Prof Ben Light's Outputs (42)

The walkthrough method : an approach to the study of apps (2016)
Journal Article

Software applications (apps) are now prevalent in the digital media environment. They are the site of significant sociocultural and economic transformations across many domains, from health and relationships to entertainment and everyday finance. As... Read More about The walkthrough method : an approach to the study of apps.

Sex education against the algorithm: the algorithmically enforced deplatforming of YouTube sex edutainment (2024)
Journal Article
Garwood-Cross, L., Light, B., Cooper-Ryan, A., & Vasilica, C. (2024). Sex education against the algorithm: the algorithmically enforced deplatforming of YouTube sex edutainment. Journal of Gender Studies, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2374752

Deplatforming of sexual content has increased across social media, usually operationalized by commercially charged, and algorithmically enforced, platform policies. This paper extends work on the algorithmic deplatforming of sex through the case stud... Read More about Sex education against the algorithm: the algorithmically enforced deplatforming of YouTube sex edutainment.

The Dick Pic: Harassment, Curation, and Desire (2019)
Journal Article
Paasonen, S., Light, B., & Jarrett, K. (2019). The Dick Pic: Harassment, Curation, and Desire. Social Media + Society, 5(2), https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119826126

The combined rise of digital photography and social media has expanded what might be considered photo worthy. Among the pouting selfies and food stuffs of the day exists the ubiquitous dick pic. The mainstream media generally focuses on dick pics of... Read More about The Dick Pic: Harassment, Curation, and Desire.

Locked down apps versus the social media ecology : why do young people and educators disagree on the best delivery platform for digital sexual health entertainment education? (2018)
Journal Article
McKee, A., Albury, K., Burgess, J., Light, B., Osman, K., & Walsh, A. (2018). Locked down apps versus the social media ecology : why do young people and educators disagree on the best delivery platform for digital sexual health entertainment education?. New Media and Society, 20(12), 4571-4589. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818778255

This article reports on focus groups exploring the best way to reach young men with vulgar comedy videos that provide sexual health information. Young people reported that they found the means by which the material was presented - as a locked down ap... Read More about Locked down apps versus the social media ecology : why do young people and educators disagree on the best delivery platform for digital sexual health entertainment education?.

Big Data, Method and the Ethics of Location: A Case Study of a Hookup App for Men Who Have Sex with Men (2018)
Journal Article

With the rise of geo-social media, location is emerging as a particularly sensitive data point for big data and digital media research. To explore this area, we reflect on our ethics for a study in which we analyze data generated via an app that faci... Read More about Big Data, Method and the Ethics of Location: A Case Study of a Hookup App for Men Who Have Sex with Men.

Study protocol : responding to the needs of patients with IgA nephropathy, a social media approach (2017)
Journal Article

Background
IgA nephropathy is the most common cause of glomerulonephritis in the Western world and predominantly affects young adults. Demographically these patients are the biggest users of social media. With increasing numbers of patients turning... Read More about Study protocol : responding to the needs of patients with IgA nephropathy, a social media approach.

Data cultures of mobile dating and hook-up apps : emerging issues for critical social science research (2017)
Journal Article
Albury, K., Burgess, J., Light, B., Race, K., & Wilken, R. (2017). Data cultures of mobile dating and hook-up apps : emerging issues for critical social science research. Big Data and Society, 4(2), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717720950

The ethical and social implications of data mining, algorithmic curation and automation in the context of social media have been of heightened concern for a range of researchers with interests in digital media in recent years, with particular concern... Read More about Data cultures of mobile dating and hook-up apps : emerging issues for critical social science research.

The material role of digital media in connecting with, within, and beyond museums (2016)
Journal Article

The connective potentials of digital media have been positioned as a key part of a contemporary museum visitor experience. Using a sociology of translation, we construct a network of visitor experiences using data from a digital media engagement proj... Read More about The material role of digital media in connecting with, within, and beyond museums.

Making digital cultures of gender and sexuality with social media (2016)
Journal Article
Burgess, J., Cassidy, E., Duguay, S., & Light, B. (2016). Making digital cultures of gender and sexuality with social media. Social Media + Society, 2(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116672487

This article introduces a special issue concerning the interweaving of gender, sexuality, and social media. There are 10 articles included in the issue which together map out a landscape of diverse areas of interest covering topics such as sexism and... Read More about Making digital cultures of gender and sexuality with social media.

The rise of speculative devices : hooking up with the bots of Ashley Madison (2016)
Journal Article

I attend to two areas of increasing significance in relation to Web 2.0 since its announcement in 2005. The first is a focus on the non-human in digital media research, and the second is the normalisation of dating apps in society. Building upon idea... Read More about The rise of speculative devices : hooking up with the bots of Ashley Madison.

Branded app implementation at the London symphony orchestra (2016)
Journal Article

This paper considers the key findings of a yearlong collaborative research project focusing on the London Symphony Orchestra’s development, implementation and testing of a branded smartphone app. This app was designed to primarily sell discounted tic... Read More about Branded app implementation at the London symphony orchestra.

Strategies for the suspension and prevention of connection : rendering disconnection as socioeconomic lubricant with Facebook (2014)
Journal Article
Light, B., & Cassidy, E. (2014). Strategies for the suspension and prevention of connection : rendering disconnection as socioeconomic lubricant with Facebook. New Media and Society, 16(7), 1169-1184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814544002

This article attends to the idea of disconnection as a way of theorising people’s lived experience of social networking sites. Enrolling and extending a disconnective practice lens, we suggest that the disconnective strategies of suspension and preve... Read More about Strategies for the suspension and prevention of connection : rendering disconnection as socioeconomic lubricant with Facebook.

An orchestral audience : classical music and continued patterns of distinction (2014)
Journal Article

This paper considers the key findings of a yearlong collaborative research project focusing on the audience of the London Symphony Orchestra and their introduction of a new mobile telephone (‘app’) ticketing system. A mixed-method approach was employ... Read More about An orchestral audience : classical music and continued patterns of distinction.

Is there an app for that? A case study of the potentials and limitations of the participatory turn and networked publics for classical music audience engagement (2014)
Journal Article
Crawford, G., Gosling, V., Bagnall, G., & Light, B. (2014). Is there an app for that? A case study of the potentials and limitations of the participatory turn and networked publics for classical music audience engagement. Information, Communication and Society, 17(9), 1072-1085. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.877953

The participatory turn, fuelled by discourses and rhetoric regarding social media, and in the
aftermath of the dot.com crash of the early 2000s, enrols to some extent an idea of being
able to deploy networks to achieve institutional aims. The arts... Read More about Is there an app for that? A case study of the potentials and limitations of the participatory turn and networked publics for classical music audience engagement.

'Connect and create’ : young people, YouTube and graffiti communities (2012)
Journal Article
Griffiths, M., Light, B., & Lincoln, S. (2012). 'Connect and create’ : young people, YouTube and graffiti communities. Continuum, 26(3), 343-355. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2012.665833

Dominant discourses around young people and social networking in the mass media are littered with negative connotations and moral panics. While some scholars challenge this negativity, their focus has predominantly been upon the formation of friendsh... Read More about 'Connect and create’ : young people, YouTube and graffiti communities.

Ethics and social networking sites: a disclosive analysis of Facebook (2010)
Journal Article
Light, B., & McGrath, K. (2010). Ethics and social networking sites: a disclosive analysis of Facebook. Information Technology and People, 23(4), 290-311. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593841011087770

Purpose – This paper aims to provide insights into the moral values embodied by a popular social
networking site (SNS), Facebook.
Design/methodology/approach – This study is based upon qualitative fieldwork, involving
participant observation, cond... Read More about Ethics and social networking sites: a disclosive analysis of Facebook.

Digital culture : blurred boundaries and ethical considerations (2009)
Journal Article

The Weberian sense of work and life suggests that working is something around which the rest of life flows. Moreover, work life and domestic life have been defined as separate for most people based on physical structures. That is, being physically in... Read More about Digital culture : blurred boundaries and ethical considerations.

An investigation into resistance practices at an SME consultancy (2009)
Journal Article
Griffiths, M., & Light, B. (2009). An investigation into resistance practices at an SME consultancy. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 22(1/2), 119-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410390910932786

Purpose – Prior research emphasises that organisational founders have a good deal of influence in organisational development and, where information and communication technogies (ICTs) are involved, a generic strategy is usually deployed by managers i... Read More about An investigation into resistance practices at an SME consultancy.

Social networking and digital gaming media convergence : classification and its consequences for appropriation (2008)
Journal Article

Within the field of Information Systems, a good proportion of research is concerned with the work organisation and this has, to some extent, restricted the kind of application areas given consideration. Yet, it is clear that information and communica... Read More about Social networking and digital gaming media convergence : classification and its consequences for appropriation.

Unpacking end-user relations in an emerging ubiquitous computing environment : introducing the bystander (2008)
Journal Article
Ferneley, E., & Light, B. (2008). Unpacking end-user relations in an emerging ubiquitous computing environment : introducing the bystander. Journal of Information Technology, 23(3), 163-175. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000123

The move towards technological ubiquity is allowing a more idiosyncratic and dynamic working environment to emerge that may result in the restructuring of information communication technologies, and changes in their use through different user groups'... Read More about Unpacking end-user relations in an emerging ubiquitous computing environment : introducing the bystander.