Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Yes, Facebook is back in our news feeds. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has published its long awaited 111-page Final Report on disinformation and ‘fake news’, and it’s fair to say that Facebook would give it an angry react. The work of over 18 months of a committee that has worked with 8 […]
Continue Reading
Love it or hate it, Oxlove and Oxfess are at the heart of Oxford’s student culture. Since the creation of Oxlove in 2017, followed later that year by the creation of Oxfess, the pages have grown in popularity to become the envy of similar university pages across the country, surpassing even Crushbridge, the Cambridge equivalent […]
Continue Reading
It’s a normal Wednesday evening and I’m eating a meal with friends. “Are you coming out tonight?” one of them asks between mouthfuls. Unable to remember if we had discussed going out that evening, I shrug my shoulders, confused. “Oh it’s the quiz down the bar, remember?” I shake my head. I don’t. “There was […]
Continue Reading
In 1984, the telecoms giant AT&T (or “The Bell Corporation”) was broken up for violating US anti-trust laws. If you have been following this topic, this is a fact that you will no doubt have read about in a dozen other opinion pieces in the last fortnight. The pioneering antitrust suit which broke the company […]
Continue Reading
The inherent paradox in social media platforms such as Facebook is that they open up instantaneous communication on a global scale whilst insulating users ever more prohibitively within a social echochamber. Revolutions have been livestreamed across the world, transcending borders with a click, and yet during the last US election cycle fake news from hoax […]
Continue Reading
A Facebook group allowing Oxford students to share photos of outrageous, fascinating and witty margin notes in library books was picked up by national newspapers this week. ‘Oxford University Marginalia’ currently has 5,556 members who post photographs of interesting margin notes. The group was noticed by The Telegraph last Thursday. The paper wrote: “Completing a […]
Continue Reading
An Oxford academic has discovered that your Facebook friends are unlikely to be very much use in an emergency. Professor Richard Dunbar’s research included two surveys covering more than 3300 people in total; the results found that fewer than 3% of your friends would actually help you. When asked how many of their Facebook friends […]
Continue Reading
After atrocities have been committed, the sense of helplessness we feel is sometimes hard to bear, and social media platforms seem a natural way to expressing support for those affected. While I in no way condemn these messages, I would hope that my Facebook friends know me well enough to know that Paris and Parisians […]
Continue ReadingWe all have that one annoying friend that’s taken over our Facebook newsfeed with tedious updates about their uneventful life. Ever wish you could publicly demonstrate your disdain? You might actually get the opportunity to very soon as Facebook is introducing a Dislike button. A few weeks ago in a Q&A session at Facebook’s headquarters […]
Continue ReadingThe Humans of Oxford Facebook page, launched in March, has seen great success in the first four weeks of term. The ‘Humans of’ movement was inspired by the now iconic Humans of New York blog, started by Brandon Stanton. The original page now has over five million followers on Facebook. Stanton published the Humans […]
Continue ReadingTeenagers still only communicate with a small number of people despite having hundreds of “friends” on Facebook, according to a recent Oxford study. Young people were found to operate an unconscious system of ‘one in, one out’ policies such that their communications patterns and number of close friends remain the same even who they socialise […]
Continue ReadingA motion at the Wadham Student Union (JCR) to have all future meetings conducted via Facebook was defeated last Sunday. The proposal, which cited the present inability of absent and injured students to contribute to SU meetings, suggested that these weekly meetings should be held through the SU Facebook page, where any discussion and voting […]
Continue ReadingThe threshold between being open and oversharing is one we spend our whole lives navigating. In nursery toilet training boasts might get you a sticker, but by Reception no one wants to hear it. Your Grandma loved hearing about your university offers, but don’t believe the Facebook likes – everyone else wishes you’d kept […]
Continue ReadingThe Chinese government is taking a novel stance to social media. Rather than ban it, they are manipulating it, and with surprisingly effective results. A recent scandal involving a minor party official has shown the new strategy being adopted to deal with ‘citizen journalism’. Zhang Aihua, the party boss of a provincial industrial zone, was […]
Continue ReadingHangover or not, every scientist at Oxford grudgingly drags their poor, shattered body out of their warm beds on a Monday for that dratted 9am – whilst our counterparts in humanities snuggle up for their beauty sleep. For what? To soak up the excellence and brilliance of the genii who walk our hallways. And here’s […]
Continue ReadingWiping away trails of mascara stained tears from her face, she flicks to the next photo, then the next, then the next. She reads the comments, sighs, and turns to look at herself in the mirror. So unhappy with what she sees, she feels helpless and a little lost – what else can I do to […]
Continue ReadingFrankie Goodway deplores online comment boxes and the inane and semi-literate responses they attract.
Continue Reading