Erick Garcia

The Effects of Technological Affordances on Political Opinion Expression in Social Media: A Field Experiment Digital communication platforms are rapidly changing the nature of political discourses. At the same time, the functionality of democratic societies largely depends on deliberative exchanges betwee...

Since my early PhD days, I dreamed of conducting this study. Over time, I was fortunate to work with stellar colleagues, @lunafrauhammer.bsky.social , @tobiasdienlin.com and Manuel Cargnino who helped turn this vision into reality. The full publication: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Check out this theory-driven piece offering an important framework for scholars interested in how diverse media content can be used for intergroup socialization. Truly impressive work by @len-s.bsky.social to publish as a sole author while in grad school! @mediamosaiclab.bsky.social

Hi #COMMSky, do you research intergroup relations or entertainment media? If so, read my colleague @len-s.bsky.social's latest article in the Annals of the International Communication Association! 📄

In this paper, Len (2025) proposes the PMSIS model as a framework to (+) intergroup socialization! 🤝🏼

Excited to share my new paper with @garciaerick.bsky.social Xinyi Zhang & @laurentwang.bsky.social.

We ask: Do people see algorithmic bias as a risk—and do they feel capable of addressing it? Answer... It depends! More below 👇🧪 #commsky

doi.org/10.1080/1044...

Exciting mixed-methods HCI work from my department! @overbye.bsky.social @garciaerick.bsky.social Xinyi Zhang & @laurentwang.bsky.social

🤖💻 #commsky

Our article is officially out in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction! 📄

I'm grateful to have been part of this project led by @overbye.bsky.social and to work with an all-student research team (Xinyi Zhang, @laurentwang.bsky.social)! 🥳

For more details ⬇
doi.org/10.1080/1044...

Amazing research coming out of the @mediamosaiclab.bsky.social 👏🏽

Congratulations to both @nibasaleem.bsky.social and @ismaharif.bsky.social on receiving a top paper award in intergroup communication at #ICA25! 🥳

P.S. Did you get the opportunity to connect or chat with one of our lab members at #ICA25?

@nibasaleem.bsky.social
@garciaerick.bsky.social
@len-s.bsky.social

If so, drop a like or comment below and we will make sure to follow you back if we aren't already! 👇🏽

#COMMSky #AcademicSky #ICA2025

What an amazing end to #ICA25! Huge thanks to everyone who attended my presentation on Sunday or took the time to chat. I left ICA feeling inspired by the incredible work of so many brilliant scholars and deeply grateful for all the new connections made! Hasta la próxima!

📸: @musamalik.bsky.social

Congrats @b-wheeler.bsky.social 🥳

Happening today at #ica2025

@nibasaleem.bsky.social will present our work in Intergroup Communication and @garciaerick.bsky.social will be presenting his collaboration with @overbye.bsky.social @laurentwang.bsky.social and Cecily Zhang on algorithmic biases in @icacat.bsky.social!

Everyone go see Erick present our work on algorithmic bias and risk. He is fantastic! #ICA25

Important Notice!! 😳

Due to @overbye.bsky.social receiving a Top Paper Award from the Communication Science and Biology (CSAB) Interest Group at #ICA25, I’ll now be presenting on behalf of her and our wonderful mixed-methods team: Ceciley Zhang and @laurentwang.bsky.social. Drop by and say hi! 👋🏽

Ahmed Al-Rawi found some great qualitative data on whether experiences w/ racism could have a (+) impact on democracy. Amazing work bringing empirical support to quant-crit discussions.

🔑 Takeaways: The biggest theme was white supremacy. Politicians received higher OHS and self-censored more often.

Triantafyllos Gkaragkanis focused on online hate speech (OHS), affecting migrants in E. Europe.

They proposed digital literacy as a possible intervention to curtail anti-Migrant OHS.

🔑 Takeaways: Some countries have ⬇️ OHS, are more open to migration, but are ⬆️ in stereotypical media depictions.

Kellen Sharp discussed some interesting points re: technoculture and digital diaspora. They utilized LLMs to study anti-Racist discourse on reddit.

I see lots of overlap with my own work on online hate speech & bystander intervention.

🔑 Takeaway: Solidarity is important for anti-Racist discourse!

Yesterday, I attended the incredibly thought-provoking session on Hate Speech, Stereotypes, and Racism hosted by Ethnicity & Race in Communication at #ICA25!

So many insights on how these issues play out online and what can be done. Left inspired and reminded why this work matters. 🤝🏽

My thoughts ⬇️

WOAH! Another amazing presentation from a wonderful friend and colleague! If you are at #ICA25 #ICA2025 and have time at 1:30 PM please go check @b-wheeler.bsky.social's poster!

I'll perhaps be around too 👀 So come say hi and connect! 👋🏽

#COMMSky if you are at #ICA25 and are interested in racial diversity, entertainment media, and intergroup relationships, reach out to @len-s.bsky.social for a chat over coffee (or tea)! ☕🍵

P.S. Ask her about the lab's cool business cards and who designed the lab logo! 👀

#ICA2025 #AcademicSky

Truly, you don't want to miss these at #ICA25! 👀

I'll be at the one on online hate @ 9 AM in the Aspen Ballroom! Come and chat about online hate! 🗣

Some stellar UCSB COMM scholars might be here too 😎
@musamalik.bsky.social @jennyidizhaang.bsky.social @minghuiw.bsky.social @b-wheeler.bsky.social

Hello, once again, Denver! (summer ver.) 🌞
If you are at #ICA25 this weekend, I'd love to connect!

I'll be at many of the online hate panels, so come say hi if you want to chat about online hate, media effects, identity, and intergroup relations! 🤝🏽

P.S. Ask me about our lab's cool business cards 👀

Honored to receive the Putnam Interdisciplinary Scholar Award 🏆
Interdisciplinary research has shaped my path, from the BullyBlocker Lab at ASU (CS + psych) to the Media Neuroscience Lab at UCSB (Comm + tech + orgs).

Is that @garciaerick.bsky.social we see? 👀

Come support this awesome team of @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social COMM graduate students (@overbye.bsky.social, Xinyi Zhang, and @laurentwang.bsky.social) on Sunday, June 15th!

P.S. We love collaboration with our fellow media labs! @mediaskill.bsky.social ✨

Hey-o #CommSky!👋🏽
#ICA2025 week = lab squad on the move to Denver! ✈️

Our lab is heading to @icahdq.bsky.social later this week, and we are all super stoked to share the amazing work our lab members have been a part of! #AcademicSky 🥳

👇🏽 Here's where you can find us on Sunday, June 15th for #ICA25 👇🏽

🚨New Paper🚨

Elections create winners & losers among citizens. But how do we encourage losers to cooperate with new leaders or rally cooperation between winners and losers after a bitterly fought election? This is vital for democracy, especially in polarizing times.

🚨New Paper 🚨

In our Special Issue paper, we adopted a multidimensional lens of social identity to examine the bidirectional link between media use and identity among Muslim adolescents. We found stronger within-person effects for media-to-identity, rather than identity-to-media, pathways. #commsky

Amazing research from @nibasaleem.bsky.social & @ismaharif.bsky.social out of @mediamosaiclab.bsky.social!

*cough cough* Media and social identity researchers should for sure take a peek at the article if they have a chance 👀

📢 New Publication Alert! 📢

The latest research from our lab at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social has just been published in @hcr-journal.bsky.social! 📄

@nibasaleem.bsky.social & @ismaharif.bsky.social explored whether media shapes identity or whether identity influences media use.

🚨New pub alert! 🚨 Out now in @mediapsychmep.bsky.social, our (w/@nibasaleem.bsky.social, Ian Hawkins, Steve Rains, Dana Mastro) meta-analysis finds that positive depictions of minority groups lead to favorable evaluations, & negative depictions to unfavorable evaluations, by majority group members.

This one was a journey. Jobs changed, roles changed, zip codes changed, babies were born, but the meta-analysis kept going. Grateful to the brilliant team (most not on Sky) who made it happen. @stewartcoles.bsky.social
@rcgd-isr.bsky.social @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social @mediamosaiclab.bsky.social