I’m delighted to announce that the School of Communication has funded my proposals for two new shared research resources. The first is called TESoC, an online research pool for the School of Communication, modeled on TESS. Each semester graduate students and faculty may apply for up to 400 participants for their online experiments. The second is called OSoC, and it will provide access to an annual omnibus survey with a large representative sample of Americans. As with TESoC, applications are competitive, but the program will run for at least five years and our hope is that most of those interested in participating will have an opportunity to do so.
New paper at JoC
A new collaborative paper on fact checking has been published at the Journal of Communication.
Garrett, R. K., Nisbet, E. C., & Lynch, E. K. (2013). Undermining the corrective effects of media-based political fact checking? The role of contextual cues and naïve theory. Journal of Communication. doi: 10.1111/jcom.12038
Real-time corrections paper accepted at CSCW
A paper I coauthored with my advisee, Brian Weeks, has been accepted at CSCW.
Garrett, R. K., & Weeks, B. E. (2013, February 23–27). The Promise and Peril of Real-Time Corrections to Political Misperceptions. Paper to be presented at CSCW ’13, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Update: More information is available on the Misperceptions Project website.
Misperceptions research website and Twitterfeed now live
For more information about my misperceptions research, please see the new project website (http://wp.comm.ohio-state.edu/misperceptions/ ) and the accompanying Twitterfeed (@FalseBeliefNews ).
Collaboration with Stroud receives paper award
A paper that I coauthored with Talia Stroud has received a top-four paper award from the political communication division of the National Communication Association. Talia and I will be presenting the work in November. Garrett, R. K., & Stroud, N. J. (2012). Decoupling selective approach and selective avoidance. Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association, Orlando, FL.
NSF CAREER award
I have been awarded an NSF CAREER award, providing five years of funding to examine the consequences of online news and social media on political misperceptions. I’m joined in my efforts by a great team of graduate students, including Dustin Carnahand, Ben Johnson, Emily Lynch, Rebecca Riley, and Brian Weeks. More information about the project can be found here.
Rumor research in the news
My research looking at email’s role in promoting belief in false political rumors has been in the news recently.
- E-Mail Beats Blogs and Web Sites for Rumor Mongering”, Christopher Intagliata, Scientific American’s 60-second science podcast, March 10, 2011, http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=email-beats-blogs-and-websites-for-11-03-10
- Biggest Source of Gossip Online? Your Email-Forwarding Friend”, Michelle Castillo, Time’s Techland blog, March 11, 2011, http://techland.time.com/2011/03/11/biggest-source-of-gossip-online-your-email-forwarding-friend/
- Misinformation is as Close as Your Inbox”, Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune, March 3, 2011,http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/misinformation-is-as-close-as-your-in-box-28802/
- Research on rumor mongering cites Sarah Palin myths”, Doug O’Harra, Alaska Dispatch, March 10, 2011, http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/research-rumor-mongering-cites-sarah-palin-myths?page=full
- Radio interview with TBSeFM 1013 Main Street (Korea), March 15, 8:45am KST
Media coverage of Instant Messaging research
My work with Jim Danziger (University of California, Irvine) looking at the role of instant messaging (IM) in the workplace got some press. Among the more notable outlets to cover the story were theNY Times and Future Tense, a radio production of American Public Media carried on some NPR affiliates.
- “Keep It Short, Make It Instant,” Dan Mitchell, New York Times, “What’s online” section, June 7, 2008,http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/technology/07online.html
- “Instant messaging makes for more focused workers,” radio interview with Jon Gordon, Future Tense, American Public Media, July 16, 2008,http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2008/06/11.shtml
Our research into personal Internet use during work was also picked up by the AP.
- “Study shatters myths on personal Net use at work,” Anick Jesdanun, AP wire,http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jjNDn-_PJnkecSa5NBZ4xYebhScgD91CJUIG0
Selective exposure in the news
My first study to covered by the news media was conducted in collaboration with the Pew Internet and American Life Project (“The internet and democratic debate“). Since it’s release, the report has received national and international coverage. According to Google News, there were several hundred stories when it first came out and a few are still online.
- ABC News Online, “Study: Internet feeds political debates”,http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2004/story?id=203393
- BBC, “US voters ‘going online for news'”, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3955569.stm
- Business Week, “Net Users Trawl for Differing Views”,http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2004/nf20041028_1993_db016.htm
Later coverage focused on how people think and talk about online news use more generally.
- Broken Engagement: America’s Civic Health Index: A report by the National Conference on Citizenship in association with CIRCLE and Saguaro Seminar, September 18, 2006 (see quote from Lee Rainie on page 24), http://www.ncoc.net/conferences/2006civichealth.pdf
- Time Magazine, “Around the Corner”, March 20, 2006
- LA Times, “Telling You What You Like”, September 20, 2005,http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/20/business/fi-preference20