Updated: BT/EPSRC CASE Studentship: The life-course of public and private media assets

We invite applications for a BT/EPSRC CASE Studentship:

“The life-course of public and private media assets” (Supervisors: Dr Ben Anderson & Dr Rebecca Ellis) – based in the Technology and Social Change Research Centre

The studentship, jointly sponsored by the EPSRC and British Telecommunications plc (BT) will provide an opportunity to carry out research and training in a three-year programme leading to a PhD. Application deadline: 31st July 2008

To apply please email a CV and covering letter (both in pdf format) to Dr Ben Anderson (benander@essex.ac.uk).

Project Summary

The explosive growth of public media services such as youtube, flickr, Slide and the like together with the widespread penetration of domestic broadband are starting to cause significant problems for network architects who presumed that certain delivery models would be able to provide the quality of service the customer expects or desires. Given aggregate media usage profiles (e.g. afternoon and evening peaks) driven by customers’ everyday use of time and the costs of bandwidth, innovative solutions to the distribution and delivery of media assets (audio/video files etc) are required.

As a foundation we wish to develop a qualitative model of high bandwidth media asset usage that can take account of the flow of objects through a range of hosting services (such as those mentioned above) together with an account of the spread of their usage via services such as facebook, blogs and the like. This raises questions such as:

• To what extent are media assets re-used, re-formed and re-published? And by whom?
• Who distributes links to them through which (social) networks and who then places demands on the networks and at what scales of geographic distribution by viewing them?
• Is it possible in any sensible way to predict the extent and location of future usage of different kinds of media objects through analysis of the modes of exchange currently at work?
• What implications for the re-design of network delivery architectures can be derived?

The project will seek to answer these questions through conceptual and empirical work applying theories of exchange and reciprocity to the emerging arena of the sharing of public (published/broadcast) and private (within closed groups) online media assets. Initially the student would undertake an extensive literature review of viral marketing, reputation models and systems of reciprocity and exchange in order to synthesis a view of their implications for the sharing and exchange of media assets. Subsequently the student would undertake a series of empirical studies of the life-course of media objects. There will be a particular emphasis on the study of the ‘movement’ of media assets through social networks via service such as Facebook, myspace and others and their consequential geography of use. Finally the student would integrate the conceptual and empirical results into a qualitative model of media asset usage grounded in both theory and empirical observation.

Whilst the successful applicant will be based at the Technology and Social Change Research Centre (Colchester campus) they will also spend time with BT’s R&D teams (who are located at Adastral Park) gaining industrial experience and access to unique datasets and other resources.

Although pursuing their own research agenda the student will be expected to work closely with and contribute to the research team and the programme in which they will be embedded.
The studentship would suit a qualitative social scientist with an interest in technology mediated consumption and social behaviour. Applications are therefore invited from graduates with a first or upper second class degree and who have or are expecting to achieve a Masters level qualification (or equivalent) in a demonstrably relevant discipline.

Desirable experience, skills and attributes would also include one or more of the following:
* Qualitative social science research methods
* The ability to engage with non-academic researchers
* The ability to work as part of a collaborative team
* An interest in the relationship between social and technological change

Further Details:
http://www.postgraduatestudentships.co.uk/node/3232

Academic contact:
For informal enquiries, please contact: Dr Ben Anderson (benander@essex.ac.uk).