Trolling in Chinese and English - Research Findings

Sydney / Melb - 10:00 27.11.2020
Los Angeles / San Francisco - 15:00 26.11.2020
New York City / Bloomington - 18:00 26.11.2020

Online trolling can be a minor annoyance, a life-threatening nightmare or even a danger to our public institutions. But what are its causes, its true effects, and what can and should we do about it? In this seminar, three experts examine trolling from different perspectives and across cultures (with a focus on Australia and China):

• How does trolling behaviour play out in different environments?
• What drives trolls from a psychological perspective?
• How does trolling relate to freedom of speech issues?

Huixin Tian is a PhD student in Information Science, Department of Information and Library Science, Indiana University Bloomington. She received a bachelor’s degree in archaeology from Peking University, and a master’s degree in Anthropology from Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests include materiality of digital mediation, virtuality and work, immigrant labor in the global information industry, and innovation industry. Her dissertation project will focus on the community of Chinese immigrant programmers in the United States.

Evita March obtained her PhD in evolutionary and social psychology and is currently employed as a senior lecturer and researcher at Federation University Australia. Evita’s research interests include interpersonal relationships, cyberpsychology, and personality. In particular, Evita is interested in how people behave online, and she has explored a range of online behaviours including cyberbullying, cyberstalking, online dating, trolling, and self-presentation.

Dr. Jay Daniel Thompson is a Lecturer in Professional Communication in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. He is researching the fraught relationship between trolling and freedom of speech. Dr. Thompson has also published extensively on the politics and ethics of media controversy.