Angela Blakston

PhD Members

Angela Blakston is a PhD candidate in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, at RMIT University. Her PhD research involves investigating the news algorithmic literacy of younger Australians. She is also an Associate Research Fellow on the ARC Linkage project ‘Media Innovation and the Civic Future of Australia’s Country Press’ and teaches journalism studies at Deakin University. Her research centres on news literacy and local news sustainability. Prior to this, Angela was a journalist for more than 20 years.

PhD project: Towards algorithmic literacy: exploring how young Australians understand and experience news algorithms.    This project will undertake mixed-methods research to explore how and to what extent young Australians (16-24 years), are aware of and understand the role that algorithms play in news selection. This research will also explore the experiences and practices young Australians have and adopt (knowingly or not), when navigating news algorithms. The aim is to establish an algorithmic-literacy framework for young Australians, and identify the key roles that media, government and education could play in establishing such a framework.