Internet Studies Research Group
Prof D Nicholas (Director), Prof M Menou, Prof J Raper , Dr P Yates-Mercer , Mr P Huntington (Research Fellow), Mr P Williams (Research Fellow), Mr R Withey (Visiting Professor).
The ISRG is a multi-disciplinary association of researchers and practitioners, from the related subjects of information science, computer science, geography, journalism and electronic publishing that have combined to provide a comprehensive and detailed understanding of how the Internet is impacting upon industry, government and society.
In its short life ISRG has attracted more than £500K in new funds, published 40 refereed papers and three books, and run an international conference at Cumberland Lodge. Currently the Group is involved in research concerning digital health information provision for the consumer (Department of Health and NHS), Newspaper Web logs (The Independent) and developing Web content for African countries (International Institute for Communication and Development). ISRG ranks as one of Information Science’s premier web log and media information research centres and is rapidly becoming the leading digital health information group through its work for the DoH/NHS (recently winning a prestigious contract to evaluate the NHSDirect digital health services).
Previous work has included an evaluation of the impact of the Internet on information seeking in the media; determining the key factors in the construction and organisation of newspaper web sites and monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of telecentres and ICT applications in development programmes in developing countries.