Christopher Wells

Associate Professor

Christopher Wells is Associate Professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication and faculty affiliate of the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture.

His writing concerns the communications processes underpinning democratic culture and citizenship; biases of information processing in public opinion formation; the evolution of citizenship practice and communication’s role in that evolution; and how individuals and institutions are adapting to the digital media environment.

His current projects include a major study of civic organizations’ communications to young people through websites and social media. Drawing on the long history of organizations’ roles as conveyors of civic information, this work examines how those roles are changing as digital information exchange becomes ubiquitous.

Another project explores how candidates, journalists and organizations communicate through the social messaging service Twitter, in 2010 and 2012 elections. And a third assesses the role of beliefs about facts—whether correct or misinformed—in influencing individuals’ policy preferences in direct democracy (referenda and ballot initiatives).