TASA Career Development Grant 2022
Ashleigh Haw
In 2022, I was one of the lucky recipients of a TASA Career Development Grant; a wonderful initiative for supporting the career development activities of TASA’s early career researchers. I used this funding to attend the inaugural Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Winter School on Digital Research Methods, hosted by the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Centre.
Convened by Associate Professor David Nolan (University of Canberra), Dr Diana Bossio (Swinburne University of Technology), and Dr Jonathon Hutchinson (University of Sydney), this three-day event provided the opportunity for ANZCA members to meet and learn about methodological techniques and challenges in digital communication research. The workshop combined keynote presentations from leading digital media scholars with interactive workshops where attendees could learn how to use a range of digital data collection and analysis tools to tackle complex research problems.
We kicked off day one with an introduction from the Director of the News and Media Research Centre, Professor Kerry McCallum, before Professor Kath Albury from Swinburne University of Technology talked us through some approaches to combining qualitative and quantitative methods to examine digital data in a collaborative environment. Dr Jonathon Hutchinson from the University of Sydney then delivered an interactive workshop on Social Network Analysis before we called it a day and enjoyed a group dinner (and a little bit of offline networking) at the Turkish Delight restaurant in Belconnen, ACT – delicious!
On day two, we were joined by Dr Francesco Bailo from the University of Technology Sydney, who talked us through some tools and techniques for text mining and analysis, and then worked with us in small groups to use programs such as R and Tableau to address our own research questions. This was followed by a fantastic keynote presentation from Professor Cornelius Puschmann (University of Bremen) entitled 'Digital traces in context' (see the recording here).
On the third and final day of the School, Dr Ariadna Matamoros-Fernandez from Queensland University of Technology provided her expertise on using digital methods to understand algorithmic cultures. Dr Matamoros-Fernandez then facilitated some group work, enabling attendees to put their newfound skills to the test in their own analyses of YouTube content, presenting their ‘mini’ projects to the rest of the group and receiving invaluable feedback. To close out the school, Professor Monika Bednarek (University of Sydney) presented her insightful keynote 'Corpus linguistics and social media: A case study of the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires' (see recording here).
Image description: Attendees on day three of the School, pictured with convener Dr Diana Bossio (front far left) and speaker Dr Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez (front far right).
As a primarily qualitative scholar, I have long struggled with methods for analysing larger data sets, so learning how to use some tools and programs that make such analyses more achievable has been highly beneficial for addressing the research questions I am currently interested in - especially those surrounding the form and spread of digital disinformation during global crisis events and how Australians have used social media to engage in antiracism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to recognising ANZCA and the University of Canberra for hosting such an insightful and informative event, I look forward to acknowledging the support of TASA in all research outputs enhanced by my participation in this workshop. I am very grateful to TASA for offering funding that prioritises the professional development of early career scholars. Without access to such funding through my current position – a common predicament for early career researchers, particularly those on short-term contracts – it has been challenging to partake in these kinds of training and development activities. As such, I was delighted to see that TASA has implemented such an important funding program to make these opportunities more accessible. TASA is a wonderfully supportive and inclusive organisation, of which I am proud to be an active member, and I strongly encourage other ECRs to apply for this funding in 2023!