As part of the campus-wide Good Systems initiative, TIPI has invited two new researchers, Tiancheng (Leo) Cao and Brad Limov to the Disinformation team. They will investigate questions about how message circulation and associated display properties mobilize communities, how event pages manufactured protests, how local press responded to event announcements and investigated them, and how well the event pages connected with people will be examined through fieldwork interviews with participants and the local reporting communities.
Leo Cao is a doctoral student from the School of Journalism and Media at The University of Texas at Austin. With a background in art history and new media studies, his current research focuses on the digitization of museum collections in the US and the EU, with particular attention paid to the role of private technology companies and public policy regarding funding, digital access, and content aggregation. The disinformation project relates to his own research in its examination of how media platforms can mobilize local communities and how public policy regarding disinformation may figure into this process. Issues such as the media’s mobilization capacity and the role of policy making are equally relevant in the study of how museums institutions connect themselves to the public.
Brad Limov is also a doctoral student from the School of Journalism and Media. His current research focuses on film festivals, where media professionals and cinephiles come together and politics often take the stage. His future research will build on this film festival perspective in exploring the political economy of global media platforms off- and online, their capacity to promote social change or reinforce state control. Working on the disinformation team will enable Limov to incorporate social media and disinformation into his broader research agenda of exploring platforms, soft power, and propaganda.
We are glad to have these new fellows on the team!