I have just returned home from a week spent in Zürich as a participant in the New Perspectives on Populist Political Communication workshop and launch event of the COST Early Stage Researchers Think Tank, neatly organized by Sven Engesser and Nayla Fawzi. This was a chance for me to relate more clearly to a topic I’ve been approaching over the last couple of years. In my more general studies of political actors online, the results almost always indicated a stand-out role in some regard for actors that could, by the rationale of your choice, be singled out as populist. Consider, for example, the role of the Norwegian Progress Party during the 2013 elections, or the enormous online popularity enjoyed by the Sweden Democrats. As such, the Zürich meeting gave me a chance to re-focus some of my empirical material to focus more specifically on these types of actors – an enjoyable exercise indeed. These were productive and enjoyable days, and I hope that the group convened in Zürich will have the opportunity to meet again.

The annual ICA conference is an important meeting place for communication scholars around the world, and given the results of the review process that were distributed yesterday, I will have the opportunity to once again present some of my ongoing research at this years meeting. This year, the conference is held in Seattle, a city I had the opportunity to visit during the 2011 AOIR conference – a great experience indeed, and I look forward to go back. I will be presenting some of the findings featured in the paper “Everyday Elites, Citizens or Extremists? Assessing the Use and Users of Non-Election Political Hashtags” which, as the title implies, presents a structural analysis of the types of users that take place in hashtagged political discussion on Twitter. Specifically, tweets from political contexts in Sweden and Norway are collected and analyzed with a specific focus on the top users and their activities. Results indicate that while thematic Twitter discussion can indeed serve as a potential channel for ordinary citizens, the influence of established as well as political extremist actors is also clearly discerned. This tendency for in particular right-wing populist actors to utilize the novel medium is especially visible in the Swedish contexts – a finding which is further problematized and discussed in the paper. If you would like to read the draft that was submitted to ICA, get in touch and I will be happy to send you a copy.

Moreover, my abstract entitled “Birds of a Feather Flock Together? Party Leaders on Twitter during the 2013 Norwegian Elections” (co-authored with Øyvind Ihlen) has been accepted for presentation during the Strategic Communication Campaigns in a Contemporary, Digital and Networked Society preconference workshop. All in all, it looks like a promising conference.

This morning I presented part of my Phd thesis work during the International Symposium on Media Innovations at the University of Oslo, Norway. As the picture (source here) shows, there was a panel discussion afterwards – that’s me second from the left, way back in the shadows.

Just booked my flight tickets to go to the annual ICA conference – this time taking place in Phoenix, AZ, at the end of may. Last year’s Boston ICA was my first experience with this huge conference – there are just too many interesting sessions going on to be able to catch them all. This year is shaping up to be a rather hectic experience: I submitted two papers, both based on my PhD dissertation (which will most likely be defended just days before I leave for Phoenix), and one panel (to be co-arranged by Hallvard Moe). Both papers and the panel was accepted – great! The panel is entitled Researching Social Media – Methodological and Ethical Challenges panel and will feature presentations by Michael Zimmer, Eszter Hargittai, Cornelius Puschmann, Jean Burgess, Axel Bruns and Merja Mahrt. Zizi Papacharissi will serve as discussant. A great line-up indeed. Looking forward to Phoenix!

Yesterday, I got back home from the 12th Internet Research conference. Just in time to see one of my favorite guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel play a show here in Uppsala, by the way. Following last years conference in Gothenburg, IR12 was held in Seattle – a city I had never visited before. I quite liked the city, as it seemed to have all the positive qualities of a big US city, it seemed like a little more “intimate” place. Before the conference started I had some time to check out the surroundings together with some friends who were also in town for the same reason I was. The four of us also make up the members of rockband extraordinaire, The AOIR Heads, as can be seen here (what?). On a more serious note, my presentation (slides available here) on use by social media by SJ, the national Swedish train operator went very well, as you might be able to tell from the picture above (found here). It was part of a panel on “Social media and Crisis communication” that also featured Axel Bruns, Jean Burgess, Kate Crawford and fellow OIISDP-er Frances Shaw. Good fun and good presentations all round!

I’m at the University of Akureyri in Iceland for the NordMedia 2011 conference. This truly is a beautiful country – I could tell from flying in from Reykjavik. With both of my presentations done, I’m looking forward to my flight home tomorrow… It feels like I haven’t been home for ages. If you ever visit Akureyri, be sure to visit the restaurant Rub 23 – and don’t be afraid to try the sushi pizza (actuallt quite good and not at all as weird as it sounds).

Just arrived in Helsinki for participation ECIS 2011. Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the ECIS doctoral consortium when it was hosted in South Africa – this year, the conference is in Finland… A little bit closer to Sweden. My presentation was originally scheduled for the session starting at 11.00 today. However, since my flight arrived in Helsinki at 10.35, my presentation was moved to what might be called the “graveyard shift”, saturday morning at 08.30. Oh well, can’t win ’em all, I guess

Noam Chomsky delivering the closing adress at ICA 2011. To sum up, you might say that Chomsky has essentially given the same speech for 40 years now. It’s a good speech though – and, unfortunately, continuously necessary.

I’m at Arlanda Airport, waiting for my flight to Boston, by way of Reykjavik. The last couple of days have been interesting – the ashcloud generated by the icelandic volcano Grímsvötn has kept me on my toes as to whether or not I would be able to get to Boston and the ICA conference. As of today, most flights seem to be operating, while there are some delays… Hopefully, I’ll be able to make my transfer at Keflavik airport and make it in time to Boston.

After two months as a visiting PhD student at the School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University, I am now at home in Uppsala again. I’ve had a great time here – both from a professional and a social point of view. I would very much like to thank the people at the school, particularly Mark Aakhus for hosting me during my time here. A big thanks also to my neighbours at Ford Hall.

Coming home, I was greeted by some good news: I have been accepted for two doctoral consortiums: one preceding the Nordic Academy of Management conference (where my paper abstract, co-authored with professor Pär Ågerfalk, was also accepted for presentation), to be held in Stockholm in august, and one hosted by the Communication and Technology Division of the International Communication Association, preceding the ICA conference in Boston this coming may. Fun!