Blog
Hipster Blog
Throughout the Hipster Project, we have documented parts of our research journey to help us reflect on our progress and to share the lessons we have learnt along the way with the wider research community.
From insights into our research process, to impact cases from companies we have worked with, take a look at our blog posts to find out more about what we do.
A Hipster Impact Case: Spark
Through our workshops, we've empowered multiple companies and software developers to enhance their security and privacy decision making. In this blog, we're excited to share some real-life experiences, including our collaboration with Spark—a cutting-edge data-led mental health platform who we helped on their journey to better security in their product.
Cyber Risk Management is an Innovation Process
In a world transformed by technology, businesses have thrived, but so have potential dangers. In this blog, Dan Prince delves into the dynamic landscape of digital innovation, exploring its profound impact on prosperity, efficiency, and the emergence of new commercial sectors. He discusses the crucial concept of Absorptive Capacity—the key to recognizing, assimilating, and leveraging new information for commercial success and shows us how we can begin to think about this model in relation to cyber risk management.
Why Agile Fails
Discover insights about our 'agile' journey in research and its unexpected twist! In this blog, Charles Weir explores the pros and cons of applying an agile method to a research project and unravels the story of a year-long endeavor organized into 'sprints,' meticulous planning, and Trello boards.
Making Sense of Open Codes
In the Hipster project, we faced the challenge of making sense of an extensive list of open codes generated from our analysis of interviews with experts. In this blog, Anna Dyson dives into the world of dual open coding and explores the secret to taming the chaos of code-overload. Armed with Post-it notes and NVivo, our Qualitative Data Analysis tool, we held a focused workshop session to help us and we share our key insights and top tips.
Using Teamwork for Open Coding
Discover the power of dual open coding in research. In this blog, Charles Weir explores the benefits and challenges of using this approach. By independently coding a corpus, merging insights, and refining codes, this approach can minimize the risk of overlooking sophisticated concepts, maintains research focus, sparks creativity, and enhances comprehensibility. Learn how to embrace the advantages of dual open coding, despite its challenges.
Experiences from the Dark Side of Participant Recruitment
Embarking on the daunting task of cold calling for research purposes can be an uncomfortable experience. However, it is possible to navigate this challenge successfully. In this blog, Anna Dyson shares her firsthand insights and strategies for cold calling to broaden your network of research participants. By curating a tailored list of contacts, establishing an online presence for your project, researching the companies you intend to call, and crafting a compelling pitch, you can engage with potential participants and demonstrate the value of your research.
How to Do Agile Research
The Hipster project is all about working with Agile developers. We wondered if we could develop an Agile Research process to compliment the main ethos of our work. Embracing the malleable nature of software development, Agile methodology proves valuable in research practices as well. In this blog, Charles Weir explores the possibility of implementing an Agile Research process and highlights the flexibility and success of Agile practices. From fixed sprints to self-organizing teams and Kanban boards, learn how to manage and track research activities effectively. Explore the world of Agile Research and unlock new possibilities for your own projects.
Research as It Happens: Bootstrapping Into a New Project
When faced with the challenge of venturing into a new area of expertise, a literature survey becomes the key to success. Charles Weir explores the challenges and solutions to tackling a literature survey where clear objective criteria are difficult to specify. He delves into various ways to find relevant publications, from keyword searches in curated online libraries, and Google's "related articles" search feature, to exploring automated processes to make searches more efficient.
Gallery
Take a look at some of our Hipster Activities over the last 18 months
New Adventures in Health Tech Product Development
Lancaster Castle played host to our inaugral Hipter Project event, "New Adventures in Health Tech Product Development". Castles symbolise protection and safety, so this was the perfect location to showcase our research which strives to help developers and product owners better secure their products and safeguard their users in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Hipster Workshop Taster Session
Attendees came together for a dynamic workshop taster session. They had the chance to actively trial our cutting-edge approach to threat and risk assessment, and it was fantastic to see them getting stuck into the process we have designed. Our approach is hands-on and interactive to get everyone involved in discussion and exploration around threat and risk.
New Adventures in Agile Development at the DiSH!
The Greater Manchester Digital Security Hub (DiSH) is a fantastic initiative bringing together experts from academia and the public and private sectors to help digital security startups in Greater Manchester. Lancaster University is the lead academic partner in the consortium that operates DiSH. With it's central mission being to help digital startups to innovate and thrive, this was a very fitting location to host another of our Hipster workshops.
Workshop Session at the DiSH
One of the most valuable elements of the Hipster approach is the discussion the process facilitates. Whether a student, product owner, or software developer, everyone's perspective brings something new and valuable to the table.
New Adventures in Agile Development at the DiSH
We loved the DiSH so much that we went back to host our next event there, New Adventures in Agile Development. Building on the successes of our first event at Lancaster Castle, we wanted to get the Hipster message out even further into the developer community. We had a series of expert speakers sharing their insights on risk, cyber threat intelligence, and the importance of ensuring digital devices keep their users safe. Attendees then took part in our interactive workshop to learn the Hipster approach to improving security decision making!
Saskia Coplans: Do's and Don'ts of Outsourcing
Saskia Coplans gave a fantastic talk and told us about her experiences of outsourcing development for a healthcare app. She shared a fascinating experiment she conducted to test just how insecure the results could be! Saskia also gave us some top advice on how to manage outsourcing and boost security to ensure you don't make apps that can harm people.
Agile Manchester 2023!
We had the pleausure of leading a workshop at the Agile Manchester conference. Designed with agile developers in mind, this was the perfect conference for the Hipster Team to showcase the leading edge research we have been doing.
Ruthless Planning for Security at Agile Manchester
Our 90 minute session gave attendees the opportunity to try out the Hipster approach to risk and threat assessment in a collaborative environment. Each group had their own unique dynamic, bringing lots of ideas and perspectives to the table.
Effective Cyber Threat and Risk Assessment
Professor Dan Prince leads our first Cyber Threat and Risk Developer Training Day. Throughout the day, participants were equipped with essential knowledge and methods in cyber threat and risk assessment. Interactive exercises, complemented by predefined examples, enabled us to delve into the world of technical and business risk exploration. This approach fostered a creative exploration of both dimensions, resulting in a deeper understanding of potential risks and their implications.
Cyber Threat and Risk Developer Training
The Cyber Threat and Risk Developer Training package builds on two years of Hipster Project research. Delivered in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs and Plexal, the course is designed to help developers navigate the landscape of security threats and risks; empowering them to consider the causal chain of impact when assessing risk - from threat actor, to customer, to their own businesses. Here we have our inaugral cohort at DiSH Manchester in June!