Harman Patil (Editor)

Oxford Internet Institute

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Phone
  
+44 1865 287210

Founded
  
2001

Founder
  
Derek Wyatt

Oxford Internet Institute

Address
  
University of Oxford, 1 St Giles Oxford, Oxford OX1 3JS, UK

Similar
  
University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, Departme of Computer, School of Geography and the E, Balliol College

Tour of the oxford internet institute


The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multi-disciplinary department, part of the University of Oxford, England. It is housed over three sites on St Giles in Oxford, including a primary site at 1 St Giles, owned by Balliol College. The department undertakes research and teaching devoted to understanding life online, with the aim of shaping Internet research, policy, and practice.

Contents

Founded in 2001, the OII has tracked the Internet's development and use, aiming to shed light on individual, collective and institutional behaviour online. The department brings together academics from a wide range of disciplines including political science, sociology, geography, economics, philosophy and physics and employs a diverse array of methods and data sources to study digital life.

Professor William H. Dutton served as Director of the OII from 2001 to 2011. Professor Helen Margetts has served as Director since 2011.

Oxford internet institute virtual open day 2015


Research

Research at the OII covers a huge variety of topics, with faculty publishing journal articles and books on issues including privacy and security, e-government and e-democracy, virtual economies, smart cities, digital exclusion, digital humanities, online gaming, big data and Internet geography. The OII currently has the following research clusters reflecting the diverse expertise of faculty:

  • Digital Politics and Government
  • Information Governance and Security
  • Social Data Science
  • Connectivity, Inclusion and Inequality
  • Internet Economies
  • Digital Knowledge and Culture
  • Education, Digital Life and Wellbeing
  • Ethics and Philosophy of Information
  • Studies of Wikipedia

    OII has published several studies in Internet geography and Wikipedia. In November 2011, the Guardian Data Blog published maps of geotagged Wikipedia articles written in English, Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, French, Hebrew and Persian. OII Senior Research Fellow Mark Graham led the study and published the results on his blog, Zero Geography. Graham also leads an OII project focused on how new users are perceived, represented, and incorporated into the Wikipedia community. In 2013, OII researchers published a study of controversial topics in 10 different language versions of Wikipedia, using data related to "edit wars".

    Teaching

    Since 2006, the OII has offered a DPhil (doctoral) degree in "Information, Communication, and the Social Sciences." Since 2009, it has offered a one-year Master of Science (MSc) degree in "Social Science of the Internet". From 2015, prospective students can apply to study the MSc degree part-time over two years. In addition, the department also runs an annual Summer Doctoral Programme which brings outstanding PhD students to study at the OII for two weeks each July.

    History

    The Oxford Internet Institute was made possible by a major donation from The Shirley Foundation of over £10m, with public funding totalling over £5m from the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

    The idea originated with Derek Wyatt MP, was quickly espoused by Colin Lucas, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, and Andrew Graham, then Master-Elect of Balliol. Two Balliol Fellows, who knew Dame Stephanie from The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, approached Dame Stephanie for support.

    OII awards

    For its 10th anniversary the OII launched the OII awards for lifetime achievement awards on the internet research field and the Internet & Society awards for significant recent contribution to develop the internet for public good.

    Lifetime achievement awards winners

    2016:

  • Lawrence Lessig
  • 2014:

  • Sir Tim Berners-Lee
  • Dame Steve Shirley
  • Barry Wellman
  • 2013:

  • John Seely Brown
  • 2012:

  • Professor Yochai Benkler
  • 2011:

  • Professor Manuel Castells
  • Dr Vinton G. Cerf
  • Dr David Clark
  • Professor William H. Dutton
  • Professor Dame Wendy Hall
  • Mr. Joi Ito
  • Mr. Niklas Zennström
  • Internet and society awards

    2016:

  • Shami Chakrabarti
  • Mike Bracken
  • Juliana Rotich
  • 2014:

  • Beth Noveck
  • Martha Lane Fox
  • Laura Bates
  • 2013:

  • Chris Lintott and galaxy zoo
  • Alec Ross
  • Max Schrems
  • 2012:

  • Simon Rogers
  • Raspberry Pi Foundation
  • Jennifer Pahlka
  • 2011:

  • Tom Watson
  • 38 Degrees
  • Public Sector Transparency Board
  • References

    Oxford Internet Institute Wikipedia