Introducing CITAP: The UNC Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/20/2019
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

On Friday, September 20, the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy will host an interdisciplinary lunch with Dr. Daniel Kreiss, associate professor in the UNC School of Media and Journalism. Dr. Kreiss will introduce the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP), describe the mission of the new center, and explain opportunities for students and faculty. The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy is an affiliate partner of the new center.

CITAP is a bold initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill dedicated to researching, understanding, and responding to the impact of the internet, social media, and other forms of digital information sharing.

CITAP’s goals are threefold:

1. To tackle broad research questions with real-world implications for information gathering, social media regulation, democratic governance, journalism, and civic understanding.
2. To develop a comprehensive understanding of information environments that will serve as a baseline for emergent research focused on the interaction of information and technology, particularly in the context of misinformation, partisanship, polarization, propaganda, and political institutions.
3. To make our research and data publicly available to inform technological development, journalistic best practices, and policy making.

Principle investigators for the project include Deen Freelon and Daniel Kreiss of the UNC School of Media and Journalism, Alice Marwick from the Department of Communication, and Zeynep Tufecki from the UNC School of Information and Library Science. The sponsoring Dean of the Center is Gary Marchionini of the UNC School of Information and Library Science.

Dr. Daniel Kreiss is Director of the Ph.D. Program and Associate Professor at the UNC School of Media and Journalism and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Kreiss’ research explores the impact of technological change on the public sphere and political practice. In his 2012 book from Oxford University Press — “Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama” — Dr. Kreiss presents the untold history of new media and Democratic political campaigning over the last decade. Dr. Kreiss published a second book in 2016 entitled “Prototype Politics: The Making and Unmaking of Technological Innovation in the Republican and Democratic Parties, 2000-2014.” The book explores the role of digital media, data and analytics in contemporary campaigning, and provides an explanatory framework for understanding the differences in the two parties’ technological capacities.

In addition to this work on institutional electoral processes and political campaign and party organizations, Dr. Kreiss has published a number of articles and chapters that analyze the effects of changing media environments on the organization and practice of journalism.

The September lunch discussion will be held from noon to 1:15 pm on Friday, Sept.20 at the UNC School of Media and Journalism in Room 283. Lunches and drinks will be provided for those who register. RSVP using the form below by noon on Wed., Sept. 18 (Please ignore the “warning” error message above the RSVP link).

 Background readings:

• Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life: https://citap.unc.edu

RSVP