by Megan Sherry
Dr. Pnina Fichman, Director of the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics and Professor of Information Science, recently returned from a semester-long sabbatical. During her time away from campus, Fichman worked on many different projects, but her primary focus was on her next book about online political trolling.
Trolling is defined as intentionally provoking others online through offensive or disruptive posts, comments, or content, though what counts as trolling can depend on the context. It does not have to be one-sided, but it can be reciprocal, with the target and perpetrator switching roles in a vicious cycle.
This is her eighth book and the second book on trolling, which builds on two decades of Fichman’s research. The book will include empirical data from studies she conducted involving several different social media platforms and across many different countries. Online political trolling is prevalent in the U.S., but it is not an isolated phenomenon. Hence, sections of this book seek to start to fill this gap by looking at trolling in other areas such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Fichman studies the phenomena from a social informatics perspective, using social science theories, questions, and methods. She emphasizes the importance of context in understanding what is happening and why, which is a cornerstone in the field.
Fichman’s book includes a variety of different studies, from the trolling of undocumented immigrants in the United States to how social media aided the Gen Z revolution in Bangladesh. One chapter will focus on how the wars in Ukraine and Isreal are reported about by the BBC and the CNN on different social media platforms, including how inaccurate reporting affects trolling. Another discusses the use of TikTok debate rooms in the months leading to the 2024 election, identifying synchronous trolling tactics.
One aspect of this book that is particularly important to Fichman is the involvement of her students.
“I like working with students because I have the opportunity to mentor them,” says Fichman. “Wherever they are in their academic life, I will help them.”
She takes mentoring very seriously, working with each student to develop their research. Though the journey of every project varies by each student’s needs, interests, and path, Dr. Fichman ensures that her students are credited on any publications that they helped produce. Thus, most chapters in her book will be co-authored by students who work with Fichman.
She estimates she has roughly 40% of the book finished, with about five chapters nearly finalized. “Different studies move forward at different paces for a lot of reasons,” explained Fichman. Between varying research methods, the students’ background, and the other demands on her students’ time, many factors influence the speed of a project’s completion. Nonetheless, she has enjoyed the process and the progress she has made and is excited to see where the rest of the project goes from here.