The Legacy of Edward Herman

This article reflects on the legacy of the American media critic and political economist Edward Herman; his influence on the field of media scholarship, and on the author’s own work. Its notes that Herman’s contribution has often been underappreciated due to Chomsky’s enormous stature as a public intellectual, and argues that as the principal author of the ‘propaganda model’ Herman made a significant contribution to scholarly and public understanding of the private news media. It notes a number of weaknesses in Manufacturing Consent, some of which are well known and have been addressed by the authors: an overemphasis on ‘closure’ and homogeneity in media systems, and a related ‘media centrism’ that may engender a certain political fatalism; an underdeveloped conception of the role of ideology; and a lack of empirical evidence on the operation of the five ‘filters’ as casual mechanisms giving rise to media content. It concludes that such weaknesses notwithstanding, Herman’s model is an exemplary piece of sociological theorising, and is only deterministic or simplistic insofar as it is ambitious and schematic

An ultrafast reconfigurable nanophotonic switch using wavefront shaping of light in a nonlinear nanomaterial

We demonstrate a new concept for reconfigurable nanophotonic devices exploiting ultrafast nonlinear control of shaped wavefronts in a multimode nanomaterial consisting of semiconductor nanowires. Femtosecond pulsed laser excitation of the nanowire mat is shown to provide an efficient nonlinear mechanism to control both destructive and constructive interference in a shaped wavefront. Modulations of up to 63% are induced by optical pumping, due to a combination of multimode dephasing and induced transient absorption. We show that part of the nonlinear phase dynamics can be inverted to provide a dynamical revival of the wavefront into an optimized spot with up to 18% increase of the peak to background ratio caused by pulsed laser excitation. The concepts of multimode nonlinear switching demonstrated here are generally extendable to other photonic and plasmonic systems and enable new avenues for ultrafast and reconfigurable nanophotonic devices.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

The ethics of researching ‘terrorism’ and political violence:a sociological approach

In this article, we propose a sociological model for the assessment of ethics in research on conflict and terrorism. We move beyond the rather narrow, procedural approaches that currently dominate contemporary discussion, seeking to broaden ethical considerations to include questions of social power, academic freedom, and the politics of knowledge production, as well as a consideration of the public function of the university. We argue that social scientists have both a professional responsibility to protect the integrity of scientific knowledge, and public responsibilities to the wider societies of which they are part. Navigating ethical questions, we suggest, therefore requires a reflexive engagement with the social conditions of knowledge production; a careful consideration of the social impact of research; and a dialogue with a variety of ‘publics’, not merely policy actors. The main body of the paper reviews the range of writing on the ethics of ‘terrorism studies’, engages with the question of institutional oversight and then examines the ethics of the current ‘impact agenda’ in UK universities. We conclude by drawing on our empirical findings and applying them to our proposed model to argue for: a significant revision to ethical policies and guidelines (and better means of enforcement) so as to better protect vulnerable research subjects; offer greater protections to researchers from (especially) powerful interests which attempt to smear, constrain or undermine independent research; make unethical research (which we argue is widespread) more visible, with the intent that it be managed down

Secrecy, coercion and deception in research on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’

This article calls for more understanding of the ethical challenges and dilemmas that arise as a result of state involvement in academic research on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’. It suggests that researchers and research institutions need to be more attentive to the possibilities of co-option, compromise, conflict of interests and other ethical issues. The paper empirically examines the relationship between academic researchers and the security state. It highlights three key ways in which ethical and professional standards in social scientific research can be compromised: (1) Interference with the evidence base (through a lack of transparency on data and conflicts of interest); (2) Collaboration on research supporting deception by the state which undermines the ability of citizens to participate in democratic processes; and (3) Collaboration on research legitimating human rights abuses, and other coercive state practices. These issues are widespread, but neglected, across: literature on ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’; literature on research ethics; and, in practical ethical safeguards and procedures within research institutions. In order to address these issues more effectively, we propose that any assessment of research ethics must consider the broader power relations that shape knowledge production as well as the societal impact of research. In focusing on the centrality of states – the most powerful actors in the field of ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ – our approach moves beyond the rather narrow procedural approaches that currently predominate. We argue more attention to the power of the state in research ethics will not only help to make visible, and combat, ethically problematic issues, but will also help to protect the evidence base from contamination. We conclude by proposing a series of practical measures to address the problems highlighted

Rare Occurrence: Exploring IoT, news media, calm interfaces and infrequent interactions

Positioned as a new digital interaction paradigm and the potential realisation of ubiquitous computing, the ‘Internet of Things’ is associated with ever-widening user-experiences, products and industries. It is rapidly entering the public consciousness. Spanning smart cars, connected toys, cheap ‘maker’ components and sensor-driven smart cities, IoT casts a wide cloak over near-future digital evolution and Human-Computer Interaction. But what about stories? Our research focuses on a novel design approach to news and media IoT devices. If storytelling is embedded in objects, what opportunities lay beyond the confines of the screen? Can the ‘white noise’ of digital news be inverted through infrequent and rarely occurring interactions with media via calm interfaces and ambient technologies? This paper considers if ‘Rare Occurrence’ objects create novel user connections with deconstructed editorial content and describes objects that communicate news or media that happens rarely, and in doing so seek to create meaning and editorial engagement

Nanomaterial structure determination using XUV diffraction

Diffraction using coherent XUV radiation is used to study the structure of nanophotonic materials, in this case an ordered array of 196nm spheres. Crystal structure and defects are visible, and the nanomaterial dielectric constant determined