Francesca Tripodi joins SILS & CITAP

Sociologist and media scholar Francesca Tripodi joins SILS & CITAP

The UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) welcomed sociologist and media scholar Francesca Tripodi as an assistant professor this summer. Tripodi’s research examines the relationship between social media, political partisanship, and democratic participation, revealing how Google and Wikipedia are manipulated for political gains.

In addition to her appointment with SILS, she is a senior faculty researcher with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP).

“Dr. Tripodi brings expertise that fits well with SILS’ focus on the human side of human-technology interaction,” said SILS Dean Gary Marchionini. “Her previous and ongoing research is sure to help advance CITAP’s mission to determine the full impact of social media and other forms digital information sharing on democracy.”

An affiliate at the Data & Society Research Institute, Tripodi comes to Carolina from James Madison University, where she was an assistant professor of sociology. She holds a PhD and MA in sociology from the University of Virginia, as well as an MA in communication, culture, and technology from Georgetown University.

“It is exciting to be part of such a vibrant academic community,” Tripodi said. “I feel like I am part of a dream-team when it comes to studying sociotechnical systems and its impact on the democratic process.”

In 2019, Tripodi testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on her

Francesca Tripodi

research, explaining how search processes are gamed to maximize exposure and drive ideologically based queries. This research is the basis of her book, which is under contract with Yale University Press. She also studies patterns of gender inequality on Wikipedia, shedding light on how knowledge is contested in the 21st century.

Her research has been covered by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Columbia Journalism Review, Wired, The Guardian, and The Neiman Journalism Lab. “It is exciting to be part of such a vibrant academic community. I feel like I am part of a dream-team when it comes to studying sociotechnical systems and its impact on the democratic process.”

-Francesca Tripodi, SILS Assistant Professor and CITAP Senior Faculty Researcher

New CITAP researcher Shannon McGregor wins research grant from Facebook

Shannon McGregor, who joined the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life this summer, has received a Facebook Foundational Integrity Research: Misinformation and Polarization Award. She will use the nearly $100,000 in funding to explore how political advertisers on Facebook define voter identity groups, shape expectations around those identities, and use identity to motivate political supporters.

McGregor’s research addresses the role of social media and their data in political processes, with a focus on political communication, journalism, public opinion, and gender. Her work examines how three groups – political actors, the press, and the public – use social media in regards to politics, how that social media use impacts their behavior, and how the policies and actions of social media companies in turn impacts political communication on their platforms.