Kelvin Grove, Queensland, Australia
Axel Bruns is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Professor in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. His books include _Are Filter Bubbles Real?_ (2019) and _Gatewatching and News Curation: Journalism, Social Media, and the Public Sphere_ (2018), and the edited collections _Digitizing Democracy_ (2019), the _Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics_ (2016), and _Twitter and Society_ (2014). His current research focusses on the study of public communication in digital and social media environments, with particular attention to the dynamics polarisation, partisanship, and problematic information, and their implications for our understanding of the contemporary public sphere; his work draws especially on innovative new methods for analysing 'big social data'. He served as President of the Association of Internet Researchers in 2017–19. His research blog is at http://snurb.info/, and he tweets at @snurb_dot_info. Axel was a co-founder of M/C Journal (https://journal.media-culture.org.au/), and he continues to serve as its General Editor.
Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate Rapidly increasing partisanship and polarisation, especially online, poses an urgent threat to societal cohesion in Australia and other established western democracies; polarisation is also a critical cybersecurity concern when actively promoted by bad-faith actors to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. By introducing an analytical framework that distinguishes four key dimensions of polarisation, my Australian Laureate Fellowship aims to conduct the first-ever assessment of the extent and dynamics of polarisation in the contemporary online and social media environments of six nations, including Australia. The evidence is expected to enable an urgently needed, robust defence of our society and democracy against the challenges of polarisation.
The Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC) conducts world-leading research that helps society understand and adapt to the social, cultural and economic transformations associated with digital media technologies.
Dr Axel Bruns is a Professor in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He is the author of Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage (2008) and Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production (2005), and the editor of Uses of Blogs with Joanne Jacobs (2006; all released by Peter Lang, New York). His book Gatewatching was nominated for the 2006 Communications Policy Research Award at Fordham University's Donald McGannon Communication Research Center, and he contributes to the Gatewatching.org group blog with Jason Wilson and Barry Saunders.
The ARC CoE for Automated Decision-Making and Society aims to create the knowledge and strategies necessary for responsible, ethical, and inclusive automated decision-making (ADM). ADM applies new technologies from machine learning to blockchains across a wide range of social sectors; it carries great potential and risks serious failures. The Centre combines social and technological disciplines in an international industry, research and civil society network. It will formulate world-leading policy and practice; inform public debate; and train a new generation of researchers and practitioners. Expected benefits include reduced risks and improved outcomes in the priority domains of news and media, transport, social services and health.
Axel Bruns is General Editor of the premier online academic publisher M/C - Media and Culture (http://www.media-culture.org.au/), which publishes M/C Journal and M/C Reviews.
The Association of Internet Researchers is a member-based, academic association dedicated to the promotion of critical and scholarly Internet research independent from traditional disciplines and existing across academic borders.
Elected member of the Executive of the international Association of Internet Researchers