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Nina Lutz

@ninalutz.bsky.social

PhD-ing at UW @cip.uw.edu ‪@hcde.uw.edu‬ Visual media in problematic info (mis/disinfo, online hate, scams, propaganda). Thinking about images of migration, prediction, and religion in the best and worst of times. ninalutz.github.io.

819 Followers  |  579 Following  |  156 Posts  |  Joined: 20.06.2023
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Posts by Nina Lutz (@ninalutz.bsky.social)

Spotlight graph of X discourse about the shooting/killing of a man by ICE agents on January 24 in Minneapolis. Graph showing X posts along time (X axis) and cumulative number of X posts shared by that time (Y axis). Post counts are estimated (by Brandwatch) and include both X posts and reposts where the text contained terms indicating the post was about the *shooting AND the video* during the time period. Individual posts are plotted on the graph, sized by the number of reposts that post received (during the time period). Plotted posts are limited to posts that received >1 reposts.

Two posts are highlighted.

One by @gremloe (1/24/2026, 12:31:31 PM EDT): “It appears from zooming in just moments before ICE/CBP shoot yet another US citizen, one agent removes the victims firearm from his waste holster. The victim was UNARMED when he was shot multiple times. This is a state execution. Again.”

A second by @bennyjohnson (1/24/2026, 1:21:28 PM EDT): “Tim Walz just a few days ago was climbing on the gate of his mansion urging protesters to keep causing “trouble” and fighting ICE. An armed man just attacked agents and got killed. See how that works? Minnesota officials are fueling this.”

Spotlight graph of X discourse about the shooting/killing of a man by ICE agents on January 24 in Minneapolis. Graph showing X posts along time (X axis) and cumulative number of X posts shared by that time (Y axis). Post counts are estimated (by Brandwatch) and include both X posts and reposts where the text contained terms indicating the post was about the *shooting AND the video* during the time period. Individual posts are plotted on the graph, sized by the number of reposts that post received (during the time period). Plotted posts are limited to posts that received >1 reposts. Two posts are highlighted. One by @gremloe (1/24/2026, 12:31:31 PM EDT): “It appears from zooming in just moments before ICE/CBP shoot yet another US citizen, one agent removes the victims firearm from his waste holster. The victim was UNARMED when he was shot multiple times. This is a state execution. Again.” A second by @bennyjohnson (1/24/2026, 1:21:28 PM EDT): “Tim Walz just a few days ago was climbing on the gate of his mansion urging protesters to keep causing “trouble” and fighting ICE. An armed man just attacked agents and got killed. See how that works? Minnesota officials are fueling this.”

If you're interested in seeing how framing contests are taking shape after the ICE killing of another person in Minneapolis, here's a window into the conversation on X this morning.
Link to interactive graph: faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/Spot...
* I put this together quickly. Sorry for any errors

24.01.2026 20:56 — 👍 448    🔁 165    💬 11    📌 11

I think that's part of the power of doing that type of memo/diary study structuring during unfolding events like this -- which is what we did in our 2024 election team! :)

[thread complete lol]

23.01.2026 15:08 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1

I think the main thing is that the diary study could evolve based on what people submit -- the form could get updated prompts etc. AND content collection about this phenomenon would be informed by this.

23.01.2026 15:08 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

2) In the form, have users give their contact info if they might be interested in having a follow up interview
3) dovetail this with content collected by researchers on Junkipedia with relevant keywords, creators etc based on form responses

23.01.2026 15:06 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I would do it a bit multi prong but a bit nitty gritty.
1) have users submit both their written comments/experiences, screenshots, AND links to content on the app where creators are folk theorizing about what is going on [researchers would save those vids]
[1/n]

23.01.2026 15:05 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

New research on Twitter (right before rebranding to X) shows right leaning accounts got outsized visibility from the algorithm & suggests this bias stemmed from different content production techniques (more sensational, outrage-bait) and from direct interaction w/ the new king of the platform: Musk.

10.12.2025 20:40 — 👍 196    🔁 68    💬 2    📌 6

STS/Communications scholar Morgan Ames (whom these authors don't cite) has repeatedly demonstrated that OLPC was ineffective at best, and harmful at worst, including in an award-winning book published in 2019.

The real question is why economists don't acknowledge work in other fields.

07.12.2025 23:18 — 👍 75    🔁 21    💬 2    📌 1

(Smart phone I mean! I had my razor at the same time as first card!)

07.12.2025 15:14 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Yes! I have always had one memorized as a just in case since I had my first credit card (which pre dates having my first cellphone).

07.12.2025 15:11 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Preview
Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online When we reach the frontier of current knowledge, we’re tempted to insert a higher power into the space where answers aren’t yet satisfying for all.

UW CIP postdoc @mertcanbayar.bsky.social explains how a high-profile scientist's statements about the 3l/ATLAS comet harnessed uncertainty and attention dynamics, and spawned widespread speculation about an alien visitor, an "alien of the gaps" in human knowledge: www.cip.uw.edu/2025/12/03/3...

03.12.2025 20:52 — 👍 23    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 0

A note for cognitive researchers interested in the spread of misinfo and disinfo.

A lot of our research uses text-based presentation of information.

Most of what people use on social media is video-based.
I suspect more people watch news than read papers.

Maybe we should consider this?

24.11.2025 20:32 — 👍 9    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0

Academia is really just juggling lots of things and being like "Wow I'm so good at juggling!" and ignoring the fact that still means you are a clown.

17.11.2025 23:16 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Bullshit as U.S. government policy. This is the punchline from my Feb 2025 lecture. If you’re interested in understanding more about how we got here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjiG...

It ends with a call to action to rage against the bullshit machine.

29.10.2025 13:53 — 👍 374    🔁 93    💬 3    📌 3

Look out for more work here! Priya is thinking more about vis practitioners, how vis can mislead, and tensions of open government datasets. I'm building more methods and ways we can safely and rigorously study participatory visual culture at the nexus of information disorder.

28.10.2025 00:19 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

And I'm just so so grateful to @katestarbird.bsky.social for supporting this work. We learned so much writing this paper that we have now applied to all of our other papers! And we would not have gotten the award without Kate's master writing touches!!!

28.10.2025 00:17 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

We then look at the journeys that these data visualizations go on -- and how they are remixed with re-creation but also how they jump platforms and are even photo-edited! It's a ride through a fun OSINT journey of how we assembled these lineages.

28.10.2025 00:16 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

This is the first empirical work to come out of my larger anti-immigrant propaganda project! We focus on what frames and claims are made in data visualizations, and how open government units and data are confused on both sides of the aisle and lose clarity and accuracy.

28.10.2025 00:15 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

It was such an honor to co-lead this paper w/ @priyadhawka.bsky.social. We do a fun mix of our research here -- looking at the visual participatory nature of data visualizations and the non-neutral underpinnings and infrastructures of the (open) data and actors behind them. (thread)

28.10.2025 00:14 — 👍 14    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 0

For Seattle folks… I’m giving a talk tonight at Obec Brewery (6:30) about science funding, the history of human computer interaction, and the future of AI. I’m off the clock, so I may get a little spicier than usual. If you’re around, please come!

23.09.2025 16:04 — 👍 121    🔁 34    💬 3    📌 1

Hi Seattle! Come see my talk on the history of human-computer interaction. I'll explain U.S. gov funding of science has led to many of the innovations that power our economy & shape our lives — and call out the short-sightedness & hypocrisy of efforts to defund science in this field & so many others

27.08.2025 19:58 — 👍 78    🔁 31    💬 3    📌 1

Happy refresh email for CSCW 2026 results for all who celebrate.

20.08.2025 01:48 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Post image

Does your work explore mis/disinformation, scams, hate speech, or other forms of harmful information online?

We are convening a CSCW workshop to bring together a global community focused on information disorder. We welcome short submissions, due August 8th.

cscw2025infodisorder.netlify.app

02.08.2025 16:59 — 👍 13    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 1

Interesting new study from researchers at the UW Center for an Informed Public finds that AI-generated persuasive messaging (AI-Pasta) is more effective in key ways (e.g. creating a false sense of consensus) and harder to detect than traditional CopyPasta.

24.07.2025 22:05 — 👍 53    🔁 16    💬 2    📌 0

Join us online or in person in Bergen, Norway!

12.07.2025 20:32 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Melinda's Dissertation: Truth-Seeking as Collaborative Work In moments of uncertainty, journalists help the public make sense. This research shows how that work depends on expert networks and systems that too often fail when they need to move fast and what it ...

Really excited to draw attention to this dissertation by Melinda McClure Haughey (@melm.cc‬). Melinda's research explored collaborative infrastructure for supporting the "sensemaking" work of journalists working on high-stakes, fast-paced & often data-driven beats. www.melm.cc/research/dis...

30.06.2025 22:12 — 👍 74    🔁 26    💬 1    📌 0

We’ve seen this repeatedly. QAnon. COVID denial. Election lies. War crimes denial. In each case, the problem wasn’t just what people believed, it was how those beliefs hardened into identity and made correction impossible.

27.06.2025 06:57 — 👍 466    🔁 71    💬 6    📌 3
Post image

Does your work explore mis/disinformation, scams, hate speech, or other forms of harmful information online?

We are convening a CSCW workshop to bring together a global community focused on information disorder. We welcome 2-6 page submissions, due August 1.

cscw2025infodisorder.netlify.app

24.06.2025 18:42 — 👍 7    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 1
Post image

Trying to write about anti-immigrant visual propaganda nothing to see here.

22.06.2025 18:52 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
fossil footprints & phone phenomenology how production colonized play

“The net effect of these technological forms has been to nudge us into seeing one another as the machines see us: fungible, expendable parcels of data open to classification and judgment.” Another fabulous blog post from @aidanwalker.bsky.social howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/fossil-foo...

12.06.2025 18:11 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Trump operates almost uniformly in the epistemology of spectacle. Entertainment. Theatrics.
Images of chaos in the streets of major U.S. cities is exactly what this administration wants. It reinforces the conflation of “urban” with “violence” like this is where lawlessness reigns.

08.06.2025 02:01 — 👍 187    🔁 52    💬 5    📌 6