Conferences
Graduate student Amanda Vilchez (with Eddy Machaca) presented “Beyond Language: Collaborative Translation and Cultural Recovery in Science Communication with Quechua Communities” at the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program Symposium, Latin America and the Caribbean: Connection, Integration, and Negotiation. In this presentation, the authors shared their experience in a collaborative translation process with Quechua-speaking communities in Cusco for the development of audiovisual science communication materials. They propose a collaborative framework based on Indigenous and feminist theories, guided by self-reflexivity, reciprocity, and interdependence principles, to promote ethical science communication in Indigenous languages. Their goal is to expand the view of science communication in Indigenous languages beyond an act of inclusivity to one of support for cultural resistance and academic responsibility. The result of this collaboration is the YouTube video “Llanchupi Masokuna. Una Aventura de los Detectives Nocturnos.”
Employment News
Graduate Student Tianen Chen has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida.
Events
Join us for the COMMColloquium Monday, March 3, 3:00 pm, in 102 Mann Library Building. Distinguished Lecturer Aswin Punathambekar (Professor, University of Pennsylvania) will present “Identity at the Limits of Representation.” The colloquium is followed by a reception, located in The Hub of the Department of Communication.
Professor Melissa Harris-Perry will deliver the lecture “Radical Care: Nurturing Self, Community, and Democracy” on Thursday, February 27, 4:00 pm, in 305 Ives Hall. This public lecture will be the third event in the Black History Month series organized and hosted by the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures. Following her talk, she will participate in a fireside chat with Associate Professors Neil Lewis, Jr. and Jamila Michener.
Publications
Associate Professor Drew Margolin and Yunyun Wang, February 2025, “Creating a Cost to Spread Misinformation on Social Media,” International Journal of Communication.
This article was developed from independent research conducted by Merrill Scholar Yunyun Wang ’21, co-author on the study. It argues current platform rules incentivize the spread of misinformation via a process called “propagation hunting,” in which users produce many messages to identify the few that go viral. The authors propose a remedy to this challenge called the attestation framework, in which users must explicitly declare their intent that a message be eligible to spread and, in so doing, vouch for its veracity. They show that attestation should substantially curb the activities of unaccountable spread seekers while having minimal impact on other users.
