Biography
Ellen Helsper is a lecturer in the Media and Communications Department of the LSE with a specialisation in Quantitative Media Research. Her current research interests include the links between digital and social exclusion; mediated interpersonal communication; and quantitative and qualitative methodological developments in media research. She is an Academic Advisor and Associate Lecturer at the Media and Communications Department of the PUC in Chile and a Research Associate at the OII. She has further held the roles of Specialist Advisor on Digital Inclusion for the Welsh Affairs Committee and External Examiner for the Institute of Arts, Design and Technology in Dublin. She has been a Visitng Scholar at NYU SteinhardtÕs department of Media, Culture and Communications.
Ellen Helsper obtained her MSc-degree in media psychology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 1998. During the following 5 years she worked in Chile as an associate researcher for the Social Psychology and Media and Communications Departments at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica (PUC). She was involved in designing and analysing the first public opinion poll about the military coup in Chile and the effect of media framing on opinions towards the events on the day of the coup. Other projects she was involved in looked at the relation between fear of crime and media exposure in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, the importance of news anchors in television viewers’ everyday lives and the introduction of cable television and broadband internet into Chilean society. Simultaneously she worked in the commercial sector for Adimark and OMD as a media research consultants working on projects in relation to image management of broadcast personalities and general media market research.
This was followed by a period of work in New York and Mexico for OMD USA as a Latin American Audience researcher, looking amongst other things at the distribution and popularity of sports viewing around the world. She joined the LSE as a doctoral researcher in 2003 and was involved in the UK Kids Online Project which examined at children’s and their parent’s internet use and attitudes. While she was working on her PhD she did consultancy work for OSSWatch (Oxford University), Ofcom, the BBC and Plan International. The outputs of this consultancy work ranged from reports on the impact of R18 rated and food advertising material on young people to the use of Open Source Software in higher education and the evaluation of journalist training programmes in post-conflict areas.
In 2007 she obtained a PhD in Media and Communications with a thesis bearing the title: ’Internet use amongst teenagers: Social inclusion, self-confidence and group identity’. This was followed by a position as Survey Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII, University of Oxford). There she managed and analysed the biennial Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS), the UK partner in the World Internet Project. She was responsible for designing and analysing the 2007 and 2009 surveys. She also worked on developing a research framework and project on the role of the Internet in intimate relationships through the ‘Me, My Spouse and the Internet’ project.
Research Interests
In her current position as a Lecturer at the LSE, Ellen Helsper focuses on developing quantitative research in relation to media and everyday life with a special interest in digital exclusion, media literacy and interpersonal interactions online.
Her main research interest is in the role of new media in every day life of disadvantaged social groups. An important element is the development of a theoretical framework to understand the links between digital and social exclusion based on theories of social capital and social identity. Her current interest is in further developing the corresponding fields model she first proposed in the report ‘Digital Inclusion: An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society’. This model seeks to theorise the multiple barriers that lead to digital disengagement as well as those factors that stop digital engagement from having an impact on economic, social, cultural, and personal aspects of everyday life. This interest is backed up by analysis of international datasets which have comparable data in this area. Cross-cultural comparisons of the processes that lead to engagement and to mediation of our everyday life, pose interesting questions about the generalisability of research in different socio-cultural contexts.
Furthermore she has a special interest in the development of methodology in relation to media and policy research. Important to her in this context is an understanding of engagement with media as multifaceted (for example incl. entertainment, communication and learning) and contextualised in everyday realities. This contextual and gradated approach to media engagement brings up difficulties for generalised policy and mono-methodological approaches.
Regarding future research she is interested in working further on the issue of the role of digital media in people’s everyday social and personal relationships. This includes the relationship of mediated communication to social and psychological well-being and the cross cultural similarities and differences in the processes that make people lead ‘digital’ or ‘non-digital’ lives. The theoretical and empirical complications in disentangling forced exclusion and choice in these matters is what currently fascinates her most.
Recent Publications
Peer reviewed articles
Eynon, R. & Helsper, E.J. (2011) Adults learning online: Digital choice and/or digital exclusion? New Media & Society, 13(4), 534-551.
Helsper, E.J. (2010). Gendered internet use across generations and life stages. Communication Research, 37(3), 352-374.
Helsper, E.J. & Whitty, M. T. (2010) Netiquette within married couples: Agreement about acceptable online behavior and surveillance between partners. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(5), 916-926.
Helsper, E.J. & Eynon, R. (2010). Digital natives: Where is the evidence? British Educational Research Journal, 36(3), 503 - 520.
Livingstone, S., and Helsper, E.J (2010) Balancing opportunities and risks in teenagers' use of the Internet: The role of online skills and family context. New Media & Society, 12(2), 309-329.
Helsper, E.J. (2009) The Aging Internet: Choice and Exclusion from Digital Services of the Elderly. Working with Older People, 13 (4), 28-33.
Dutton, W, H., Helsper, E.J., Whitty, M.T., Li, N., Buckwalter, J.G. & Lee, E. (2009) The Role of the Internet in Reconfiguring Marriages: a Cross-National Study. Interpersona, 3(2), 3-18.
Helsper, E.J. (2008). Internet use and opinion formation in countries with different ICT contexts. Observatorio 2(3), available at http://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/article/view/188/186|.
Livingstone, S., and Helsper, E.J. (2008) Parental mediation and children's Internet use. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 52(4), 581-599.
Livingstone, S. and Helsper, E.J. (2007) Taking risks when communicating on the Internet: The role of offline social-psychological factors in young people's vulnerability to online risks. Information, Communication and Society 10(5), 619-644.
Livingstone, S. and Helsper, E.J. (2007) Gradations in digital inclusion: Children, young people and the digital divide. New Media & Society, 9(4), 671–696.
Livingstone, S. and Helsper, E.J. (2006) Relating advertising literacy to the effects of advertising children's food choice: An integration of two research literatures. Journal of Communication, 56(3), 560-584.
Livingstone, S., Bober, M. and Helsper, E.J. (2005) Active participation or just more information? Young people's take up of opportunities to act and interact on the Internet. Information, Communication and Society, 8(3), 287-314.
Book Chapters
Helsper,E.J & Galacz, A. (2009) Understanding the links between digital engagement and social inclusion in Europe. In A.Cheong & G. Cardoso (Eds) World Wide Internet: Changing Societies, Economies and Cultures. Macao University Printing House: Taipa (Macau).
Helsper, E. J. (2009). Digital literacies: Different cultures, different definitions. In H. Drenoyianni (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Literacy. New Literacy Series. Peter Lang Publishing Group: Oxford (UK).
Work in progress
(contact me if you are interested in an early copy or related presentations)
Helsper, E.J. (revise and resubmit). Parent and child perceptions of mediation and their relation to perceived risk taking. Journal of Children and Media.
Helsper, E.J. & Gerber, M. (revise and resubmit). Patterns of digital engagement: The validity of cross-cultural comparisons. The Information Society: An International Journal.
Helsper, E.J. (revise and resubmit). A corresponding fields model of digital inclusion. Communication Theory.
Helsper, E.J. (under review). Gender, ethnicity and chat partner selection: Can behavior and cognitions be changed through mode of address? Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Helsper, E.J. & Eynon, R. (in preparation, estimated submission May 2011) Pathways to digital literacy and engagement. Journal of Communication
Helsper, E.J. & Reisdorf, B. (in preparation, estimated submission June 2011) Individual characteristics and/or social inequalities as reasons for digital exclusion. American Journal of Sociology.
Other Publications
Helsper, E.J. (2011) The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology (2008) by Loos, E., Mante-Meijer, E. & Haddon, L. (Ashgate) [Book review] for Information, Communication and Society, 14 (2), 295-297
Helsper, E.J. (2010) Review of Personal Connections in a Digital Age (2010) by N. Baym (Polity Press) for the Times Higher Education, 30 September, p.55.
Dutton, W., Helsper, E.J. & Gerber, M. M.(2009) The Internet in Britain: 2009. Oxford Internet Institute: University of Oxford, Oxford (UK). Available at http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/microsites/oxis/publications.cfm|.
Helsper, E.J. (2008) Digital Natives and Ostrich Tactics? How young people deal with negative online experiences. Foresight Futures Challenge Paper for the Identities, Citizenship and Communities Group.
Contact details
Dr. Ellen J. Helsper
Room S119c
Department of Media and Communications
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7955 6420
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7955 7248
Email: e.j.helsper@lse.ac.uk|
Link to Ellen Helsper CV|