Lectures in the framework of mentoring visits

29 09 2023

We invite you to two open lectures prepared within the framework of the mentoring visit of Measure I.1.1/IV.1.1 “Mentoring Programme” at the invitation of the Faculty of Sociology and the DELab UW team.

October 4, 2023, 9:30-11:00 Presentation by Prof. Maria Laura Ruiu (Northumbria University, UK) “Interconnections between digital and environmental dimensions”

The lecture presented by Prof. Maria Laura Ruiu, will address the links between digital and environmental challenges. The researcher argues for including an environmental dimension in the definition of digital poverty at the structural, individual and circumstance levels. Her study analyzes the interactions between the use of technology, particularly digital technology, and the attitudes and behaviors of individuals toward the environment. During the lecture, she will also present the author’s concept of Techno/Digital-Environmental Habitus, which is helpful in interpreting differences among technology users, especially digital ones, in their perceptions of environmental issues.

Maria Laura Ruiu (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Northumbria University (UK). Her research interests fall into environmental and media sociology with a specific focus on climate change communication, social capital and digital media. She has been involved in several interdisciplinary research projects on the management and governance of climate change. She has also studied the management of the first phases of COVID-19 in Italy and new forms of digital vulnerability in time of pandemic. She has also investigated digital inequalities in the UK, and she is currently investigating environmental awareness and digital experience. She is exploring the Bourdieusian concept of habitus in relation to the combination of technological competencies, environmental awareness and existing socio-economic-cultural backgrounds. This research interest comes from her background in both sociology and media and communication. Her first PhD focused on sociology, whilst the second PhD research explores media construction of climate change narratives.

October 4, 2023, 11:15 – 12:45 Presentation by Prof. Massimo Ragnedda (Northumbria University, Wielka Brytania) “Inequality in the Digital Age: Unveiling the Interconnection between Social and Digital Realms”

During the lecture, Prof. Massimo Ragnedda will present the results of research conducted in the UK on the inextricable link between social and digital inclusion. They show that people who are socially or economically disadvantaged, despite having access to the Internet, are more likely to lack the digital competencies required to take full advantage of the opportunities that new technologies can provide. The researcher proposes that instead of a binary dichotomy: access versus lack of access, digital inclusion should be viewed as a gradual process that improves an individual’s social, economic and personal well-being.

Massimo Ragnedda (PhD) is Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK where he conducts research on the digital divide and social media. He is co-chair of the Digital Divide Working Group (IAMCR), co-convenor of NINSO (Northumbria Internet and Society Research Group) and co-editor of the Palgrave Studies in Digital Inequalities book series. He has authored and edited eighteen books with his publications appearing in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and book chapters in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian texts. His books include: Enhancing Digital Equity. Connecting the digital underclass (Palgrave, 2020); Digital Capital. A Bourdieusian approach to Digital Divide (with Maria Laura Ruiu) Emerald 2020; Digital Inclusion. An International Comparative Analysis (co-edited with Bruce Mutsvairo), Lexington Books 2018; Theorizing the Digital Divide (co-edited with G Muschert), Routledge (2017); The third Digital Divide: a Weberian approach to Digital Inequalities (2017), Routledge; The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective (co-edited with G Muschert) (2013), Routledge.

Please join us on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 9:30 am
at the Faculty of Neophilology, 55 Dobra St., room 1.120.