Media Patronage: How Authoritarian Regimes Exploit Media Competition to Shape Global Information
Matt DeButts
April 27, 2026 · 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM · Nafziger Room 5055, Vilas Hall
UW::CODE
The CODE Lab
Computational Observation of Digital Exposure
Overview
The CODE Lab (Computational Observation of Digital Exposure) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studies what information people encounter in digital environments and how that exposure shapes attitudes and behavior. Using large-scale behavioral data, including web browsing records and private messaging data, the lab builds observational infrastructure and computational tools for studying online information environments increasingly shaped by AI. Ongoing projects center on three data collections: a longitudinal panel of Americans' web browsing and survey responses, a real-time archive of online prediction markets, and a panel study combining personal messaging data with surveys and ecological momentary assessments. The lab also supports graduate training in computational methods for communication research.
People
Selected Publications
* indicates equal authorship
Open Web
Dahlke*, R., Moore*, R. C., & Hancock, J. T. (2026). Exposure to (AI-Generated) Untrustworthy Websites in the 2024 US Election. OSF Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qtdmg_v1
Dahlke*, R., Moore*, R. C., Bengani, P., & Hancock, J. (2026). The Consumption of Pink Slime Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why? Forthcoming at Digital Journalism. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/3bwz6
Dahlke*, R., Tu*, F., Wang*, Y.-C., Lu, Y., Engeda, B. W., & Hancock, J. T. (2025). Contextualizing Misinformation: A User-Centric Approach to Linguistic and Topical Patterns in News Consumption. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 9(CSCW1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757571
Dahlke, R., Kumar, D., Durumeric, Z., & Hancock, J. T. (2025). Quantifying the Systematic Bias in the Accessibility and Inaccessibility of Web Scraping Content from URL-Logged Web-Browsing Digital Trace Data. Social Science Computer Review, 43(5), 1071-1086. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393231218214
Dahlke, R., & Hancock, J. (2025). Untrustworthy Website Exposure and Election Beliefs: Selective Exposure and Ideological Asymmetry. Journal of Online Trust and Safety, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.54501/jots.v3i1.250
Moore*, R. C., Dahlke*, R., Forberg, P. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2024). The Private Life of QAnon: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Americans' Exposure to QAnon Content on the Web. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 8(CSCW2), 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1145/3687057
Moore*, R. C., Dahlke*, R., & Hancock, J. T. (2023). Exposure to Untrustworthy Websites in the 2020 US Election. Nature Human Behaviour, 7, 1096-1105. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01564-2
Personal Messaging
Dahlke, R., & Hancock, J. (2025). The Public Sphere in Private Spaces: Quantifying Political Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal Messaging. OSF Preprints. https://osf.io/6cpv8/
Talks
Upcoming
Past
Short Educational Videos Improve Older Adults’ Digital Literacy and Information Diets at Scale
Ryan Moore, PhD
March 20, 2026 · 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM · Nafziger Room 5055, Vilas Hall
Join
If you are a current UW-Madison graduate student interested in the CODE Lab, please email ross.dahlke@wisc.edu for more details.
Prospective MA and PhD students can apply through UW-Madison SJMC graduate admissions. The SJMC admits students to the program, not to individual faculty labs. If you are interested in working with me, please mention me in your application.