Archive | November, 2007

The Cappuccino Community

30 Nov

Eric Laurier is a geographer who has spent time looking at the effect that the rise of the coffee shop culture has had on the UK. Using an ethnographic approach, he has used video, naturalistic observation and interviews to gather his data. He has even produced a ‘Day in the Life’ of a coffee shop in Manchester and shared it on YouTube.

For more details about this work try an article from The Edge on the ESRC website, the Award details webpage for The Cappuccino Community: Cafes and Civic Life in the Contemporary City which includes links to related publications, and the project page for the original study which has extra videos.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on Social Geography.

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Coming in 2008

30 Nov

World in 2008 logoWe seem to have reached that time of year when people start to review the year that has passed and turn their attention to the year ahead. In that vein The Economist has issued it’s latest set of interviews, opinion pieces and predictions for the near future, with their World in 2008 feature. It includes special sections on China, finance and the world in figures.

UNDP logoOver at the United Nations Development Programme, the 2007/8 Human Development Report majors on Climate Change, which could lead to reversals in human development that disproportionately affect poorer countries. The site also includes tools that enable you to compare your carbon footprint with regions and countries around the world.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on the issue of Economics.

UK academic political research is world class

27 Nov

Political Studies AssociationUK Politics and International Studies research has been shown to be world leading according to a new report by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Political Studies Association (PSA) and the British International Studies Association.

As well as being of high quality, UK politics and international studies research is in demand with good numbers of undergraduates and postgraduates, a balanced age profile of academics with no looming retirement crisis and a strong record of providing wider benefits to society. Further details are available from the ESRC press release.

Part of the wider role of contributing to society is shown by the recent Political Studies Association report, Failing Politics? A response to The Governance of Britain Green Paper, which calls for a more realistic assessment of the state of political disaffection in the UK and for more imaginative remedies.

The PSA are also giving out their annual awards with prizes going to Alex Salmond, the BBC’s Nick Robinson and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on the issues of Politics and International Relations.

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Economics research links

26 Nov

The Autumn 2007 issue of CentrePiece, the magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), explores some of the central policy concerns facing institutions of higher education and their political masters. Findings include: Universities should offer more incentives for invention and technology transfer, concerns about an oversupply of graduates are misplaced and Europe’s universities need more diversity, creativity and independence.

The Centre for Market and Public Organisation has released the Autumn edition of Research in Public Policy. It finds that grammar schools are less, ‘ladders of opportunity’ than ‘ghettos of the advantaged’, Children whose mothers work full-time when they are aged between 5 and 7 are more likely to be overweight at age 16 and boys who spent at least 15 hours a week in their fathers’ care as toddlers perform worse on academic assessments when they start school.

Elsewhere Warwick University has launched a new publication featuring research from their Economic Research Institute with articles on technical analysis, managerial incentives to improve productivity and how new Politburo transcripts reveal how the Soviet economy took shape.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on the topic of Economics.

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Who do you trust with your data?

23 Nov

ESRC logoWith the full story of the lost data discs from HM Revenue and Customs still emerging, the topic of data security and disclosure is a political hot potato. New research from the ESRC looks into people’s online behaviour and has found that internet users will reveal more personal information online if they believe they can trust the organisation that requests the information.

‘Even people who have previously demonstrated a high level of caution regarding online privacy will accept losses to their privacy if they trust the recipient of their personal information’ says Dr Adam Joinson

Key findings from the study include:

  • If a website is designed to look trustworthy, people are willing to accept privacy violations
  • If the response ‘I prefer not to say’ appears at the top of an options list, users are far less likely to disclose information
  • If given the opportunity to remain vague in their responses, they are more likely to opt for less disclosure e.g. when asked about salary details
  • People with a high level of concern regarding privacy online may act in a way that is contrary to their stated attitudes when they come across a particular set of conditions
  • People who are unconcerned about privacy would soon become opposed to ID cards if the way that they were asked for information made them feel that their privacy was threatened

Find out more about the research from the ESRC Award webpage, the Privacy and Self-Disclosure Online project website and from Adam Joinson’s personal webpage.

Intute features more resources on the topic of internet security.

Who do you trust with your data?

23 Nov

ESRC logoWith the full story of the lost data discs from HM Revenue and Customs still emerging, the topic of data security and disclosure is a political hot potato. New research from the ESRC looks into people’s online behaviour and has found that internet users will reveal more personal information online if they believe they can trust the organisation that requests the information.

‘Even people who have previously demonstrated a high level of caution regarding online privacy will accept losses to their privacy if they trust the recipient of their personal information’ says Dr Adam Joinson

Key findings from the study include:

  • If a website is designed to look trustworthy, people are willing to accept privacy violations
  • If the response ‘I prefer not to say’ appears at the top of an options list, users are far less likely to disclose information
  • If given the opportunity to remain vague in their responses, they are more likely to opt for less disclosure e.g. when asked about salary details
  • People with a high level of concern regarding privacy online may act in a way that is contrary to their stated attitudes when they come across a particular set of conditions
  • People who are unconcerned about privacy would soon become opposed to ID cards if the way that they were asked for information made them feel that their privacy was threatened

Find out more about the research from the ESRC Award webpage, the Privacy and Self-Disclosure Online project website and from Adam Joinson’s personal webpage.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on the topic of internet security.

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New Educational Assessment section

21 Nov

Exams, tests, coursework and other forms of measuring pupil progress fall under the general rubric of Educational Assessment, a new subject section added to the Intute: Education gateway.

This Wikipedia definition approaches the topic from a psychological point of view, but provides a decent introduction to some of the issues educationalists explore when looking at the topic of assessment.

The Educational Assessment section has initially been populated with items that were already part of the Intute: Education gateway, but do new items will be added to it over time and feel free to suggest a site for inclusion.

For more on educational assessment try the DCSF website for individual documents, the Teachers TV website for instructional videos and the Teaching and Learning Research Programme for research on assessment.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on the topic of Educational Assessment.

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Economics links round-up

19 Nov

Economics Network logoDo you want to track down Economics text books? More than 1700 economics books can be previewed online thanks to a new feature of the Economics Network’s book catalogue. Their economics book database now links to the Google Books preview or other paper and online sources that cite that book.

A new interface to World Bank data is available – called geo.worldbank.org – it mashes up information on projects, population, economic indicators, reports and even local field office contacts from the World Bank with Google Maps, so you can zoom in and out, like any other Google Maps search.

… and finally, concerns about the state of the US economy take some bizarre turns when rappers start flashing stacks of Euros instead of dollars, but Aaron Schiff at 26econ.com is looking at how chatter in the economics blogosphere may reflect real world concerns.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on the topic of Economics.

Social Science websites: a guide from the ESRC

16 Nov

ESRC logoPutting together a website can be an intimidating process, especially if it is yet another job to be done while administering, researching or otherwise getting on with the day job. But if it is done well, it can help engage with new audiences and enhance the profile of what you do.

The Economic and Social Research Council has put together a series of guides aimed at administrators of their centres and programmes on how to get the best out their websites, but there is plenty of good advice on topics such as web accessibility, search engine optimisation and open access, which will be useful to anyone putting together an academic website.

Plus they have also launched a blog to discuss some of these issues, which may be worth keeping an eye on.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources funded by the ESRC.

Leave a comment on our blog

9 Nov

As part of a series of enhancements to our Intute blog services, we have switched on comments on the Intute blogs, so if you have something to add to one our posts – an opinion to share, a site to suggest, a reference to contribute – simply fill in the form at the bottom of each blog post to leave us a comment – if you are viewing a page with more than 1 blog post on, just click the comments link to get to the form.

There is a blog for each of the 4 major subject groups of Intute:

… and the recently launched Intute blog which contains articles on Intute developments, general Internet research skills and other items beyond the scope of a single discipline or group of subjects.

We have also updated our listing of RSS feeds to include all the blogs, so if you want to embed these news channels in your website or add them to your news reader, there are now over 100 news channels to choose from.

Intute: Social Sciences features more resources on blogs and blogging

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