Awards
Postdoctoral Associate Sarah Gilbert received a Postdoctoral Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership awarded by Cornell University. The award recognizes postdocs who demonstrate innovative, initiative-driven leadership impacting their academic, work, or community environments. Those who receive this award have shown a commitment to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others with an emphasis on equity and inclusion.
Honors
Professor Natalie Bazarova was named the inaugural Associate Vice Provost for Research and Innovation. Read about her new position in the Cornell Chronicle article “Bazarova to Support Big-Data Research and Data Security as Associate Vice Provost.”
In the Media
Postdoctoral Associate Sarah Gilbert was quoted in the Ars Technica article “Reddit Faces Content Quality Concerns after Its Great Mod Purge.”
Assistant Professor Nathan Matias was quoted in the Cornell Chronicle article “Fact-Checking Can Influence Recommender Algorithms.”
Associate Professor Jon Schuldt was quoted in the Cornell Chronicle article “Few in US Recognize Inequities of Climate Change.”
Invited Lectures
Adjunct Associate Professor Tarleton Gillespie was invited by the Netherlands Graduate Teaching School of Science, Technology, and Modern Culture to serve as the lead instructor for a one-week summer course for Dutch Ph.D. students in the field of Science & Technology studies. This included deciding the theme and materials of the course, inviting guest speakers, and delivering daily lectures and workshops. The theme for the summer session is “Algorithmic.”
On September 19, 2023, Associate Professor Neil Lewis, Jr., will deliver an invited webinar entitled “The Theoretical and Practical Importance of Advancing Health Equity.” It is part of the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Director's Webinar series.
New Course
Associate Librarian and graduate student Ashley Shea and, Professor Lee Humphreys developed a new course, Comm 4990 Independent Research: Freedom of Expression in the Archives. The course is an undergraduate research project exploring issues of freedom of expression in the archives. The project will culminate in an end-of-the-semester archival exhibition on the 2nd Floor of Mann Library.
Publications
Professor Lee Humphreys et al., eds., September 2023, “Special Issue: Sensor-Mediated Communication,” Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. This edited collection looks at a variety of different kinds of sensors including mobile sensors, fitness sensors, Internet of Things sensors, smart city sensors, and autonomous vehicles.
Postdoctoral Associate Kwanho Kim, August 2023, “Scanned Information Exposure and Support for Tobacco Regulations among US Youth and Young Adult Tobacco Product Users and Non-Users,” Health Education Research. This study examines the relationships between routine exposure to anti-smoking/pro-vaping information (i.e., scanning) and support for anti-smoking/vaping regulations among American youth and young adults (YYA). It also investigates whether these relationships differ between YYA users and non-users of tobacco products. The findings from nationally representative observational data suggest that the relationship between scanning anti-smoking information and support for anti-smoking regulations is stronger among YYA smokers than among YYA non-smokers.
Graduate student Colten Meisner, August 2023, “The Weaponization of Platform Governance: Mass Reporting and Algorithmic Punishments in the Creator Economy,” Policy & Internet. This article examines a contemporary form of harassment against social media creators known as “mass reporting,” or the targeted, automated flagging of creators' online content to trigger content takedowns and account bans. Drawing on in-depth interviews with social media creators who have been subjected to mass reporting, this study advances understanding of the ways in which tools for platform governance, such as content reporting, can be weaponized to harass and introduce vulnerabilities for creators in the social media economy. This research was funded by the Cornell Center for the Study of Inequality and was conducted with the help of COMM undergraduate research assistants, Emily Wolfman (COMM '24) and Kate Maxon (COMM '22).
Associate Professor Jon Schuldt and Adam Pearson, August 2023, “Public Recognition of Climate Change Inequities within the United States,” Climatic Change. (See Cornell Chronicle review above in the In the Media section.) Across two national survey studies, the authors find that a plurality of U.S. adults—including a plurality of Democrats and college graduates—say that climate change affects “all groups about equally.” This stands in sharp contrast with the reality that climate change disproportionately harms older people, racial and ethnic minority communities, people living in developing nations, and women, among other groups.