This paper reports on an action research project with public sector organisations in the UK which experimented with a range of digital methods (social media data mining, social network and issue network mapping, data visualisation), in order to explore their potential usefulness for the public engagement activities of these organisations. We argue that there is a need for small-scale, qualitative studies of cultures of large-scale, quantitative data like ours, to open up spaces in which to reflect critically on the methods with which such data is produced. However, in the paper we highlight the difficulties we had enacting through action research a commitment to both the potential (which might be seen as the action part of action research) and the problems (which might be seen as the research part of action research) of digital methods. Following Hammersley (2002), we suggest that an equal balance between action and research may always be difficult to sustain, in both action research and the use of digital methods. Despite this, we argue that critical discussion of digital methods needs to extend beyond academic spacesthrough this move, we suggest, we might open up a space in which to reflect on how these methods might be used for the public good.

The analysis of social media data promises significant new ways of knowing publics, but an understanding of the value of social media analytics for different organizations in practice is only just emerging. Drawing on research conducted with two city councils in the UK, this article examines the current and potential use of social media analytics in local government. We outline a range of purposes that social media analytics might serve from communication and public relations to public consultation and engagement and consider the factors that shape or are likely to shape how analytics tools are adopted. We conclude by pointing to a democratic dilemma facing local government: at a time of austerity measures and financial constraints, reaching out to the public and fostering public engagement becomes more important just as councils have fewer resources to invest in it.

is a Lecturer in Digital Media, co-convener of the Digital Culture research group and member of the Political Communication and Centre for Digital Citizenship research groups at the School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds. With a background in computer science and extensive experience in professional digital media production, his current research interests include the relationship between digital technologies, interpersonal communication and citizenship. Recent projects have developed digital methods and analysed their application to the study and practice of digital citizenship and political communication in online, mobile and digital spaces. Responding to the increased quantification of people and public, current efforts include investigations into methods of knowing and describing humans using data and numbers and the impacts of such descriptions on the subjects themselves.

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