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Background
Robert works at the intersection of empirical social science and computer science, developing new approaches (involving information retrieval, data visualisation and social network analysis) for studying networks on the World Wide Web. He has been a chief investigator on three Australian Research Council grants and under a 2005 ARC Special Research Initiative (e-Research Support) grant, he established the Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks project. Robert has co-organised symposia focusing on e-Social Science (2004) and the social impact of nanotechnology (2006) and in 2007, he was awarded a UK National Centre for e-Social Science Visiting Fellowship and a University of Oxford James Martin Visiting Fellowship, enabling him to spend six months as a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Robert has degrees in economics from the University of Melbourne, Yale University (where he was a Fulbright Scholar) and the ANU, where he completed his PhD in economics (on index number theory and international comparisons of income) in 2001. Prior to commencing his PhD, Robert gained extensive experience in applied economic and statistical analysis in the government and non-government sectors. From 1991-1993, he worked as a senior researcher in the Bureau of Immigration Research (Commonwealth Department of Immigration). He worked as a World Bank consultant (based in Washington DC, 1995-1997) in the area of poverty analysis and has also consulted on AusAID and Asian Development Bank projects in this area. Robert is the coordinator of the ANU's Master of Social Research programme where he teaches courses on the social science of the Internet and online research methods, and is currently writing a related book (to be published by SAGE).
Research
- Research into online networks, with applications in the following areas: economic models of network formation in the political blogosphere, political party networking on the web, the abortion debate online, the availability of online information for potential migrants to Australia, and environmental activist networks. This research has been published in journals such as Computational Economics and Social Science Computer Review
- Index number theory with applications to: cross-country comparisons of income (published in the Review of Economics and Statistics) and global poverty measurement.
Teaching
In 2008, Robert established the "Social Science of the Internet" specialisation in the ANU's Master of Social Research degree. He teaches two courses in this specialisation: Social Science of the Internet (DEMO8086) and Online Research Methods (DEMO8087). In 2009, Robert is teaching three guest lectures focusing on online networks in the undergraduate sociology course Social Networks: Critical Structure and Processes in Modern Society (SOCY2054).
Selected Publications
Ackland, R., Gibson, R., Lusoli, W. and S. Ward (forthcoming 2010), "Engaging with the public? Assessing the online presence and communication practices of the nanotechnology industry," forthcoming in Social Science Computer Review, accepted 19 June 2009.
Ackland, R. (forthcoming 2010), "'Superstar' Concentrations of Scientific Output and Recognition," in W. H. Dutton and P. W. Jeffreys (eds), World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (download pre-print)
Ackland, R. and J. Shorish (2009), "Network Formation in the Political Blogosphere: An Application of Agent Based Simulation and e-Research Tools," forthcoming in Computational Economics, accepted 28 February 2009. (download earlier version of paper)
Ackland, R. (2009), "Social Network Services as Data Sources and Platforms for e-Researching Social Networks," forthcoming in Social Science Computer Review Special Issue on e-Social Science, 27(4), Winter 2009. (download pre-print)
Ackland, R. (2008), "Incorporating Minimum Subsistence Consumption into International Comparisons of Real Income," Review of Economics and Statistics, 90(4), 702-712. download pre-print. Perl code for results in this paper (tar.gz), (zip)
Ackland, R. and E. Gray (2005), "What Can Potential Migrants Find Out About Australia from the WWW?," published in People and Place, 13(4), 12-22. download pre-print
Selected Working Papers and Refereed Conference Papers
Lusher, D. and R. Ackland (2008), "A Relational Hyperlink Analysis of an Online Social Movement: Asylum Seeker Advocacy Groups in Australia," Under review.
Ackland, R., Spink, A. and P. Bailey (2007), "Characteristics of .au Websites: An Analysis of Large-Scale Web Crawl Data from 2005," refereed paper presented (by P. Bailey) at the 13th Australasian World Wide Web conference, 30 June- July 2007, Brisbane. download PDF(165K)
Ackland, R., Dowrick, S. and B. Freyens (2006), "Measuring Global Poverty: Why PPP Methods Matter," Under review. download PDF(290K)
Ackland, R. and R. Gibson (2006), "Hyperlinks and horizontal political communication on the WWW," Under review.
Ackland, R., O'Neil M., Standish, R. and M. Buchhorn (2006), "VOSON: A Web Services Approach for Facilitating Research into Online Networks," refereed paper presented at the Second International Conference on e-Social Science, 28-30 June 2006, University of Manchester. Download PDF(628KB)
Ackland, R. (2005), "Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) - Progress and Plans," refereed paper presented at the First International Conference on e-Social Science, 22-24 June 2005, University of Manchester. Download PDF(199KB)
Ackland, R. (2005), "Mapping the U.S. Political Blogosphere: Are Conservative Bloggers More Prominent?," refereed paper presented to BlogTalk Downunder 2005, 19-22 May, Sydney. Download PDF(482K)
Selected Older Publications
Ackland, R. (2000), "Poverty in the Republic of Latvia in 1997/98," Chapter 2 in The Republic of Latvia Poverty Assessment (Volume 2) (Report No. 20707-LV), The World Bank, Washington DC.
Ackland, R. and J. Falkingham (1997), "Economic Transition and the Profile of Poverty in Kyrgyzstan," in J. Falkingham et al. (ed.), Household Welfare in Central Asia, London: Macmillan Press.
Ackland, R. (1994), "The Impact of Industry Restructuring from 1971 to 1991 on the Employment Experience of Demographic Groups," Australian Economic Review, 2nd Quarter, pp. 57-68.
Ackland, R. (1991), Immigration as a Short-run Macroeconomic Policy Instrument: Results from the Access Economics Murphy Model, Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service.
Ackland, R. (1991), "Inflation and the Impact of Budgets," Australian Economic Review, 3rd Quarter, pp. 28-37.
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