Suspicious Minds: Rumoring During the 2022 Midterm Elections

Kate Starbird, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering. Her research is situated within human-computer interaction (HCI) and the emerging field of crisis informatics—the study of how information-communication technologies (ICTs) are used during crisis events. One aspect of her research focuses on how online rumors spread during natural disasters and man-made crisis events. More recently, she has begun to focus on disinformation and other forms of strategic information operations online. In 2018, she received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for research in this area.

Courtney Acitelli, ’08, has been the director of UW Impact, the UW Alumni Association’s legislative advocacy program, since 2010. For the past decade, UW Impact has mobilized thousands of alumni to contact their lawmakers in support of investment in higher education. Courtney holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree from UW’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, where she served as chair of their alumni council for two years.

The UW Center for an Informed Public is an interdisciplinary effort at the University of Washington, led by the Information School, Human Centered Design & Engineering and the School of Law, with collaboration from numerous other university and community partners. Its world-class researchers, labs, thought leaders and practitioners translate research about misinformation and disinformation into policy, technology design, curriculum development, and public engagement.

In 2020, the Center for an Informed Public helped launch the nonpartisan Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of researchers who work to identify and communicate about emerging rumors, conspiracy theories and disinformation specifically about voting procedures and election results. Their work, cited in the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol’s final report, has continued.