About the RMIT Digital Hostility and Disinformation Lab

What we do

Finding ethical and workable solutions in the arena of disinformation and digital hostilities requires theory-informed and person-centred scholarship and engagement, energized by a diverse range if interdisciplinary and ethnographic research practices. This lab convenes seminars and public forums, builds white papers, fact sheets and best practice tools, and engages in largescale research projects. We have particular focus on attitudes and perceptions of digital media users, social (as opposed to psychological or technological) drivers of hate speech and disinformation, impacts on creative industries and creative practices, particularly in journalism, media-making, and strategic communication. We are concerned with doing research that builds the capacity for public figures, politicians, celebrities, journalists and influencers to maintain their wellbeing in the face of increasing rates of abusive online behaviour and misinformation.

We conduct and lead projects, pilot studies, consultancies and independent research that builds on the lived experiences of everyday users to help provide governments, digital stakeholders, advocates and the general community with data, analyses and roadmaps for new policies and practices that help to detoxify the digital experience.