The Community-Engaged Studies Research Interest Group of the UST Research Center for Social Sciences and Education (RCSSED) has brought to the academic fore the issue on how social media affects people鈥檚 daily lives and the role of researchers in this form of human interaction and expression. This was highlighted in a webinar held on March 25, 2021, titled 鈥淭he Digital Researcher: Researching Social Media.鈥�
The webinar tackled how social media research could incorporate new research methodologies and techniques to understand the way audiences use various channels and how these influence their behaviors and discourses.
The speaker was University of East Anglia School of Education and Lifelong Learning researcher Harry T. Dyer, Ph.D., who is a well-known academic researcher on the social media phenomenon in Britain.
Insights from the webinar included the following: that for the next decade or so, social media will be a force to reckon with, as it will shape and reshape our lives.
The guest speaker also emphasized the role that academic researchers should take to unravel the complexities of the social media so that not only academics could understand its vagaries, but also the layman who use this platform and understand it in depth.
Also present were Vice Rector for Research and Innovation Prof. Maribel G. Nonato Ph.D., RCSSED Director Prof. Belinda de Castro, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. Ninia Calaca, and Lead of Language Studies RIG Asst. Prof. Katrina Ninfa Topacio. Asst. Prof. Joreen Rocamora, Ph.D., and Mr. Jame Monren T. Mercado, fellow members of the Community-Engaged Studies RIG, moderated the event.
The Community-Engaged Studies RIG of RCSSED, led by Asst. Prof. Gina Lontoc, Ph.D., works collaboratively with the wider community to address issues relevant to community development, sustainable outcomes, and multi-stakeholder participation.
Members of the RIG include SIMBAHAYAN Director Asst. Prof. Froilan Alipao, Mr. Jame Monren Mercado, Asst. Prof. Joreen Rocamora, Ph.D., Asst. Prof. Melanie Turingan, Ph.D., and Ms. Eugenia Zhuo. The group is led by Asst. Prof. Gina Lontoc, Ph.D.
