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The challenges of regulating online speech

Author headshot By Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Digital Futures Posted:

Hate speech or harmful speech is any expression (speech, text, images) that demeans, threatens, or harms members of groups with protected characteristics. It includes slurs, name-calling, discriminatory and exclusionary speech, incitement to hatred and violence, harassment. Online communities are a particularly fast way to spread hate. In this article, Dr Mihaela Popa-Wyatt explores the main questions […]

VR headset in purple lighting

Online safety: Child abuse and exploitation in eXtended Reality

Picture of Steve Pettifer By and Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Digital Futures Posted:

In 2020 a team led by Professor Emma Barrett and Professor Steve Pettifer was commissioned by GCHQ to examine how child exploitation and abuse may evolve in light of the latest emerging technology trend: the widespread adoption of immersive ‘eXtended Reality’ (XR) technologies, including Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Their report synthesises research on online […]

Picture of smart speaker on couter with woman leaning towards it in the background.

Smart (and Safe) Homes – public-private partnerships to mitigate the digital harms of smart home devices

Photo of Dr David Buil-GIlPicture of James NicholsonPicture of Steven Kemp By , and Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Digital Futures, Science and Engineering Posted:

In recent years smart devices have become a feature of people’s, increasingly complex, home ecosystems. This brings new opportunities for users and may improve energy efficiency, but it also poses new threats to the privacy and security of end users. While there is emerging evidence of attacks against home devices and data misuse, there is […]

data graphs with world map in the background

Why we must act now to confront the new global digital divide

Chris FosterShamel Azmeh By and Filed Under: All posts, Digital Futures, Growth and Inclusion Posted:

As digital technologies become more widespread, there is a risk that developing countries will be left behind if they cannot afford to invest at the same rate as other countries. In this article, Dr Chris Foster and Dr Shamel Azmeh discuss the dangers of international firms and leading economies dominating the global digital economy, and […]

Citizen’s data, healthcare and trust

By and Filed Under: Digital Futures, Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

Health data has informed a central part our NHS for more than two decades, helping the informative bodies to improve services and understand health trends. This has also proved key in understanding, and attempting to mitigate, the worst impacts of COVID-19. However, when this data is shared with secondary bodies, does the public trust that […]

#HereToDeliver: Valuing food delivery workers in the future

By , and Filed Under: Digital Futures, Growth and Inclusion, Health and Social Care Posted:

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore a new cadre of valued workers. And it’s not the corporate CEO or senior business leader but the delivery workers that are helping cafes and restaurants stay open (in some form) during lockdown. Cristina Inversi, Aude Cefaliello and Tony Dundon of the Work and Equalities Institute (WEI) […]

Privacy pitfalls in combatting coronavirus digitally: Lessons from South Korea

By Filed Under: Cities and Environment, Digital Futures, Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

As the UK embarks on rolling out new digital and mobile capacities in the fight against COVID-19, other countries may serve as bellwethers for potential issues. In this blog, Dr Michael Prentice, Research Fellow in Digital Trust and Security, discusses privacy issues that arose in South Korea’s technology-driven response to the COVID-19 outbreak and how […]

Don’t panic! Keep calm and help young people to benefit from social media

By and Filed Under: Digital Futures, Health and Social Care Posted:

In our final blog for Children’s Mental Health Week, Professor Neil Humphrey and Dr Margarita Panayiotou discuss mental health and social media. A causal link between young people’s use of digital technologies and their subsequent experience of mental health difficulties has not been proven. Social media can have both positive and negative effects on mental […]

Online counselling for young people: Increasing access and reducing loneliness

By and Filed Under: All posts, Digital Futures, Health and Care Posted:

For over 15 years, staff based in the Manchester Institute of Education have been engaged in research exploring the development of online counselling services for young people. Here, Dr Terry Hanley and Professor Pamela Qualter discuss their research findings and make recommendations for the UK Government’s strategy for tackling loneliness. Our research findings act as […]

Breaking the silence: The importance of student involvement in school mental health

By and Filed Under: Digital Futures, Education, Health and Care Posted:

Hardly a day passes when adolescent mental health is not in the news. Dr Cathy Atkinson, Senior Lecturer in Education and Child Psychology at the Manchester Institute of Education, and Lucy Wilkinson, sixth-form student at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, discuss their research into student-led mental health initiatives at AGGS, and suggest that this approach […]

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