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PhD (Queensland University of Queensland)
Dr. Ashwin Nagappa is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the QUT node of ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) and the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC). He is a recipient of the 2024 AXA Post-Doctoral Fellowship (for the theme ‘Navigating misinformation and trust erosion in the digital age’). His research centres on emerging decentralized social media platforms, analyzing how they mitigate online harm and address challenges such as misinformation, hate speech, and polarization. This study seeks to identify key qualities of polycentric governance—network size, moderation, harm responses, and community participation—and evaluate their scalability for reducing online harm. Ashwin is also involved in the Australian Search Experience 2.0 project, where he examines how search engines influence everyday data practices and knowledge sharing, particularly in relation to upholding public interest values like diversity and social cohesion.
His research focuses on the history of digital communication and emerging digital media technologies. With an interdisciplinary background in media and cultural studies, combined with expertise in computational analysis, Ashwin offers a unique perspective on the complexities of large-scale digital systems and the research challenges they present. His doctoral research scrutinized the adaptation of blockchain technology for social media, specifically focusing on DTube, a blockchain-based video-sharing platform. This work underscored the vital role of community-driven experimentation in shaping digital technologies and provided valuable insights into the interplay between technological innovation and community dynamics. Additionally, as a Research Assistant, he investigated political discourse on fringe platforms like Gab and explored the nuances of fake news on Facebook, contributing significant insights into the intersection of technology, media, and society.