English football, race and social justice in the digital age: exploring Twitter framing and discourse in the wake of 'taking a knee'

The project focuses on contemporary social media as platforms and agents
within existing - and possibly evolving - cultures of racism and antiracism in
the UK. It sits at the core of contemporary questions that investigate how
social dynamics shape and are being shaped by digital data, practices and
infrastructures in Western democracies. In doing so, it specifically
addresses two of the DCT pathway's grand challenges:
By focusing on digital publics forming at the intersection of antiracism and
football, it explores the relationship between technology and social change,
with the potential of informing future campaigns across English football and
wider-reaching anti-racism initiatives;
By investigating the way social media platforms and uses enhance, hinder
or complicate existing polarisation dynamics around race, identity and
football, it has the potential to shape future corporate and state regulations
in the context of platform governance.
The project's very grounding in innovative methodological techniques
constitutes yet another element of perfect alignment with the WRDTP
DCT's priorities. In fact, the pathway's specialised training in digital
methods for social research, and its current emphasis on visual methods,
critical approaches to big data and social media research ethics would be
invaluable assets for Victoria's research.