Professor Andrew McStay

Athro mewn Technoleg a Chymdeithas (Ysgol Hanes, y Gyfraith a Gwyddorau Cymdeithas)

mcstay@bangor.ac.uk

0000-0001-8928-3825

Professor Andrew McStay

Gwelwch proffil Professor Andrew McStay ar Bortal Ymchwil Bangor

Proffil

Un ffordd neu’r llall, mae fy niddordebau ymchwil yn troi o amgylch hysbysebu. Mae gennyf ddiddordeb arbennig yn yr effeithiau newydd y mae cyfryngau wedi’u rhwydweithio’n eu cael ar hysbysebu yn gyffredinol. Mae’r rhain yn eang iawn, ond hyd yma mae fy ngwaith yn y maes hwn wedi ymdrin â deall cysylltiadau wedi’u personoli a rhai autopoietig gyda systemau hysbysebu; goblygiadau hysbysebu digidol i breifatrwydd; diwylliannau firaol a hysbysebu; moeseg, cyfraith a rheoleiddio hysbysebu digidol; a swyddogaeth creadigrwydd mewn hysbysebu. Mae gennyf ddiddordeb mewn goruchwylio myfyrwyr sydd eisiau gwneud ymchwil ym meysydd hysbysebu, creadigrwydd, diwylliant digidol, cyfryngau digidol neu breifatrwydd.

Cyn dod i Brifysgol Bangor, bûm mewn swyddi darlithio ym Mhrifysgol Bournemouth a Phrifysgol y Celfyddydau Llundain (LCC).

Diddordebau ymchwil allweddeiriau

Hysbysebu, a-signification, autopoiesis, biobŵer, creadigrwydd, seiberneteg, dataveillance, cyfraith a rheoliadau hysbysebu digidol, diwylliannau’r cyfryngau, gwleidyddiaeth rwydwaith, ffenomenoleg, preifatrwydd, diwylliant firaol.

Enw: Dr Andrew McStay

Swydd: Uwch Ddarlithydd mewn Diwylliant y Cyfryngau

E-bost: mcstay@bangor.ac.uk

Ffôn: +44 01248 382740

 

Dyletswyddau Dysgu Presennol

Cyrsiau Israddedig

Media Culture (Year 1)

Introduction to Media (Year 1)

Cultural Economy of the Media (Year 2)

Research and Methods (Year 3)

Proposals for PhD-level projects in the areas of emotions and technology, digital advertising, digital media, science and techbnology studies, data ethics and privacy all welcome.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

  • CyhoeddwydDigital Advertising
    McStay, A., 1 Ion 2009, Palgrave.
    Allbwn ymchwil: Llyfr/Adroddiad › Llyfr

2023

2022

  • 'Addressing false information online via provision of authoritative information: Why dialling down emotion is part of the answer', Submission to UK Parliament Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices, September 2022

    False information proliferates online, despite years of multi-stakeholder efforts to quell it. In September 2022, Vian Bakir (Prof. of Journalism & PolComms, SHiLSS) and Andrew McStay (Prof. of Digital Life, SHiLSS) were invited by the UK Parliament’s Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee to provide evidence to their Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices. They addressed one of the Inquiry’s questions: namely: Is the provision of authoritative information responsive enough to meet the challenge of misinformation that is spread on social media? Now published, one of their conclusions is that rather than having to make difficult content moderation decisions about what is true and false on the fly and at scale, it may be better to ensure that digital platforms’ algorithms optimise emotions for social good rather than just for the platform and its advertisers’ profit. What this social good optimisation would look like is worthy of further study, but they posit that this would likely involve dialling down the platform’s emotional contagion, and engagement, of users.

    14 Medi 2022 – 14 Hyd 2022

    Cysylltau:

    Gweithgaredd: Arall (Cyfrannwr)
  • BU-IIA Funded project: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ethics & Policing in North Wales: Establishing Citizens’ Perspectives

    In collaboration with North Wales Police (NWP), this project will identify and explore with police, civic and public stakeholders the benefits, challenges and ethical concerns raised through the police use of new computational technologies in policing, notably those involving claims to detect and predict criminality through risk-modelling and those based on Intelligent Facial Recognition.

    Funding awarded through the Bangor University Innovation and Impact Award (Research Wales Innovation Funding). Value = £44,239

    1 Ebr 2022 – 31 Maw 2023

    Gweithgaredd: Arall (Cyfrannwr)
  • Advising Welsh Government on AI Ethics

    With funding and separate collaboration from from Welsh Government, I am leading on a project to research develop AI Ethics recommendations for Welsh industry/public sector.

    2022 →

    Gweithgaredd: Mathau o Fusnes a Chymuned - Aelodaeth o grŵp neu banel cynghori/polisi cyhoeddus/llywodraeth (Cyfrannwr)
  • Advisory Board of PATH-AI

    I am a member of the Advisory Board of PATH-AI: Mapping an Intercultural Path to Privacy, Agency and Trust in Human-AI Ecosystems. This project is a collaboration between The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and RIKEN in Japan, running from January 2020 until December 2022.

    2022 →

    Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu academaidd allanol - Aelodaeth o banel neu bwyllgor adolygu cymheiriaid (Cyfrannwr)
  • Information Commissioners Office (Sefydliad allanol)

    Information Commissioner’s Office Technology Advisory Panel (TAP).

    2022 →

    Gweithgaredd: Aelodaeth o fwrdd (Cadeirydd)
  • Keynote talk on data ethics for Serbian National Internet Domain Name Registry Foundation (RNIDS): AI Ethics and Emotion Recognition

    Talk for Serbia tech industry on data ethics and emotional AI.

    Abstract: This talk will consider changing governance of AI. Now with hitherto unseen attention from policymakers, emotion recognition is high on legal and data protection agendas. To explore contemporary progression from values to governance, McStay will provide historical context to the technologies, insight on societal attitudes, progressing to highlight key legal changes, ethical weaknesses, and remedies.

    2022

    Cysylltau:

    Gweithgaredd: Sgwrs wadd (Siaradwr)
  • Replika in the Metaverse

    Co-hosted by Department for Media, Culture & Sport (UK Government), Queens University (Belfast), and Manchester University Metropolitan.

    2022

    Gweithgaredd: Sgwrs wadd (Siaradwr)
  • W3C (Sefydliad allanol)

    Membership of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Metaverse Interoperability Group

    2022 →

    Cysylltau:

    Gweithgaredd: Aelodaeth o fwrdd (Cadeirydd)

2021

2020

2019

  • Final Report - Emotional AI - Japan and UK. Final Report on a Conversation between cultures

    Funded by Economic & Social Research Council - Arts & Humanities Research Council - UK-Japan Social Sciences & Humanities Connections grant

    1 Tach 2019

    Cysylltau:

    Gweithgaredd: Arall (Cyfrannwr)
  • Workshop on emotional AI

    Multi-Stakeholder (government, NGO, company, regulator), multi-disciplinary (media, journalism, law, criminology, Ai ethics, robotics, big data) workshop to discuss UK-Japan elements of emotional AI

    9 Medi 2019

    Cysylltau:

    Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu â'r cyhoedd a gwaith maes - Darlith/trafodaeth/seminar gyhoeddus (Trefnydd)
  • CULTURE CHANGE: Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns

    Based on our synthesis of research from academia, investigative journalism and regulatory and political inquiries, we find:

    - Extensive use of deception and emotion in campaigning for the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum.

    - Techniques for targeting citizens with emotive and deceptive information have intensified in terms of granularity of targeting; and remain hidden from the view of the wider community or nation.

    - False messages prompt reactions of fear, disgust and surprise, and have a propensity towards recirculation online.

    To address this, we recommend:

    - That there be incentives for digital political campaigners to act ethically, and for their behaviour to be critically and regularly reflected upon by society.

    - Specifically, we recommend the institution of publicly available self-evaluations by all political campaign groups post-elections to: Summarise which audiences were targeted, and with what success; Reflect upon which aspects of the campaign most succeeded in mobilising voters (e.g. specific adverts, messages, themes, memes); Reflect upon whether the campaign gave voters enough information with which to make an informed choice on which to base their electoral decision (i.e. was information true, complete, undistorted and relevant?); Reflect upon to what extent the campaign was civil.

    - We further recommend that this self-reporting be incentivised via: An independent panel (of diverse stakeholders, including fact-checkers, academics, and campaigners from opposing sides) to verify, and critically comment upon, the self-evaluations; A kite-mark system to brand the veracity and civility of the campaigning; Ensuring that this is covered by the media, post-election, and that the analysis is available online in a public archive.

    2 Awst 2019

    Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu â'r cyhoedd a gwaith maes - Erthygl neu gyfranogiad yn y cyfryngau (Cyfrannwr)
  • Parliamentary submission: Datafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show. Submission to DCMS Committee Inquiry into Reality TV

    The UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee launched the Reality TV inquiry in May 2019 following events leading up to the decision to axe The Jeremy Kyle Show. It is considering the duty of care offered by broadcasters and programme makers to participants of reality TV shows. 

    The Network for Media & Persuasive Communication submitted written evidence focusing on DCMS' question: What is the future for reality TV of this kind? How does it accord with our understanding of, and evolving attitudes to, mental health?

    The submission offers a cautionary note on a likely future of reality media - where the media industry makes use of data about emotions to add new layers of engagement through “emotional AI”. This emotional AI entails affective computing and AI techniques that read and react to emotions through text, voice, computer vision and biometric sensing. While usage of emotional AI has scope to enhance experience of media, there is scope for abuse when competing for audience attention, engagement and advertising revenue.

    The submission recommends that:

    - Regulators and policymakers are suitably aware of media and technological trends described in this document: namely, the potential dangers of a media environment in which emotion is quantified and utilised by the media industry.

    - Media companies and home technology providers understand that regulators and policymakers are aware of these developments and are willing to regulate if there is misuse,or if individual, collective or technological vulnerabilities (such as lack of awareness of “consent” to domestic profiling) are exploited.

    - There is further engagement with academics and other specialists on these questions.

    1 Meh 2019 – 1 Medi 2019

    Cysylltau:

    Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu â'r cyhoedd a gwaith maes - Erthygl neu gyfranogiad yn y cyfryngau (Cyfrannwr)
  • Citation in EU Commissioned study: Disinformation and propaganda – impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States

    The study ( Disinformation and propaganda – impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States) was commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizen's Rights and Constitutional Affairs. It assesses the impact of disinformation and strategic political propaganda disseminated through social media sites.

    The report references McStay and Bakir's work several times, and discusses it in the text, citing the definition of fake news proposed by McStay and Bakir in 2018.

    28 Chwef 2019

    Gweithgaredd: Arall (Cyfrannwr)

2018

2017

2016

  • Membership of AHRC peer review college

    Membership of AHRC peer review college

    18 Tach 2016

    Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu academaidd allanol - Aelodaeth o banel neu bwyllgor adolygu cymheiriaid (Aelod)

Gwobrau Addysgu

  • £500 Gwobr Addysgu a Dysgu (2008) gan HEFCE/TQEF i gydnabod rhagoriaeth mewn cefnogi addysgu a dysgu.                          
  • £500 Gwobr Addysgu a Dysgu (2007) gan HEFCE/TQEF i gydnabod rhagoriaeth mewn cefnogi addysgu a dysgu.                          

Aelodaeth o Gyrff Proffesiynol

Rwy’n aelod o’r Association of Internet Researchers AOIR ac o MeCCSA.