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Caroline Tagg

Caroline Tagg

Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and English Language, The Open University

I began my current post at the Open University in October 2015. Prior to that, I worked for four years at the University of Birmingham as a lecturer and, before that, I held another post for two years at the Open University. I gained my PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2009, with a thesis titled 'A corpus analysis of SMS text messaging'. I have an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from Leicester University, which I completed in 2005. I previously worked as a TESOL teacher in Spain, and then in Vietnam with the British voluntary organisation, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

My research interests are in language and social media, including multilingualism, audience design, and online language play, with a focus on text messaging (and, more recently WhatsApp) and Facebook. I am currently working on the AHRC-funded research project headed by Professor Angela Creese, 'Translation and Translanguaging' in which I am responsible for coordinating the collection and analysis of social media data. I have authored two books (The Discourse of Text Messaging, Continuum 2012; and Exploring Digital Communication, Routledge 2015) and I have co-edited a further two books (The Politics of English, with Ann Hewings, Routledge 2012; and The Language of Social Media, with Philip Seargeant, Palgrave 2014).

The real reason you can't quit Facebook? Maybe it's because you can judge your friends

Jul 12, 2017 19:02 pm UTC| Technology

Facebook recently announced that it now has over 2 billion monthly users. This makes its population larger than that of China, the US, Mexico and Japan combined. Its popularity, and with it the influence it has in society,...

US Election Series

The filter bubble isn't just Facebook's fault -- it's yours

Dec 06, 2016 07:43 am UTC| Technology Politics

Following the shock results of Brexit and the Trump victory, a lot of attention has focused on the role that Facebook might have played in creating online political ghettos in which false news can easily spread. Facebook...

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Economy

Nigerians throw naira notes around to show love: but it could land you in jail

The legal implication of physically damaging the naira, Nigerias currency, came into focus recently with the prosecution of at least two celebrities by the countrys Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Nigeria has a...

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Politics

Sudan’s civil war is rooted in its historical favouritism of Arab and Islamic identity

The current civil war in Sudan goes beyond a simple power struggle between two generals. It reflects a deep-rooted crisis within the countrys governing structure thats been present since it gained independence from the...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

The politics stopping the UK from opening a youth mobility scheme with Europe

Earlier this week, it seemed possible that young people in the UK might soon be able to travel freely to work and live in Europe again. The European Commission laid out proposals to open mobility to millions of 18- to...

Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’

Most American workers are hired at will: Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship except earned wages, and employees are at liberty to quit at their option. As the rule is generally stated, either party...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Technology

Huawei's Covert U.S. Funding Scheme Raises Eyebrows Amid Export Ban

The revelation of Huaweis discreet sponsorship of U.S. research through a Washington-based foundation has reignited concerns about the efficacy of the export ban. Despite regulatory hurdles, the tech giant managed to fund...

Crypto.com's F1 Sponsorship Expansion Sparks Global Visibility Drive

Crypto.com, one of the top exchanges in the digital currency ecosystem, is set to expand its sporting ad budget. Notably, the trading platform is looking to expand its dominance in its push for global...

Stablecoins Set to Overtake Visa, Ripple CEO Affirms XRP and ETH Not Securities

Stablecoins are poised to challenge Visas dominance in payment volume, marking a significant shift in the crypto landscape. Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse asserts that XRP and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities,...

Justin Sun Dominates Swell L2 with 46% of Deposits in eETH

Justin Sun, founder of Tron, has again surged into the limelight, this time for his colossal cryptocurrency deposits. The crypto tycoon, utilizing the pseudonymous address 0x7a9…3095, recently funneled a staggering...
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