Success of the Internet Research Programme Group
The Internet Research programme group was ranked as one of the most successful programme groups in the call for funding for ARIS research programmes at the University of Ljubljana, and thus received the highest possible increase in funding.
The programme group of the Centre for Social Informatics (led by Vasja Vehovar, PhD) researches the Internet as an object of research and as a tool for social science research.
Internet as an object of research covers a broad research area in which the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is shaping human relations and societal structures across various social domains (e.g. e-health, e-government, e-care and e-learning). In this context, the programme group focuses on the following topics:
- Digital inequalities – with an emphasis on overcoming the digital exclusion of older adults and low-skilled ICT users;
- The adoption and outcomes of advanced ICT-based assistive technologies in health and social care to improve the social inclusion and quality of life of various population groups in the ageing society;
- Better Internet and theoretically-informed prevention of illegal and harmful content on the Internet;
- Advances in user experience research methods for designing more accessible and user-friendly mobile and smart technologies.
In the field of the Internet as a research tool, the programme group is reinforcing and discovering new knowledge about Internet-based data collection methods through:
- Systematically investigating factors that contribute to data quality in web surveys;
- Addressing new challenges of web survey applications, with an emphasis on online panels and surveys on mobile devices;
- Integrating the use of machine learning and language technologies for questionnaire development and data collection;
- Providing evidence-based research on the use of paradata (digital footprints) and sensor data generated by mobile devices for an in-depth analysis of the behavioural patterns of participants involved in Internet-mediated data collection;
- Studying the Internet’s role in e-social sciences for the integration of virtual collaboration in all stages of the research process.
We sincerely congratulate all members of the programme group for their scientific excellence and success!