Parker Bach

I am a Ph.D. student at UNC-Chapel Hill in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and an affiliate of the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP). Previously, I worked as a research assistant with Microsoft Research's Social Media Collective and received my M.A. in Media, Culture, and Technology at the University of Virginia.

I am a mixed methods researcher employing ethnographic, textual, and computational approaches to study the confluence of political culture and technology. My previous work has considered topics like right-wing political humor, political influencers on TikTok, and strategic ambiguity in political communication.

My ongoing dissertation research concerns the politics of prediction markets (e.g. Polymarket and Kalshi). My project begins where prediction market data originate – with the traders and communities who invest, trade, and forecast outcomes, and with the platforms that host and adjudicate these markets. I then trace how prediction markets influence broader publics through the news outlets and political campaigns who make use of prediction market data. In so doing, I consider the role of speculation, quantification, and memetic online communities on today's political landscape.