Research

I want to understand and answer questions at the heart of user experience and journalism. I draw primarily on qualitative techniques. I’ve designed and led research projects, supervised junior researchers, conducted work in global languages and markets, and led interviews, focus groups and ethnographic immersions. You can find more information about specific projects below. I also conduct research as part of my consulting work. You can contact me about consulting work here.

membership in media

I designed and conducted an overview of public media membership models in the United States, for the Membership Puzzle Project, a partnership between the Dutch journalism outlet De Correspondent and New York University, led by Jay Rosen and Emily Goligoski.

audience engagement research

Audience lies at the heart of the journalistic enterprise, and my graduate work at MIT drew on interviews with dozens of moderators to understand the new journalistic contenders, new audience behaviors, and new business models that are emerging in participatory news spaces. My thesis situated the comments section within a broader debate over how news organizations create relationships with audiences.

advocating for moderators

In my research, I found that audience engagement teams often struggle to find emotional space for their work, leading to burnout and inefficiency. In this guide, I distill wisdom from moderators into a series of recommendations for media companies as to how to manage the emotional risks of moderation and engagement, including abuse.

Beyond Comments Conference

This multi-disciplinary conference, hosted at the MIT Media Lab in February 2016, brought together moderators, editors, newsroom execs, researchers and others to brainstorm the future of the comments section and of audience engagement. The hosts were MIT's Future of News Initiative and the Coral Project.