Colin Smith
Colin Smith

Dr Colin Smith

Associate Professor

Biography

My research addresses ICTs, strategic innovation and organisational change particularly in public sector organisations, and often in relation to ‘e-government’ and ‘e-democracy’.
I am a member of the Centre for Social Informatics http://www.iidi.napier.ac.uk/c/main/site/csi

I also undertake pedagogic research looking at emergent professionalism in computing students and the role played by placement and professional practice in underpinning employability. I am a member of the Centre for Computing Education Research (CCER) where I lead on employability research.

Core areas of interest:
- Role of the Internet for political parties in contemporary democratic practices.
- Digital delivery platforms for public services.
- Use of new technology by parliamentarians.

Journal/Conference Roles:

March 2015 - Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning
Member of the Review Panel for this journal, focusing on the interface between higher education and the workplace.

March 2010 – Dec 2013 Information Polity
Reviews Editor and then member of the Editorial Board (December 2013- ) for this leading journal in the field of critical assessment of information age governance and democracy http://www.iospress.nl/journal/information-polity/

1995 - European Group of Public Administration
Member of Permanent Study Group 1: e-Government

News

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • UUK / Department for Education roundtable
  • Member of ISO-WACE Advisory Board

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Programme Committee Member - BHCI

 

Editorial Activity

  • Member of Reviewers Panel: Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning
  • Member of the Editorial Board: Information Polity
  • Reviews Editor: Information Polity

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner for BSc Information Systems, Heriot-Watt University
  • External Examiner (MBA), Liverpool John Moores University

 

Invited Speaker

  • Grasping a Jellyfish? Some problematic aspects of 'Belonging'
  • Digital Skills for Graduates
  • Employability and Social Mobility Workshop - 'Exploring Barriers'

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Examiner (PhD) - Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
  • External Examiner (PhD) - Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
  • External Examiner (PhD), University of Derby
  • External Examiner (PhD), University of Udine, Italy

 

Date


81 results

'Hyperlocal e-democracy'? The experience of Scotland's Community Councils.

Conference Proceeding
Cruickshank, P., Ryan, B., & Smith, C. F. (2014)
'Hyperlocal e-democracy'? The experience of Scotland's Community Councils. In P. Parycek, & N. Edelmann (Eds.), CeDEM14 Proceedings, (73-84
This paper is motivated by the need to understand the reality of the use of the now well-established opportunities offered by the internet to engage with citizens. Building on...

Disconnected Democracy? A Survey of Scottish Community Councils' Online Presences

Journal Article
Cruickshank, P., Ryan, B., & Smith, C. (2014)
Disconnected Democracy? A Survey of Scottish Community Councils' Online Presences. Scottish Affairs, 23(4), (486-507). doi:10.3366/scot.2014.0045. ISSN 0966-0356
Community Councils are the bottom rung of Scotland’s democracy ladder, having few – but highly significant – statutory consultative duties (especially with regard to planning)...

What’s in it for me? Making the case for paid student placements in computer science.

Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., & Smith, C. F. (2014, July)
What’s in it for me? Making the case for paid student placements in computer science. Paper presented at STEM 2014, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Recognising the need for skilled computer science graduates, the university funding body in Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is supporting a Scotland-wide student ...

Positioning placement on the STEM student journey

Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., Smith, C., & Allford, R. (2014, April)
Positioning placement on the STEM student journey. Presented at HEA STEM Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2014, Edinburgh
Smith, S., Smith, C., & Allford, R. (2014, April). Positioning placement on the STEM student journey. Presented at HEA STEM Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2014, Edinb...

Building Employer Partnerships: a regional placement perspective.

Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., & Smith, C. F. (2013, July)
Building Employer Partnerships: a regional placement perspective. Paper presented at HEA Annual Conference, University of Warwick
The case for paid placements as transformational for students has been made; indeed the Wilson report (A Review of Business- University Collaboration, http://www.gov.uk) exhor...

Can Pay, Should Pay? Comparing employer and student outcomes of paid and unpaid work opportunities

Presentation / Conference
Smith, C. F., Smith, S., & Irving, C. (2013, April)
Can Pay, Should Pay? Comparing employer and student outcomes of paid and unpaid work opportunities. Paper presented at HEA STEM Conference, Birmingham, UK
In a time of high youth unemployment, when relevant work experience is often cited as the most important factor in finding a graduate job, computing students are being advised...

Book Review: Mobile Technologies: from Telecommunications to Media.

Journal Article
Smith, C. (2014)
Book Review: Mobile Technologies: from Telecommunications to Media. Telecommunications Policy, 38(1), 119-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2012.11.006
No abstract available. Item discussed - Mobile technologies: From telecommunications to media, Gerard Goggin, Larissa Hjorth, Routledge, New York, USA (2009), 297 pp. includin...

Can pay, should pay? Exploring paid and unpaid work opportunities from employer and student perspectives.

Conference Proceeding
Caddell, M., McIlwhan, R., Irving, C., Smith, C. F., & Smith, S. (2012)
Can pay, should pay? Exploring paid and unpaid work opportunities from employer and student perspectives
Within current university-focused discussions around how to enhance and support student employability, considerable emphasis has been placed on gaining work experience, either...

Understanding the “e‐petitioner”

Journal Article
Cruickshank, P., & Smith, C. (2011)
Understanding the “e‐petitioner”. Transforming government : people, process and policy, 5(4), 319-329. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506161111173577
Purpose: This article considers the ways in which large-scale e-participation projects can be evaluated. It argues that existing evaluation approaches can be improved upon by ...

Signing an e-petition as a transition from lurking to participation.

Book
Cruickshank, P., Edelmann, N., & Smith, C. F. (2009)
Signing an e-petition as a transition from lurking to participation. In J. Chappellet, O. Glassey, M. Janssen, A. Macintosh, J. Scholl, E. Tambouris, & M. Wimmer (Eds.), Electronic Government and Electronic Participation, 275-282. Trauner
As one form of online political participation, the e-petitioning is seen as a response to a perceived decline in public trust of political institutions and the associated sym...

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • COST A14 - Government and Democracy in the Information Age

Current Post Grad projects

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