Research
Recent Publications
Communication Theory & Racial Reckoning
In a new book review in Communication Theory, Daniel Kreiss highlights the significant contribution of three recent books to communication theory and research: Distributed Blackness: African American cybercultures, by André Brock Jr. #HashtagActivism: Networks of race and gender justice, by … Continued
Dis/Organizing Toolkit
Organizing is all about relationships , but getting people together can be messy, especially when people have different and uneven material relationships to labor and work. — Rachel Kuo and Lorelei Lee CITAP welcomes the publication of the Dis/Organizing Toolkit, … Continued
New Publication: Analyzing tech policy discussions in the UK and US
In a new paper, Bridget Barrett, Katharine Dommett, and Daniel Kreiss conduct a comparative analysis of policy discourse in the United States and the United Kingdom. Barrett, Dommett, and Kreiss find that despite the growing emphasis on technological threats to society, much … Continued
New Publication: ReOpen demands as public health threat
In the absence of a coordinated national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local authorities were faced with the challenge of creating and enforcing individualized plans to protect their communities, while simultaneously fighting the spread of false information. In … Continued
Our approach
At CITAP, we recognize that effective analysis of technology platforms and information systems requires
- A holistic approach grounded in history, society, culture, and politics
- Analyzing how social differences—including race and ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual identity—shapes unequal information ecosystem dynamics
- Prioritizing questions of power, institutions, and economic, social, cultural, and technological structures
- Making clear foundational commitments to equality and justice
Research themes
Coding inequality
New technologies frequently recreate and reinvent historical inequalities. We explore the interplay of technology and bias and contextualize the effects of new platforms in light of broader social, economic, and political shifts. Our work on inequality includes research into “the boys’ club” in the political technology field, how “the hustle economy’s” definition of entrepreneurship represents a predatory form of inclusion for women of color.
Featured work
Networked publics
Social media enable new forms of collaboration and connection. We study how people come together, coordinate, organize, and move on- and offline. Research on digitally-organized protest movements, the origins and uses of hashtags for social movements, and the differences in how opposing political movements operate on social media paint a more complete picture of public life as it plays out online.
Featured work
Identity & disinformation
Social media amplifies content that triggers strong emotion, while political discourse increasingly appeals to audience identity. Our research examines how mis- and disinformation play on deeper social narratives.
Featured work
Platform Governance
Given the significant role social platforms play in politics and journalism, we consider how technology companies amplify and regulate user speech, set and enforce internal policies, and how these decisions shape public discourse.
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