A brown-bag research talk at the Center for Information Technology and Society

Prof Michael X. Delli Carpini

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania 

In December 2017 the Annenberg School for Communication, in partnership with FirstDraft and funding from the Knight Foundation, held a two-day workshop bringing together academics, journalists, fact-checkers, technologists, and funders to better understand the challenges produced by the current disinformation ecosystem. The discussions highlighted relevant research, shared best-practices, identified key questions of scholarly and practical concern regarding the nature and implications of the disinformation ecosystem, and began to outline a potential research agenda designed to answer these questions. This discussion will briefly summarize the major take homes from the workshop, hear what emerged from the UCSB November conference on Fake News, and have an open discussion on what next steps are needed to address this potential threat to the theory and practice of democratic politics.  

Michael X. Delli Carpini is Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication. His research explores the role of the citizen in American politics, with particular emphasis on the impact of the mass media on public opinion, political knowledge and political participation. He is author of several books including Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America (University of Chicago Press, 2009), and After Broadcast News: Media Regimes, Democracy, and the New Information Environment (Cambridge University Press, 2011), as well as numerous articles, essays, and edited volumes on political communications, public opinion, and political socialization.