Hello!

My name is Joseph (Joey) Schafer, welcome to my website! I'm a second year Ph.D. student in the University of Washington Human-Centered Design and Engineering Department and conduct research at the Center for an Informed Public, advised by Dr. Kate Starbird.

I'm broadly interested in studying social media systems, online influencers, and information integrity, as well as researching what methods can be used to study these topics ethically, justly, and effectively. More specifically, I am interested in how platform affordances, cultures, and influencer dynamics impact the spread of these kinds of content, and how influencer- and virality-driven information systems impact our information ecosystems.

My current projects include studying how account behaviors change and users experiences after receiving sudden social media attention. A workshop paper focused on a preliminary version of some of this work is available here, and I am presenting a poster at CSCW related to this topic.

I'm also currently working on a project with Dr. Mark Zachry to understand how Wikipedia community members conceptualize misinformation and disinformation, and how these concepts have evolved over time in their usage by community members.

Another recent project that I am proud of is this DIS paper, on how we can adapt participatory design methods to studying misinformation, disinformation, and online hate.

Previously, I've done work with rapid response research to misinformation and disinformation, as a part of both the 2020 and 2022 Election Integrity Partnership, as well as the Virality Project. I've also been involved with multiple other projects relating to misinformation and social media.

If working together sounds interesting to you, please reach out!

Remainder of website under construction, check back soon!