Autumn 2024
Dehumanizing and Problematic Imagery about Latin American* Migration in the 2024 Presidential Election
Instructors: Nina Lutz and Kate Starbird
This is our third and last iteration of this DRG as part of an ongoing project.
This DRG aims to develop methods, research questions, literature reviews, and tools to analyze rumors in real time during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Cycle. In particular, this DRG will focus on visual media (memes, short and long-form videos, photos, infographics, etc) during the 2024 Primary Elections. To limit our problem space, we will center questions on visual media that aims to dehumanize and spread rumors about and within intersectionally marginalized migration populations, particularly Latin American migrants and refugees.
Students will first be acquainted with qualitative coding as a method and visual research methodologies – how to consider visual media (TikTok videos and images) as data and how to annotate and analyze them systematically. Then, students will contribute to qualitatively coding media and discuss the media weekly.
Our goal is that each research study will be published as a paper at an academic conference. Already, 2 students from this DRG have published posters in academic conferences from this project and more publications are underway,
In fall, we will only run the qualitative version of this DRG, where students will be qualitatively coding media and discussing it weekly. Some students will also assist with related literature reviews and research on current events and policy.
Spanish-speaking students, including freshmen, are especially encouraged to apply!
Enrollment information
- Meeting time: Mondays, 3 - 4:30 p.m.
- Location: Sieg 425 or on Zoom
- Credits: 2
- Who should apply: Spanish-speaking students, including freshmen, are especially encouraged to apply!
- Student Requirements:
- Strong interest in visual media, social media, politics, immigration, and mis/disinformation
- Basic understanding or willingness to learn about the American Presidential Election and American Legislative Government Structure
- Power users of social media are encouraged to apply (TikTok, Instagram, X, etc)
- Spanish language proficiency is a huge plus but not a requirement
- Student Requirements:
- Application: Apply using this Google Form
- Application deadline: September 16, 2024, 9 a.m.
- Anticipated notification date: September 23, 2024
- Questions? Email Nina Lutz, PhD Student, at ninalutz@uw.edu
* We will for this DRG focus on migration and refugee populations, particularly from Latin America (including Haiti and the Caribbean Islands) but open to other migrations based on real-world events (ie, individuals from the Middle East).
Autumn 2024
Public Communication of Election Rumor Research on Social Media
Instructors: Kate Starbird, Nina Lutz (HCDE PhD student), Danielle Tomson (CIP Research Program Manager), Rachel Moran (CIP Senior Research Scientist)
This fall, the Center for an Informed Public has a team of graduates, undergraduates, professors, and research scientists conducting research into rumors about U.S. elections.
This DRG seeks students with expertise in qualitative analysis and social media content creation for a “research-through-design” project related to the 2024 election. This group will work in collaboration with a larger team to design, implement, and evaluate a content-production approach for communicating about election-related rumors on TikTok. Students in the DRG will (1) work to translate insights from our broader “rapid research” project (which analyzes rumors about election administration) into short-form video content, and (2) evaluate the efficacy of those videos in helping to mitigate the spread and/or impact of false rumors.
We are looking for students with strong communication skills, experience with the human centered design process, aptitude for qualitative research, and an interest in election processes and voting. Social media power users and students with experience creating short form videos are especially encouraged to apply.
Enrollment information
- Meeting time: Tuesday/Thursday 4 - 5:30 p.m.
- Credits: 3
- Who should apply: Students with an interest in social media research, public communication, and content creation should apply. More specifically, students interested in the sociotechnical structure of online rumors, public communication about election integrity and election results, UX design, and US politics will thrive
- Application: Apply using this Google Form
- Application deadline: September 9, 2024
- Questions? Email Danielle Tomson at tomson@uw.edu.