Associate Professor Nicholas Carah
Associate Professor

Nicholas Carah

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 53145

Background

Nicholas Carah is Director of Digital Cultures & Societies in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Arts. He is an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, and a Chief Investigator on ARC Discovery and Linkage projects. In 2023, they were Deputy Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Nicholas' research examines the algorithmic and participatory advertising model of digital media platforms, with a sustained focus on digital alcohol marketing. Nicholas is the author of Media and Society: Power, Platforms & Participation (2021), Brand Machines, Sensory Media and Calculative Culture (2016), Media and Society: production, content and participation (2015), Pop Brands: branding, popular music and young people (2010). And, co-editor of Digital Intimate Publics and Social Media (2018) and Conflict in My Outlook (2022). Nicholas is a Director and Deputy Chair of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.

Availability

Associate Professor Nicholas Carah is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Communication and media studies

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Search Professor Nicholas Carah’s works on UQ eSpace

98 works between 2004 and 2024
All (98) Journal Article (53) Book Chapter (12) Conference Publication (10) Book (6) Other Outputs (17)

1 - 20 of 98 works

Featured

2021

Journal Article

Alcohol marketing in the era of digital media platforms

Carah, Nicholas and Brodmerkel, Sven (2021). Alcohol marketing in the era of digital media platforms. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 82 (1), 18-27. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2021.82.18

Alcohol marketing in the era of digital media platforms

Featured

2021

Journal Article

Original live music venues in hyper-commercialised nightlife precincts: exploring how venue owners and managers navigate cultural, commercial and regulatory forces

Carah, Nicholas, Regan, Scott, Goold, Lachlan, Rangiah, Lillian, Miller, Peter and Ferris, Jason (2021). Original live music venues in hyper-commercialised nightlife precincts: exploring how venue owners and managers navigate cultural, commercial and regulatory forces. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 27 (5), 621-635. doi: 10.1080/10286632.2020.1830979

Original live music venues in hyper-commercialised nightlife precincts: exploring how venue owners and managers navigate cultural, commercial and regulatory forces

Featured

2020

Journal Article

Snapchat’s augmented reality brand culture: sponsored filters and lenses as digital piecework

Hawker, Kiah and Carah, Nicholas (2020). Snapchat’s augmented reality brand culture: sponsored filters and lenses as digital piecework. Continuum, 35 (1), 1-18. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2020.1827370

Snapchat’s augmented reality brand culture: sponsored filters and lenses as digital piecework

Featured

2020

Journal Article

What do participants on digital media platforms produce? Tracking the development of Hello Sunday Morning from a blog, to a social network, to a self-tracking app

Carah, Nicholas (2020). What do participants on digital media platforms produce? Tracking the development of Hello Sunday Morning from a blog, to a social network, to a self-tracking app. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23 (4), 136787791989996-530. doi: 10.1177/1367877919899963

What do participants on digital media platforms produce? Tracking the development of Hello Sunday Morning from a blog, to a social network, to a self-tracking app

Featured

2018

Journal Article

Algorithmic brand culture: participatory labour, machine learning and branding on social media

Carah, Nicholas and Angus, Daniel (2018). Algorithmic brand culture: participatory labour, machine learning and branding on social media. Media, Culture & Society, 40 (2), 178-194. doi: 10.1177/0163443718754648

Algorithmic brand culture: participatory labour, machine learning and branding on social media

Featured

2018

Book

Digital intimate publics and social media

Amy Shields Dobson, Brady Robards and Nicholas Carah eds. (2018). Digital intimate publics and social media. Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change, Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-97607-5

Digital intimate publics and social media

Featured

2018

Book Chapter

Digital intimate publics and social media: towards theorising public lives on private platforms

Dobson, Amy Shields, Carah, Nicholas and Robards, Brady (2018). Digital intimate publics and social media: towards theorising public lives on private platforms. Digital intimate publics and social media. (pp. 3-27) edited by Amy Shields Dobson, Brady Robards and Nicholas Carah. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-97607-5_1

Digital intimate publics and social media: towards theorising public lives on private platforms

Featured

2016

Journal Article

Algorithmic hotness: young women’s “promotion” and “reconnaissance” work via social media body images

Carah, Nicholas and Dobson, Amy (2016). Algorithmic hotness: young women’s “promotion” and “reconnaissance” work via social media body images. Social Media and Society, 2 (4), 1-10. doi: 10.1177/2056305116672885

Algorithmic hotness: young women’s “promotion” and “reconnaissance” work via social media body images

Featured

2016

Journal Article

Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance

Carah, Nicholas and Shaul, Michelle (2016). Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance. Mobile Media and Communication, 4 (1), 69-84. doi: 10.1177/2050157915598180

Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance

Featured

2016

Book

Brand machines, sensory media and calculative culture

Brodmerkel, Sven and Carah, Nicholas (2016). Brand machines, sensory media and calculative culture. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave MacMillan. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-49656-0

Brand machines, sensory media and calculative culture

Featured

2015

Journal Article

Algorithmic brands: a decade of brand experiments with mobile and social media

Carah, Nicholas (2015). Algorithmic brands: a decade of brand experiments with mobile and social media. New Media and Society, 19 (3), 1-17. doi: 10.1177/1461444815605463

Algorithmic brands: a decade of brand experiments with mobile and social media

Featured

2014

Journal Article

Curators of databases: circulating images, managing attention and making value on social media

Carah, Nicholas (2014). Curators of databases: circulating images, managing attention and making value on social media. Media International Australia, 150 (150), 137-142. doi: 10.1177/1329878x1415000125

Curators of databases: circulating images, managing attention and making value on social media

Featured

2014

Journal Article

Watching nightlife: affective labor, social media and surveillance

Carah, Nicholas (2014). Watching nightlife: affective labor, social media and surveillance. Television and New Media, 15 (3), 250-265. doi: 10.1177/1527476413498121

Watching nightlife: affective labor, social media and surveillance

Featured

2014

Journal Article

Brand value: how affective labour helps create brands

Carah, Nicholas (2014). Brand value: how affective labour helps create brands. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 17 (3-4), 346-366. doi: 10.1080/10253866.2013.847435

Brand value: how affective labour helps create brands

Featured

2013

Journal Article

Alcohol brands on Facebook: the challenges of regulating brands on social media

Brodmerkel, Sven and Carah, Nicholas (2013). Alcohol brands on Facebook: the challenges of regulating brands on social media. Journal of Public Affairs, 13 (3), 272-281. doi: 10.1002/pa.1466

Alcohol brands on Facebook: the challenges of regulating brands on social media

Featured

2012

Journal Article

Gruen Nation: Dissecting the show, not the business

Nicholas Carah, Brodmerkel, Sven and Knaggs, Angie (2012). Gruen Nation: Dissecting the show, not the business. Communication, Politics and Culture, 45 (1), 60-77.

Gruen Nation: Dissecting the show, not the business

Featured

2011

Journal Article

DrinkWise, enjoy responsibly: News frames, branding and alcohol

Carah, Nicholas and van Horen, Andrew (2011). DrinkWise, enjoy responsibly: News frames, branding and alcohol. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 141 (141), 5-16. doi: 10.1177/1329878x1114100103

DrinkWise, enjoy responsibly: News frames, branding and alcohol

Featured

2011

Journal Article

Breaking into The Bubble: Brand-building labour and 'getting in' to the culture industry

Carah, Nicholas (2011). Breaking into The Bubble: Brand-building labour and 'getting in' to the culture industry. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 25 (3), 427-438. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2011.565869

Breaking into The Bubble: Brand-building labour and 'getting in' to the culture industry

2024

Journal Article

Computational Methods for Improving the Observability of Platform-Based Advertising

Angus, Daniel, Hayden, Lauren, Obeid, Abdul Karim, Tan, Xue Ying, Carah, Nicholas, Burgess, Jean, Parker, Christine, Andrejevic, Mark, Fordyce, Robbie, Cellard, Loup and Bagnara, Julian (2024). Computational Methods for Improving the Observability of Platform-Based Advertising. Journal of Advertising, 1-20. doi: 10.1080/00913367.2024.2394156

Computational Methods for Improving the Observability of Platform-Based Advertising

2024

Journal Article

Why Am I Seeing This Ad? The affordances and limits of automated user-level explanation in Meta’s advertising system

Burgess, Jean, Carah, Nicholas, Angus, Daniel, Obeid, Abdul and Andrejevic, Mark (2024). Why Am I Seeing This Ad? The affordances and limits of automated user-level explanation in Meta’s advertising system. New Media & Society, 26 (9), 5130-5149. doi: 10.1177/14614448241251796

Why Am I Seeing This Ad? The affordances and limits of automated user-level explanation in Meta’s advertising system

Current funding

  • 2021 - 2024
    Young Australians and the promotion of alcohol on social media
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2024
    Using machine vision to explore Instagram's everyday promotional cultures (ARC Discovery Project administered by Queensland University of Technology)
    Queensland University of Technology
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2024
    How alcohol and gambling companies target people most at risk with marketing for addictive products on social media
    Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education Limited
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2024
    Youth digital marketing surveillance (Y-DAMS) (CDC Grant administered by Research Foundation of CUNY)
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2021
    Engaging young Victorians as citizen scientists to track the marketing of unhealthy products on digital media (VicHealth grant led by Monash Uni.)
    Monash University
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2018
    Evaluation of the Queensland Government's Tackling Alcohol-fuelled Violence Policy (DPC-15-2016)
    Deakin University
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2018
    Report on the extent, nature, and/or consequences of children and young people's exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship
    Monash University
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2016
    Hello Sunday Morning: designing an evaluation method
    Hello Sunday Morning
    Open grant
  • 2014
    Alcohol and the social web: Facebook, branding, and culture
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant
  • 2013
    Alcohol brands on Facebook in Australia
    Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education Limited
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2013
    Leveraging Social Media
    Australian Drug Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2011
    Hello Sunday Morning: Communication effectiveness of alcohol abstinence support blog
    Hello Sunday Morning
    Open grant
  • 2009
    Exploring the media city: citizens, consumers and interactive media.
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Associate Professor Nicholas Carah is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Algorithmic Realities: Platform Data Processing Perceptions of Productivity Content Creators, and Their Influence

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Alex Bevan

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Reality Check: augmented reality on social media

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Alex Bevan

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Rural women's online self-representation and identity construction on Chinese short-video sharing apps Douyin and Kuaishou

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Pradip Thomas

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Affective digital labour and FemTech

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Mothers and the consumption and promotion of alcohol on social media

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Vibes, Flows, Feelings: Investigating the algorithmic techniques of affective capitalism

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Platformisation of Film and Television Aesthetics

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli

  • Master Philosophy

    A quieter space: the diminution of film audio commentary and intentionalism, a case for the rehabilitation of screen-specific paratext

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Influences of social media-based communication on ecotourism: a case study in India

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Leah Henrickson, Associate Professor Elske van de Fliert

  • Doctor Philosophy

    In what ways has creativity, play and social exchange manifested itself in the amateur radio community in Australia

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Alex Bevan

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Sports betting as an everyday practice

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Murray Phillips, Dr Rebecca Olive

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Vaccinating the future: Australian GLAM industry approaches to collecting COVID 19.

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Caroline Wilson-Barnao

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Rumour in Social Media: A study on Bangladesh Cases

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Pradip Thomas

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Research on the effects of the digital media visual context on artistic representation and art creation of professional artists across the Asia-Pacific region.

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Sungyong Ahn, Dr Caroline Wilson-Barnao

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Associate Professor Nicholas Carah directly for media enquiries about:

  • advertising
  • alcohol
  • alcohol advertising
  • digital advertising
  • digital media
  • digital platforms
  • gambling
  • Social media
  • social media algorithms
  • Social networking sites

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au