Mid-September HSSH hosted social media and journalism researcher, Professor Axel Bruns, an Australian Laureate Fellow from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Digital Media Research Centre.
On Wednesday 18.9. Professor Burns held a keynote talk in the HSSH New Research Culture lecture series. The event explored the role of digital media in shaping public discourse and societal polarisation.
Professor Bruns delivered a thought-provoking lecture titled "The Filter in Our Heads – Digital Media and Polarisation". His presentation examined the complexities of contemporary digital communication, focusing on how it influences public debates on divisive topics such as climate change, Brexit, the Trump presidency, COVID-19, and the Ukraine conflict.
Following the lecture, a roundtable discussion took place, featuring Dr. Salla-Maria Laaksonen and Dr. Matti Nelimarkka, both of whom have pioneered the use of digital and computational methods at the University of Helsinki. They joined Professor Bruns in exploring the implications of his research and shared insights into how computational tools can deepen the study of digital media and public discourse.
On Thursday 19.9. Professor Bruns was joined by Doctoral Researcher Laura Vodden, also from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre. Together they led two popular workshops on digital methods. Professor Burns introduced the analytical approach of practice mapping using vector embeddings of networked actions and interactions to map commonalities and disjunctures in the practices of social media users. Laura Vodden guided a workshop on automating news content coding with large language models.
Their visit enriched the ongoing discussions at the University of Helsinki on the intersection of digital media and public discourse, leaving participants with valuable insights and practical tools for their own research.