George Brock - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by George Brock

Research paper thumbnail of The Right to be Forgotten

Research paper thumbnail of The Right to be Forgotten: Privacy and the Media in the Digital Age

This study examines the origins, consequences and risks of the ‘right to be forgotten’ which came... more This study examines the origins, consequences and risks of the ‘right to be forgotten’ which came to wide public attention as a result of an EU court case in 2014. As a result, hundreds of thousands of internet links have been taken out of Google searches - and we know very little of how these decisions are weighed. The wish to be able to remove harmful internet content is natural and understandable but this newly–minted right carries dangers for freedom of information, journalism and the right to know because it is rooted in EU data protection law which protects privacy at the expense of information rights. The EU decision has been influential worldwide but the study also traces how judges in some states have limited the right’s reach when cases have reached the courts

Research paper thumbnail of Making the News

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2018

This paper reports the design and first evaluations of new digital support for journalists to dis... more This paper reports the design and first evaluations of new digital support for journalists to discover and examine creative angles on news stories under development. The support integrated creative news search algorithms, interactive creative sparks and reusable concept cards into one daily work tool of journalists. The first evaluations of INJECT by journalists in their places of work to write published news stories revealed that the journalists generated new angles on existing stories rather than new stories, changed their writing behaviour, and reported evidence that INJECT use had the potential to increase the objectivity and the boldness of journalism methods used.

Research paper thumbnail of Developing and Evaluating Digital Creativity Support in Google Docs for Journalists

Electronic Workshops in Computing, 2016

Although journalism is classified as one of the creative industries, there is little bespoke digi... more Although journalism is classified as one of the creative industries, there is little bespoke digital support for creative thinking by journalists. To fill the gap, this paper reports new research that led to the implementation and first evaluation of JUICE, a new digital prototype to support creative thinking by journalists during the early development of news stories. Emerging from a usercentred design process, JUICE is implemented as a simple Add-on Sidebar and Dialog Box in Google Docs that a journalist can invoke when developing news stories. Interviews with experienced journalists were used to elicit 6 strategies that JUICE uses to guide its users to generate different angles on news stories using creative information searches and interactive creativity support. In this paper we describe the information search algorithm and new interactive support to create news stories with one of these strategies-the individual human angle on the story-then report a first evaluation of JUICE implemented with the algorithm and support during its use by journalism students. Results revealed that most of these student journalists were able use JUICE to generate new news stories with individual human angles in a short period of time, but still used established web search tools to collect more detailed information about the angle in order to write the story. Journalist feedback was used to improve the usability of JUICE and design new interactive features.

Research paper thumbnail of Why we still need the nation-state

Times Literary Supplement Tls, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Out of print: newspapers, journalism and the business of news in the digital age

Choice Reviews Online, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The Leveson Inquiry: There’s a bargain to be struck over media freedom and regulation

Journalism, 2012

The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the British press was triggered when... more The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the British press was triggered when the phone-hacking scandal’s full scale became clear in July 2011 and closed the News of the World. But the inquiry has gone much wider than that, hearing evidence about accuracy, fairness, privacy, regulation and law. Much of the debate in and around the inquiry has focused narrowly on possible improvements to the much-criticised system of self-regulation for the press. This article argues that a broader look at the relationship between the law and regulation would suggest that there is a bargain to be struck. A balanced outcome from the inquiry could both strengthen the legal defences for good journalism done in the public interest and create incentives for regulation which does not rely on statutory backing. Both the law and regulation must make more use of an effective public interest test.

Research paper thumbnail of Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights: the collapse of journalism and what can be done to fix it

Journalism Practice, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Balanced Privacy Law might be the Least Bad Outcome

British Journalism Review, 2011

The head of journalism at City University London, and former Times staffer, advocates a completel... more The head of journalism at City University London, and former Times staffer, advocates a completely new regime that takes account of the changing media landscape. "Regulation based only on newspapers will look positively eccentric as the business model for print continues its downward decline," he writes.

Research paper thumbnail of The Right to be Forgotten

Research paper thumbnail of The Right to be Forgotten: Privacy and the Media in the Digital Age

This study examines the origins, consequences and risks of the ‘right to be forgotten’ which came... more This study examines the origins, consequences and risks of the ‘right to be forgotten’ which came to wide public attention as a result of an EU court case in 2014. As a result, hundreds of thousands of internet links have been taken out of Google searches - and we know very little of how these decisions are weighed. The wish to be able to remove harmful internet content is natural and understandable but this newly–minted right carries dangers for freedom of information, journalism and the right to know because it is rooted in EU data protection law which protects privacy at the expense of information rights. The EU decision has been influential worldwide but the study also traces how judges in some states have limited the right’s reach when cases have reached the courts

Research paper thumbnail of Making the News

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2018

This paper reports the design and first evaluations of new digital support for journalists to dis... more This paper reports the design and first evaluations of new digital support for journalists to discover and examine creative angles on news stories under development. The support integrated creative news search algorithms, interactive creative sparks and reusable concept cards into one daily work tool of journalists. The first evaluations of INJECT by journalists in their places of work to write published news stories revealed that the journalists generated new angles on existing stories rather than new stories, changed their writing behaviour, and reported evidence that INJECT use had the potential to increase the objectivity and the boldness of journalism methods used.

Research paper thumbnail of Developing and Evaluating Digital Creativity Support in Google Docs for Journalists

Electronic Workshops in Computing, 2016

Although journalism is classified as one of the creative industries, there is little bespoke digi... more Although journalism is classified as one of the creative industries, there is little bespoke digital support for creative thinking by journalists. To fill the gap, this paper reports new research that led to the implementation and first evaluation of JUICE, a new digital prototype to support creative thinking by journalists during the early development of news stories. Emerging from a usercentred design process, JUICE is implemented as a simple Add-on Sidebar and Dialog Box in Google Docs that a journalist can invoke when developing news stories. Interviews with experienced journalists were used to elicit 6 strategies that JUICE uses to guide its users to generate different angles on news stories using creative information searches and interactive creativity support. In this paper we describe the information search algorithm and new interactive support to create news stories with one of these strategies-the individual human angle on the story-then report a first evaluation of JUICE implemented with the algorithm and support during its use by journalism students. Results revealed that most of these student journalists were able use JUICE to generate new news stories with individual human angles in a short period of time, but still used established web search tools to collect more detailed information about the angle in order to write the story. Journalist feedback was used to improve the usability of JUICE and design new interactive features.

Research paper thumbnail of Why we still need the nation-state

Times Literary Supplement Tls, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Out of print: newspapers, journalism and the business of news in the digital age

Choice Reviews Online, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The Leveson Inquiry: There’s a bargain to be struck over media freedom and regulation

Journalism, 2012

The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the British press was triggered when... more The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the British press was triggered when the phone-hacking scandal’s full scale became clear in July 2011 and closed the News of the World. But the inquiry has gone much wider than that, hearing evidence about accuracy, fairness, privacy, regulation and law. Much of the debate in and around the inquiry has focused narrowly on possible improvements to the much-criticised system of self-regulation for the press. This article argues that a broader look at the relationship between the law and regulation would suggest that there is a bargain to be struck. A balanced outcome from the inquiry could both strengthen the legal defences for good journalism done in the public interest and create incentives for regulation which does not rely on statutory backing. Both the law and regulation must make more use of an effective public interest test.

Research paper thumbnail of Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights: the collapse of journalism and what can be done to fix it

Journalism Practice, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Balanced Privacy Law might be the Least Bad Outcome

British Journalism Review, 2011

The head of journalism at City University London, and former Times staffer, advocates a completel... more The head of journalism at City University London, and former Times staffer, advocates a completely new regime that takes account of the changing media landscape. "Regulation based only on newspapers will look positively eccentric as the business model for print continues its downward decline," he writes.