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All Outputs (16)

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.

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.

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..

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.

Cyber-Green: idealism in the information age (2015)
Journal Article
Duff, A. S. (2015). Cyber-Green: idealism in the information age. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 13(2), 146-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/jices-10-2014-0049

Purpose This paper retrieves relevant aspects of the work of idealist thinker T.H. Green in order to improve comprehension of, and policy responses to, various dilemmas facing contemporary ‘information societies’. Design/methodology/approach The... Read More about Cyber-Green: idealism in the information age.

Needing NoDI (normal democratic information)? The problem of information poverty in post-industrial society (2014)
Journal Article
Duff, A. S. (2015). Needing NoDI (normal democratic information)? The problem of information poverty in post-industrial society. Information, Communication and Society, 18(1), 63-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2014.934389

The paper addresses one of the main paradoxes of post-industrial society: information poverty. While digital divides of various types have been extensively theorized and researched, the actual condition of the information poor – those at the wrong en... Read More about Needing NoDI (normal democratic information)? The problem of information poverty in post-industrial society.

Monitoring information security risks within health care (2013)
Journal Article
van Deursen, N., Buchanan, W. J., & Duff, A. (2013). Monitoring information security risks within health care. Computers and Security, 37, 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2013.04.005

This paper presents an overview of possible risks to the security of health care data. These risks were detected with a novel approach to information security. It is based on the philosophy that information security risk monitoring should include h... Read More about Monitoring information security risks within health care.

The Rawls-Tawney theorem and the digital divide in postindustrial society (2011)
Journal Article
Duff, A. (2011). The Rawls-Tawney theorem and the digital divide in postindustrial society. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62, 604-612. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21470

The digital divide continues to challenge political and academic circles worldwide. A range of policy solutions is briefly evaluated, from laissez-faire on the right to “arithmetic” egalitarianism on the left. The article recasts the digital divide a... Read More about The Rawls-Tawney theorem and the digital divide in postindustrial society.

The Holy Grail of a viable press. (2010)
Journal Article
Duff, A. (2010). The Holy Grail of a viable press. The Journal, 33,

Opinion article analysing problems facing mass media in information age.

The sickness of an information society: R.H.Tawney and the post-industrial condition. (2004)
Journal Article
Duff, A. (2004). The sickness of an information society: R.H.Tawney and the post-industrial condition. Information, Communication and Society, 7(3), 403-422. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118042000284632

R. H. Tawney is frequently cited as one of the most distinguished social theorists of the twentieth century, and his position in the British school of ethical, democratic socialism is assured. This paper revisits that contribution for the so-called p... Read More about The sickness of an information society: R.H.Tawney and the post-industrial condition..

The Past, Present, and Future of Information Policy: Towards a normative theory of the information society (2004)
Journal Article
Duff, A. S. (2004). The Past, Present, and Future of Information Policy: Towards a normative theory of the information society. Information, Communication and Society, 7(1), 69-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118042000208906

The profile of information policy in academic and policy-making circles has been rising in recent decades, a function, presumably, of the expansion of an 'information society'. Nevertheless, there is widespread confusion over its meaning and purpose.... Read More about The Past, Present, and Future of Information Policy: Towards a normative theory of the information society.