Discovering digital insights
THE DIGITAL INSTITUTE
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The Digital Institute conducts and promotes research into social, cultural, political, economic and technological aspects of social media and communication. Its emphasis is on the characteristics of the digital in mediated communication, and on their social implications. It draws on both the social and computational sciences. Its research themes include:
Social aspects: news and journalism; media and data literacy; ethics; algorithms, data and society; censorship; misinformation and disinformation; digital divides.
Technological aspects: AI; the internet of things; mobile devices; Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Realities.
Political aspects: social movements; political communication; policy and regulation; democracy; activism; campaigning; grassroots movements; alternative media; populism.
Economic aspects: platform economics; convergence; commons; copyright and intellectual property.
Cultural aspects: social media; visual cultures; remix cultures; memes; narrative and storytelling; gender; sexuality; identity.
Our Mission
Projects
Some of the Insitute's most recent projects
Networks & Inequality
Networks have the unique ability to define in group and out group relationships and accordingly limit or enhance opportunities for individuals within certain boundaries. In this project, we're interested in exploring the effect of various kinds of network boundaries and how they effect social, economic and political opportunities.
We explore social media networks including Twitter, Facebook, Vkontakte, LinkedIn and others with partnerships to collect and process data.
Big Data in Social Sciences
Large datasets about social, economic and political entitites have the potential to open the possibilities for sociological, economic and political research on human behavior. We define methods for collection and provide researchers with approaches and tools for large projects.
We explore and create R libraries, databases and SDKs and APIs.
Global Demographics and Communication Networks
Cross-National studies about the intersection of economic, social and political vectors using large data are rare. In this project we utilize social network data as a proxy for demographic data to uncover communication patterns and processes across and betweeen nations.
We explore Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and others.
Publications
Horan, T., & Bullen-Smith, I. (2023, January 21). Online Ranking System Effects on Perceived Fairness: Gender, Income and Education. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/2u3y5
Horan, T., & Tu, H. (2023, January 21). Digital Literacy, Ability and Vulnerability: Education and Income Variations in the Platform Economy. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/m98kz
Horan, T. (2023, January 21). Effects of Social Media Use on Social Isolation: Urbanism and Age as Mediating Factors. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/fb3tq
Horan, T. (2023, January 21). Paying to pin: How users interact with and respond to cost on a social media platform. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/pg67z
Horan, T. (2023, January 21). A Global Social Network Values Dataset. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/6rqjm
Horan, T. (2022). Meeting Up Together: Economic Embeddedness of Social Capital in America. Social Sciences, 11(4), 158. MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040158
Horan, T. (2021). Commercial Limits to Personality: Instagram Influencers and Commoditized Content Receptivity. Societies, 11(3), 77. MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/soc11030077
Projects in Research
Upwork Translators - Examining inequalities amongst global networks of translators and money flows
Unpaid Labor in the Gig Economy - Investigating the distribution of unpaid work in the platform economy
Social Class on LinkedIn - Examining the distribution of opportunity based on occupational social class
Meetup International - Examining the variation of meetup.com community formation between the US and the UK
Gab Emotions - Investigating the emotional presentation of self on Gab.com
Digital Surveillance - Investigating the perceived imposition of surveillance amongst social media users
LinkedIn - Demographic variation in job acquisition strategies
AI Recruitment Bias - Investigating the bias of AI in job recruitment tooling
Content Moderation and Discrimination - Examining the platform economy's forms of moderation and the inequalities of practice
Conduct world-leading research on social networks and communication.
Develop a collaborative ethos for social media researchers.
Communicate research through publications, events, workshops, conferences and other activities.
Champion the research-teaching nexus and the importance of research-led teaching.
Secure external research funding.
Attract graduate and post-graduate researchers.
Collaborate with internal and external researchers, groups and institutions.
Provide research-based resources for policy makers and for knowledge transfer.
Our Objectives
Our institute is focused on creating opportunities for research and software projects that enhance the careers of academic and industry sectors.
Grants
TDI is accepting applications for small research grants (< $5000) for projects that support our mission. Please send a brief proposal of less than one page that describes the intended work and budget rationale to grants@tdi.us.org.
Contact Us
Have a question or want to join our team? Contact us via the information below
- Address:1178 Broadway, 3rd Floor #1315, New York, NY 10001, United States
- Email: contact@tdi.us.org
- Phone: (212) 203-6887
- Website: tdi.us.org
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