News

Representatives of the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) coordinated the kick-off meeting of the ‘Social networks and communication of hate’ project in Ljubljana on 11 April 2018. Partner organisations of the project are the Institute of Criminology and the Peace Institute. The project leader is Dr. Vasja Vehovar.

Darja Grošelj, PhD, member of the Centre for the Social Informatics (CSI) at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, has published a chapter entitled Digital Divides, Usability, and Social Inclusion: Evidence From the Field of E-Services in the United Kingdom in a monograph Social Inclusion and Usability of ICT-Enabled Services. The chapter was co-authored by Bianca C. Reisdorf, PhD.

Members of the Centre for the Social Informatics (CSI), Andraž Petrovčič, PhD and Vesna Dolničar, PhD, co-authored four original scientific articles, published in three reputable journals (Computers in human behavior, International journal of human-computer interaction and Telematics and informatics) in 2017 and 2018, and one chapter in a monograph published by Routledge in 2018. Among the co-authors of the contributions are also CSI members Darja Grošelj, PhD, and Sakari Taipale, PhD.

On 21st and 22nd of March the fourth of nine Exchange of Experience and Peer Evaluation (EEPE) events took place in Spain city of Bilbao (Basque Country). EEPE was attended by Vesna Dolničar and Mojca Šetinc from the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI), and two representatives of the stakeholders – Drago Rudel from MKS, enterprise specialized in telecare solutions, and Anita Jacović from Ministry of Health.

Kaja Smole Orehek attended the SMARTER LIVES 2018 that took place in Innsbruck, Austria on 20th of February 2018. SMARTER LIVES international conference aims to contribute to the scientific discussion in the field of smart technologies for an ageing society and Active and Assisted Living (AAL).

The second national meeting of stakeholders in the Interreg Europe ITHACA project was held at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) on 16 February. ITHACA involves nine EU regions with the shared ambition of accelerating the scaling up of smart health and care innovation that can support active and healthy living.

On 7 February, Nejc Berzelak, PhD, and Vasja Vehovar, PhD, held a talk on web surveys to participants of a web seminar (»webinar«). The talk was a part of a European Master in Official Statistics (EMOS) series of webinars, coordinated by the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. The webinars address relevant topics in the field of official statistics with speakers coming from a variety of European institutions, including universities, national statistical institutes, Eurostat and central banks.

On Safer Internet Day, 6 February 2018, the Safe.si awareness centre organised a free educational seminar for teachers, principals and other school workers with the aim of providing information about advances in the safe use of modern technologies in schools, harmful online content and risky behaviour online. The seminar, ‘What's new in the field of (safe) use of technologies, harmful online content and risky behaviour online?’, was held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia in Ljubljana.

In the academic year 2018/19 the Department of Social Informatics and Methodology is going to launch a new three-year undergraduate programme of Social Informatics, combining interdisciplinary knowledge on information and communication technology (ICT), social sciences and the Internet. The new study programme gives students the opportunity to gain and combine knowledge on applied informatics, internet research, methodology, statistics, and data analytics.

Excellence in research, social and technological innovation (ReSTI) project management is producing expected results. In the last quarter of 2017 University of Ljubljana (UL) focused on review of project management status and expectations in Slovenia. For collection of existing and expected knowledge over 100 addresses were contacted to participate in the ReSTI survey in November 2017. Forty people participated in online survey, majority were women (29), education level in majority was PhD (21) coming from educational type working place (24).