The possibilities of digital discrimination: Research on e-commerce, algorithms and big data
2014 review of recent studies and reports on online discrimination and potential downsides of digital marketplaces featuring user profiles and data.
Media
Research roundups, articles, explainers and tip sheets about how journalists report the news and how audiences consume it
Expert Commentary
How “good enough” technology can stifle innovation
2015 essay on how early adoption of technology can stifle later innovation, by Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Expert Commentary
What’s new in digital and social media research? Some greatest hits from 2014
Year-end 2014 column featuring a dozen powerful studies on diverse topics across news, social and digital media areas.
Expert Commentary
Protests, waves of collective action and policing in the United States: Key research ideas
In the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, we review research on the nature of social movements, “waves” of protests and activism cycles, as well as police response.
Expert Commentary
Journalism-school reform in the context of wider media trends
With the continued funding of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education, John Wihbey of Journalist’s Resource reflects on the initiative in the context of wider media trends.
Expert Commentary
Shorenstein Center 2014 speaker series highlights: Race relations, new media models and more
Highlights of the 2014 event series at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, including David Carr of the New York Times, Julia Angwin of ProPublica and Deborah Amos of NPR.
Expert Commentary
Propaganda, media effects and conflict: Evidence from the Rwandan genocide
A 2014 paper from the Harvard Kennedy School on the impact of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, a key media outlet for the Tutsi-led government, on violence and killings of the Tutsi minority.
Expert Commentary
Internet and communications technology: Global energy consumption trends and challenges
2013 review of research and article in the journal Science on the global energy consumption of Internet and communications technology.
Expert Commentary
How U.S. urban unrest in the 1960s can help make sense of Ferguson, Mo.: Research brief
2014 research on how lessons from past conflicts can help us better understand current events, by Ashley M. Howard, Loyola University New Orleans and the Scholars Strategy Network.
Expert Commentary
What’s new in digital and social media research, November 2014: From the “Dark Web” to net neutrality; tracking technologies to Twitter
November 2014 review of recent studies relevant to digital, social and news media, with a focus on advertising and online journalistic practices.
Expert Commentary