HSE Journalism Student Presents Study at Oxford Conference

This summer, Milena Rubleva, a fourth-year student of Journalism at HSE, presented a visualization of her study at the Connected Life 2016: Collective Action and the Internet Conference. She told the HSE News Service about the conference that was hosted by PhD students at the Oxford Internet Institute, which is part of the University of Oxford.

Most of the papers at the conference were dedicated to online collective political action. However, the organizers looked at the topic in a broader sense. For example, my paper was about representations of the past in the media based on aggregated personal stories from the past.

Honestly, prior to the conference I had no idea what a visualization of a study, a poster, was, how to create it, what to include in it, and how to make sure people got the information in an easy way. I had to master these skills in three days, buy a tube, put my poster in it and go to Oxford, dreading that I would lose it on the way there.

The feedback on the participants’ work was very friendly. No one openly confronted anyone or spoke about the shortcomings of the studies directly. At the same time, the people who talked to me about my study asked a number of clarifying questions and gave suggestions, such as ‘Have you thought about studying this issue as well?’ This helped me generate new ideas and think about how I can adjust the direction of my research.

In Oxford, I met several researchers and professionals in my field, including a PhD student from Bremen who works in a tea project related to digital representations of the past and the culture of an island ethnic group.

Generally speaking, I believe one should try, first, to transform their personal interests in academic studies, and, second, to take part in various conferences. All the more so because HSE has an Academic Fund that offers travel grants for students invited to academic events.