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All Outputs (83)

Castells versus Bell: A comparison of two grand theorists of the information age (2022)
Journal Article
Duff, A. S. (2023). Castells versus Bell: A comparison of two grand theorists of the information age. European Journal of Social Theory, 26(1), 90-108. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310221099695

Daniel Bell (1919–2011) and Manuel Castells (1942–) are the grand theorists of the information age. The article provides a detailed, up-to-date, comparative analysis of their writings. It begins with their methodologies, identifying numerous commonal... Read More about Castells versus Bell: A comparison of two grand theorists of the information age.

Computopia Revisited: Yoneji Masuda’s Realistic Utopianism (2020)
Journal Article
Duff, A., & Ito, Y. (2020). Computopia Revisited: Yoneji Masuda’s Realistic Utopianism. Keio communication review, 42(3), 53-74

Utopianism has always had a bad press. The whole genre, not least classics such as Thomas More’s Utopia (More, 1516), Robert Owen’s New View of Society (Owen, 1813), and William Morris’s News From Nowhere (Morris, 1891), has allegedly been shot throu... Read More about Computopia Revisited: Yoneji Masuda’s Realistic Utopianism.

Using a longitudinal focus group methodology to measure the value and impact of public libraries (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Appleton, L., Duff, A. S., Hall, H., & Raeside, R. (2019). Using a longitudinal focus group methodology to measure the value and impact of public libraries. In Conference Proceedings (484-492)

Introduction There is a general acceptance that public libraries contribute to ‘community’, and at least have the potential to have a very positive impact on civil society. (Varheim, 2007). This ‘impact’ is longitudinal, or ongoing, in that library... Read More about Using a longitudinal focus group methodology to measure the value and impact of public libraries.

UK public library roles and value: a focus group analysis (2018)
Journal Article
Appleton, L., Hall, H., Duff, A., & Raeside, R. (2018). UK public library roles and value: a focus group analysis. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(3), 275-283

Findings from a study of the advantages and disadvantages accrued by individuals from their public library use, and the impact of this on citizenship at individual and community levels, are presented. The analysis of longitudinal focus group data col... Read More about UK public library roles and value: a focus group analysis.

News night - Interview (2017)
Digital Artefact
Alistair, D. (2017). News night - Interview. [MOV clip]

No abstract available.

'The internet is just another crowded theatre' - Interview on Radio Sputnik World Service (2017)
Exhibition / Performance
Duff, A. 'The internet is just another crowded theatre' - Interview on Radio Sputnik World Service. [Radio]. Exhibited at Moscow. 13 July 2017. (Unpublished)

Professor Alistair Duff was interviewed on Radio Sputnik [formerly Radio Moscow] World Service, on the topic of extremist content on social networks. A shortened version of the 20-minute interview, conducted live from Moscow by Justin White and pr... Read More about 'The internet is just another crowded theatre' - Interview on Radio Sputnik World Service.

Demonstrating the impact of the public library on citizenship development in the UK: focus group findings (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Appleton, L., Duff, A., Hall, H., & Raeside, R. (2017, June). Demonstrating the impact of the public library on citizenship development in the UK: focus group findings. Paper presented at i3: information: interactions and impact

Introduction This paper presents the findings of a research project that seeks to understand how public libraries operate and demonstrate value and social impact. The research considers how the multi-functionality and social impact of public librari... Read More about Demonstrating the impact of the public library on citizenship development in the UK: focus group findings.

Undermining our data: implications for trust in the population census (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Killick, L., Duff, A. S., Deakin, M., & Hall, H. (2017, June). Undermining our data: implications for trust in the population census. Paper presented at Information: interactions and impact (i3)

This paper draws on empirical work conducted as part of a multi-method research study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is concerned with public perceptions of an online population census and adds to prior work exploring... Read More about Undermining our data: implications for trust in the population census.

Contra Bentham: ethical information policy in the PanopticEon (2017)
Journal Article
Duff, A. S., & Bentham, C. (2017). Contra Bentham: ethical information policy in the PanopticEon. Journal of Information Ethics, 26(1), 93-111

The article addresses the problem of surveillance within the framework of ethical information policy. Jeremy Bentham’s plan for a panoptic penitentiary is subjected to forensic analysis, using primary as well as published sources. The panopticon, it... Read More about Contra Bentham: ethical information policy in the PanopticEon.

Ethical ePunditry? The role of expertise in online opinion-making (2017)
Journal Article
Forrest, E., & Duff, A. S. (2017). Ethical ePunditry? The role of expertise in online opinion-making. Journal of Information Ethics, 26(1),

The use of blogs to communicate ideas, opinions and knowledge has grown over the past two decades. Social media platforms have facilitated the rise of hybridised forms of written, verbal and visual communication and opinion-making, output which we de... Read More about Ethical ePunditry? The role of expertise in online opinion-making.

Privacy: An Endangered Species? (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Duff, A. (2017, March). Privacy: An Endangered Species?. Presented at Rotary Club, Cumbernauld

‘Privacy: an endangered species?’ was the theme of Alistair Duff’s invited dinner speech at the Rotary Club of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, 22 March 2017. This half-hour talk was followed by a half hour of questions and comments by a lively and ac... Read More about Privacy: An Endangered Species?.

Inspecting the bad society? Bentham’s panopticon revisited. (2016)
Journal Article
Duff, A. (2016). Inspecting the bad society? Bentham’s panopticon revisited. The Asian Conference on Technology, Information & Society, 13-25

In Panopticon; or, The Inspection-House (2008 [1797]), the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham outlined what he perceived to be a model prison, based on ‘the inspection-principle’ (p. 68). It was centrally about power, the control of miscreants by... Read More about Inspecting the bad society? Bentham’s panopticon revisited..

Building the good information society (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Duff, A. (2016, September). Building the good information society. Presented at Connected Things Among Us, Amsterdam

The closing keynote address at EuroIA2016, Europe's largest gathering of user experience and information architecture specialists. Entitled 'Building the Good Information Society', the talk, in the historic Koepelkerk in the centre of Amsterdam, deve... Read More about Building the good information society.

The ecology of the ePundit: surveying the new opinion-making landscape. (2016)
Journal Article
Forrest, E., & Duff, A. S. (2016). The ecology of the ePundit: surveying the new opinion-making landscape. First Monday, 21(4), https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v21i4.6351

This paper explores hybrid forms of contemporary political opinion-making online, which we name ePunditry. The ePundit utilizes Web 2.0 technologies and networks to distribute their work: changing and challenging the boundaries and hierarchies of the... Read More about The ecology of the ePundit: surveying the new opinion-making landscape..

Rating the revolution: Silicon Valley in normative perspective (2016)
Journal Article
Duff, A. S. (2016). Rating the revolution: Silicon Valley in normative perspective. Information, Communication and Society, 19(11), 1605-1621. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2016.1142594

Silicon Valley, California – home of Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and so on – is widely regarded as the epicentre of the information revolution. However, it is not just a technical or economic phenomenon; it has also made a social revolution. Th... Read More about Rating the revolution: Silicon Valley in normative perspective.

The census as an information source in public policy-making (2016)
Journal Article
Killick, L., Hall, H., Duff, A. S., & Deakin, M. (2016). The census as an information source in public policy-making. Journal of Information Science, 42(3), 386-395. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551516628471

This paper provides an assessment of the value of national population censuses as information sources with specific reference to UK census data and its use in policy-making. Mixed methods were adopted to collect quantitative and qualitative data fro... Read More about The census as an information source in public policy-making.

Power to the Population? the population census under review. (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Killick, L., Duff, A., Hall, H., & Deakin, M. (2016). Power to the Population? the population census under review. In ACTIS 2015 (27-34)

Many regard the population census as the backbone of national statistics. It is also regarded as a national institution; a data source held in high regard by the academic, policymaker, historian and genealogist alike. However, technological advances,... Read More about Power to the Population? the population census under review..