’Meara,
Online Abuse and Harassment
As researchers in the digital age, our group has witnessed, and sometimes experienced, abuse and harassment on line. Hodson, Gruzd, Tenove, and O’Meara started working together on this virtual webinar because of our shared interest in online anti-social behavior, abuse and harassment, and the way these forces were negatively impacting research communication.
Together, we bring a wealth of research experiences and resources to understand how everyone can better respond to online anti-social behavior, abuse, and harassment, and we are interested in deepening our network and connecting with others who are doing similar work so we can build our impact.
Contact Jaigris Hodson Jaigris.Hodson@RoyalRoads.ca if you are interested in joining our informal network.
Learn more! View the recording from our recent webinar:
The webinar organizers:
Dr. Jaigris Hodson is an Associate Professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University and a Resident Fellow in the Cascade Institute. As a Canada Research Chair (tier 2) in Digital Communication for the Public Interest, she studies misinformation, polarization and online harassment. Her current work involves bystander intervention to address online harassment in partnership with the Conversation Canada, the anti-polarization project with the Cascade Institute, and examining online anti-social behavior with the Social Media Lab.
Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd is a Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University and co-Director of the Social Media Lab. Anatoliy specializes in analyzing online communities and social networks, as well as creating novel computational techniques and tools for examining public discourse on social media. His innovative approach to studying social media has led him to be named a Canada Research Chair in 2015 (renewed in 2020), and his induction into the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2017.
Dr. Chris Tenove is the Acting Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI) at the University of British Columbia, and a researcher and instructor in the School of Public Policy & Global Affairs. He has published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the challenges that digital media pose to democracy and human rights, focusing on topics such as electoral disinformation, online harassment of politicians, and social media regulation.
Dr. Victoria O’Meara is a post-doctoral researcher at Royal Roads University in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies. Her research examines shifting norms of media and cultural production in the era of platformization, and how emergent technologies reify or reshape inequalities across gender, race, and class.
Resources from our team:
The Social Media Lab: Social Media Lab | Making Sense of a Networked World @ Toronto Metropolitan University
The Centre for The Study of Democratic Institutions - Home | Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (ubc.ca)
The Digital Public Interest Collective - The Digital Public Interest Collective (dpicollective.com)
Report: Responding to Online Abuse: What we Heard From Health Communicators - https://democracy.ubc.ca/health/online-abuse-of-health-communicators/responding-to-online-abuse-what-we-heard-from-health-communicators/
Report: The State of Anti-Social Behavior on social media - The State of Anti-Social Behaviour on Social Media (figshare.com)
Report: Impacts, Lessons learned and best practices for supporting knowledge workers targeted with online abuse - Knowledge Synthesis Report – Public Scholarship & Online Abuse (thedlrgroup.com)
Digital Toolkit for Managers and employers - Digital Toolkit for Managers and Employers – Public Scholarship & Online Abuse (thedlrgroup.com)
DPI collective Podcast: Series 1 Online Abuse - Series 1: Online Abuse – The Digital Public Interest Collective (dpicollective.com)
Additional resources:
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