He has published widely in these areas and is the founding Editor of the international journal Information, Communication and Society whose aim and scope is to critically explore these issues in depth.
[2] Brian's interest in the transforming capacities of Internet began in the mid-1990s primarily as a critical response to two discourses that continue to frame discussions about the socio-political influence of new media technologies to this day.
The first, addressed in his book The Governance of Cyberspace (1997), highlighted and criticised the ‘cyber-libertarian’ portrayals of the Internet as emancipatory spaces divorced from the ‘real world’ of power, place, history and political economy.
During his time at CIRA Brian together with colleagues at Teesside and worldwide attempted to explore the potential of new media for shaping the development, sustainability and even regeneration of community relations.
Together with Ariadne Vromen and Mike Xenos, he is undertaking a three country comparative study of the potential influence of social media upon the participatory culture of young citizens entitled The Civic Network which is funded by the Spencer Foundation.
Research interest in the broader impact of new media upon democratic governance began with the publication of Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision-Making in the Information Age (1999) following the first of several conferences devoted to this issue.
Under Brian’s editorship iCS also hosts regular conferences around the world on a range of topics related to the social, cultural, political and economic influence of new media communications technologies.
The Networked Young Citizen: social media, political participation and civic engagement, (edited with Ariadne Vromen and Mike Xenos), New York: Routledge.
(2007) Manning, N, Penfold-Mounce, R., Loader, B.D., Vromen, A. and Xenos, M. ‘Politicians, Celebrities and Social Media: A case of informalization?’, Journal of Youth Studies, published online 25 July 2016.