The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted here for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.

The Strategic Opinion Leader: Everyday Political Talk and Digital Media

Elizabeth Dubois
Oxford University

Lecture Details
Tuesday, May 12th, 2015 from 1:30pm-2:30pm
Room 3001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

Abstract: Are digital tools enabling a “just-in-time” informed citizenry who don’t have enough time to engage in the political process? When equipped with a wide selection of tools to aid them in their information sourcing and sharing practices political opinion leaders take up a strategic approach to communication. This strategic approach means that the minority of citizens who are highly politically aware limit their political communications to non-aware audiences widening the gulf between the engaged public and the apathetic. This study makes use of a sequential mixed-methods approach (social network analysis, online survey, trace interviews) and brings into question the process of “personal influence” and theories about how citizens become politically aware.

Biography: Elizabeth Dubois is a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. Her PhD research focuses on personal influence and political networks in a hybrid media environment. Ms. Dubois is a member of Balliol College and a current Clarendon Scholar. Before joining the Oxford Internet Institute in 2011 as an MSc student, she completed a BA (Hons. Specialization in Communication) at the University of Ottawa. As a Killam Fellow through the Fulbright Foundation (Canada) in 2010 she studied at American University in Washington, DC. Ms. Dubois works as a Research Assistant on the “Fifth Estate” project and as a Teaching Assistant for Research Methods at the Oxford Internet Institute. Previously, she served as a communications specialist and researcher in the Parliament in Ottawa. Representing a major Canadian political party she has lead delegations to United Nations talks on climate change and has worked on multiple election campaigns.