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Faculties & Departments
Research Clusters
Knowledge Society
Recent decades have seen a fundamental shift away from industrial economies and societies towards the emergence of new economic and social structures based on the processing of information and the creation of knowledge. This new ‘techno-economic paradigm’ has challenged existing forms of social organization as well as our understanding of technology, learning and knowledge itself.
These challenges involve significant social change as ‘the knowledge society’ emerges through conflict and cooperation – which knowledge society emerges is a matter of social and political contestation. The different media through which knowledge is communicated – oral, print, digital, televisual and others – shape the processes of learning and the creation of knowledge. The emergence of ‘new media’ raises crucial issues of trust, expertise and the kinds of knowledge being created.
New technologies enable new forms of organization of the economy, politics and culture. The potential for new forms of more open communication across wider spans of space and in real time opens up possibilities for organizational transformation but new technologies may also be employed in a hierarchical manner to concentrate knowledge and intensify surveillance. Other research examines the conditions under which how information technology can facilitate policy consultation and social inclusion.
News and Events:
- The e-democracy project began two years ago and aimed to make participating in policy making a reality for Irish citizens. The research team including G. Honor Fagan (knowledge society/NIRSA), D. R. Newman (QUB), Paul Mc Cusker (LYIT) and Michael Murray (NIRSA) have now been asked by the Houses of the Oireachtas to advise on and evaluate a pilot e-consultation website over the next three months and to produce a report when the process is completed. Minister of State Tom Kitt thanked them for their work and said that ‘The experience of the Houses of the Oireachtas with eConsultation is limited and so for that reason I am delighted with the help and advice which our own officials have received from the Universities eConsultation Research Group’. You can log your voice on the www.e-consultation.org website.
- The e-democracy research groups report on the cross-border research project on e-consultation, including our e-consultation trials, is now available for download as a 2.8 MB PDF, file. An online guide for e-consultation is also now available online here.
- The National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) is launching two reports in association with researchers from the knowledge society group. On November 15 at 10:30 in the Morrison hotel, Dublin, they will launch "Polish Migrant Workers in Ireland" by Katarzyna Kropiwiec with Dr. Rebecca Chiyoko King-O'Riain and on Nov. 29th at the same time and same venue they will launch "Chinese Students in Ireland" by Ying Yun Wang with Dr. Rebecca Chiyoko King-O'Riain.
- The Migrant Media Practices project has received funding under NUIM's Special Programme for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) and ethical approval to research 'Transnational Media Practices of Poles in Ireland' during summer 06.
- Aphra Kerr has published her book 'The Business and Culture of Digital Games: gamework/gameplay' . The book was launched by Prof. Paschal Preston of DCU on the 15th June, 2006 at the Irish Film Centre, Dublin. For more see here.
- The Digital Democracy project is running a live consultation in conjunction with The Wheel on 'Active Citizenship'. To participate visit http://wheel.e-consultation.org .
Cluster Members and Research Interests:
Honor Fagan (cluster leader)
Sociological knowledge and civic engagement, education and disadvantage; gender and politics; globalisation and culture; new technologies and conflict resolution.
Sean O Riain
knowledge society, workplace justice, political economy, gendering of the workplace, new forms of employment and career, states and economic development, politics of social change
Colin Coulter
Northern Irish society and politics; social class; ethnicity and nationalism; social development and change; sociological theory, popular culture and in particular popular music.
Aphra Kerr
Knowledge society, creative industries, gender, inclusion and ICTs, production and consumption of digital media, transnational media practices, qualitative and online research methods.
Current Projects: Funded
- Working Silicon Valley: Power, Politics and the Informational Labour Process in Silicon Valley and Ireland – Sean O’Riain
- A Life History Approach to Social Change – Sean O’Riain, Jane Gray
- Evaluation of the government e-consultation trial. €86,000 funded by the Houses of the Oireachtas - Honor Fagan, Michael Murray.
- The Irish Media and the Iraq War - Colin Coulter, Gavan Titley
Current Projects: In Development
- Politics of the High Tech Workplace- Sean O’Riain
- The Politics of High Tech Growth: Developmental Network States in the Global Economy– Sean O’Riain
- The Politics of ICT in Global Regions – Sean O’Riain
- Transnational Media Practices of the Polish and Chinese Communities in Ireland - Aphra Kerr, Gavan Titley, Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain
- Creative Industries in a Comparative Global Perspective - Aphra Kerr
Completed Projects:
- Digital Democracy? – Honor Fagan, Michael Murray.
- Transnational Media Practices of Poles in Ireland - Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain, Aphra Kerr, Gavan Titley, Katarzyna Kropiwiec. €2,000 funded by NUIM's Support Programme for Undergraduate Research, June-August, 2006.
- Transnational Practices of the Polish and Chinese communities in Ireland - Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain, Katarzyna Kropiwiec, Ying Yun Wang. €5,000 funded by the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), January - May 2006.
For further information or updates on this group please contact the cluster leader, Dr. Honor Fagan.