Dr Harry T Dyer is a digital sociologist and lecturer at UEA.  Harry joined UEA as a lecturer after successfully completing his PhD at UEA in the Department of Education and Lifelong Learning. He has a broad academic background, with degrees in linguistics and social science research methods, as well as his ongoing research in online identity presentation.

Harry’s current research is in the emerging field of Digital Sociology, in which he looks at how social media platform design affects identity presentation and social interaction. His research proposes a new theoretical framework through which to consider the relationship between platform design and user that results in unique but bound identity performances.

Harry has taught on a range of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, including courses on research methodology, social theory, media and education, and research ethics. Given his broad academic background, Harry’s research and teaching interests are equally expansive, and include digital sociology, identity theory, social theory, science and technology studies, research methodology, ethics, sociolinguistics, posthumanism, poststructuralism, and media and education.

His new paper “All the web’s a stage. The effects of Design and Modality on Youth Performances of Identity” has recently been published in the Journal of Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (2015) and can be found here

In his spare time, Harry doesn’t usually talk about himself in the third person, and can instead be found cycling, watching Rugby, reading comics, and playing a plethora of boardgames with his wife (though not all at once).

Papers & presentations:

2013: Viewing Social Networking Sites as Comics: A consideration of how issues raised from ‘comic book theories’ can provide insights into other media forms – University of East Anglia Doctoral Conference, Norwich, 8th June 2013
February 2015: Superman 2.0: How Comic Books Can Help Us Unpack Ontological and Methodological Issues in Digital Sociology – Eastern Sociological Society Annual Conference, New York, 28th February 2015
May 2015: Social Space 2.0: Understanding and contextualising Social Space Online – University of East Anglia Doctoral Conference, Norwich, 28th May 2015
July 28th 2015: Guest presenter – Social Media and Personal Interaction, Science Café events, Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth, Suffolk.
October 2015: All the web’s a stage. The effects of Design and Modality on Youth Performances of Identity. Journal of Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 19, Pages 213-242
Nov 5th 2015: ESRC Seminar Series Guest Speaker. Disadvantage and Education: Rethinking language and communication in the classroom. University of Cambridge

March 19th 2016: TEDx Talk. #Education; Incorporating and accounting for social media in Education. TEDx Norwich Education.

March 21st 2016: Private vs Public: dichotomy or scale? Ethics and Social Media Research Conference. Academy of Social Sciences, London.

September 2016: Interactivity, social media, and Superman: How Comic Books can help us understand and conceptualize interactivity online – Digital Sociologies. Editors: Jessie Daniels, Karen Gregory, Tressie Cottom McMillan

Forthcoming: Public/Private. A False Dichotomy. Social Media & Social Science Research Ethics. Editor: Curtis Jessop