Stephen Prochaska

Stephen is a PhD candidate working with the Center for an Informed Public (CIP) at the University of Washington. He has expertise surrounding collective sensemaking, rumoring, and mis- and disinformation spread through digital networks. His work examines how online audiences collaborate with political elites and digital influencers to assign meaning to ambiguous events, and how initial interpretations may be guided and interrupted by propaganda and the historic understandings of specific online communities. Stephen's work centers an empathetic approach to understanding online rumoring, recognizing that rumors are natural byproducts of human sensemaking processes that we all participate in. Outside of academic publications and CIP blog posts, his work has been featured in the Spokesman Review, Huffpost, and Deutschlandradio.