Reports & Papers
Canaries in the Coal Mine: COVID-19 Misinformation and Black Communities
Past Research Initiative
Technology and Social Change Project
Researched the methods and impacts of media manipulation and mis/disinformation.
The Technology and Social Change Project was active at the Shorenstein Center from 2019-2023. This page is an archive of the project’s work and team as of September 2023.
The Technology and Social Change Project (TaSC), led by Dr. Joan Donovan, explored media manipulation as a means to control public conversation and disrupt society. TaSC conducted research, developed methods, and facilitated workshops for journalists, policy makers, technologists, and civil society organizations on how to detect, document, and debunk media manipulation campaigns.
The following people were involved in the TaSC project as of August 2023. Additional staff, fellows, and researchers participated in the project at other times in its history.
- Joan Donovan, PhD, Director, Technology and Social Change Project
- Latanya Sweeney, PhD (Co-PI), Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology
- Brandi Collins-Dexter, Associate Director
- Emily Dreyfuss, Senior Managing Editor
- Robert Faris, PhD, Senior Researcher
- Brian Friedberg, Senior Researcher
- Megan O’Neil, Project Manager
- Marya Mtshali, PhD, Postdoc Fellow
- Jennifer Nilsen, Research Fellow
- Eesha Ramanujam, Research Fellow
- Daniel Baymiller, Research Assistant
- Talia Berniker, Research Assistant
Publications & Resources
Reports & Papers
Human Rights in Survival Mode – new white paper from the TaSC project
Reports & Papers
Mitigating Medical Misinformation – new research brief from the TaSC project
Visit the Media Manipulation Casebook
The Media Manipulation Casebook
The Media Manipulation Casebook is a digital research platform linking together theory, methods, and practice for mapping media manipulation and disinformation campaigns. This resource is intended for researchers, journalists, technologists, policymakers, educators, and civil society organizers who want to learn about detecting, documenting, describing, and debunking misinformation.
Visit the Media Manipulation Casebook
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True Costs of Misinformation
The TaSC team sought to uncover the true costs of misinformation by using a “burden of disease” framework, which refers to analyzing the health, social, political, environmental and economic factors to determine the cost of that disease to society. In March 2022 the team hosted an online conference to address the challenges for research to effectively document digital harms to diverse communities and precisely measure financial costs of misinformation to society at large.
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Learn More
BIG, If True
BIG, If True was a webinar series driven by the Technology and Social Change Research Project from May 2020 – March 2021, inspired by the monumental societal and technical shifts happening as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinars focused on media manipulation, disinformation, and the future of democracy during a pandemic. They included researchers from the TaSC team and across Harvard Kennedy School, along side journalists and other topical experts.
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Visit the Medium Blog
Political Pandemonium 2020
Political Pandemonium 2020 was a series of three digital workshops, hosted by Dr. Joan Donovan and the Technology and Social Change Project, exploring the harmful effects of media manipulation on our society. Visit the series’ Medium blog to learn more.
Visit the Medium Blog
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Explore the Shorenstein Center’s current research initiatives.