Considering Rurality and Religion: Mapping an Alternative Media Ecosystem and Addressing Gaps in Misinformation Research

MAP-MISINFO is a proposal for a two-year European MSCA Fellowship at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), within theDepartment of Communication (COMM). It proposes examining the intersection of misinformation, as a growing threat to democracy,and media research practices aimed at understanding information dissemination. As media research approaches are a key way tounderstand and potentially address misinformation, it is vital that media scholarship better account for gaps in practice—for example,around under-researched contexts such as rurality and radio. Another prevalent but understudied gap is how qualitative inquiry canbe used to in conjunction with common practices in ‘counting or categorizing’ instances of misinformation online; such approachesbetter consider the manifold ways societies navigate between facts and fabrications—what sociotechnical systems and contextsmight allow misinformation to thrive or be combatted. The MAP-MISINFO project will work towards filling both types of gaps througha two-pronged, interrelated research design. First, the project will engage in an empirical case study, mapping a misinformation-related topic as it moves through the open web and region-specific media ecosystems. The region of focus will be the rural,conservative, relatively homogeneous US state of Utah. This case study will serve to inform (and be informed by) the otherprong of MAP-MISINFO: a mapping and analysis of common media research tools used in examining misinformation. This secondobjective of the project entails carefully curated workshops of media scholars and publication overviews. The project will generate apublic-facing website, media appearances, peer-reviewed publications, a report for general distribution, and a special issue of a topCommunications journal. The host institution, UCPH, is uniquely positioned to provide methodological and theoretical guidance.MAP-MISINFO will also contribute to establishing my international academic career.