Knowledge Repository
Case Study: Cornerstone
Community Workshops
CORNERSTONE’s community workshops ‘Smart Energy Tech: Narratives, Pros and Cons in British News Media’ took place on 16 May 2024 at Muirhead Tower, University of Birmingham, and on 18 May 2024 at Priory Rooms in Birmingham. Attendants in both included members of the University’s academic community as well as from the wider community with a keen interest in the topic. The project’s Community Workshop’s were facilitated by the CORNERSTONE team.
During the workshops, we presented the results of analysing several thousand articles from leading national newspapers (e.g., The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, Daily Mail), aimed at uncovering how different British news outlets inform about the Smart Meters and Electric Vehicles. The results show how different newspapers create and cultivate distinct narratives around each technology (over-) emphasising certain advantages or disadvantages. Whilst maintaining some roots in facts and therefore appearing credible, these narratives can also present skewed accounts that can lead to misconceptions among readers. Such misconceptions are important to unpack not only because they may delay the diffusion of more sustainable choices for electricity, heat and transport; but also because they may have important financial consequences for individuals. The workshop will contain plenty of interactive elements for participants to check their own familiarity with different narratives, discuss their views and reactions to them, and also to learn about the extent to which different narratives reflect valid concerns.
Expert Workshop
CORNERSTONE’s Expert Workshop ‘How do public opinion and social acceptability shape UK energy policy and progress towards energy decarbonisation?’ took place on 17 June 2024 at Elm House, University of Birmingham facilitated by the CORNERSTONE team.
The workshop brought together an interdisciplinary group of experts from academia and the industry sector. Its aim was to discuss our understanding of how public opinion, and the social acceptability of smart energy technologies, has shaped UK energy policy and progress towards decarbonised energy systems in the last decade.
The workshop discussions built on prior research by the workshop organisers which included the analysis of thousands of articles from leading British national newspapers and two community workshops held in Birmingham. This work sought to uncover first, how smart energy technologies, such as smart meters, electric vehicles, and heat pumps, have been reported on in different news outlets (since 2015). Second, the extent to which such narratives shape individuals’ views and acceptance of smart energy technologies.
During the workshop, participants explored how public opinion and social acceptability have impacted on energy policy and progress towards decarbonised energy systems in the study period – for example through being incorporated into evidence for policy through forecasting and scenario development exercises.
Workshop Agenda
1 – 1.15 pm Introductions, CORNERSTONE Project Background & Aims
1.15 – 2 pm Presentation & Discussion: How do media narratives shape public opinion and technology acceptance? (And how would we know?)
2 – 2.15 pm Break
2.15 – 3.15 pm Participatory Mapping – Mapping public opinion & mis/disinformation, evidence and policy linkages (small groups)
3.15 – 3.45 pm Plenary discussion on mapping exercise & results
3.45 – 4 pm Next steps & Close
01
Data Visualisation
Data visualisation (1 chart with filter) Brief explanation needed to show difference.
02
Participant Narratives
Interactive narratives from participants (1 graph with 5 characters + popup quote)
03
Newspaper Extracts
Interactive narratives from news articles (1 graph with 13 newspapers + popup quote)
04
Narrative Mappings
Narrative mappings (smart meter and EV only) Brief explanation needed to show difference.
05
Reports
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06
Blog Posts
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