Working Groups
Check out the ongoing working groups at PTML
Working Groups (WGs) are open to both lab members and non-lab members, creating a space where people from different backgrounds, disciplines, and career stages can connect and collaborate. They serve as a bridge between the lab and the broader community, encouraging the exchange of ideas, expertise, and perspectives. Whether you are already involved with the lab or simply interested in contributing to a specific topic, everyone is welcome to participate.
We also encourage community-driven initiatives. If you have an idea for a new Working Group or would like to propose a topic that is not currently represented, please feel free to write to us. We’d be happy to discuss your idea and help explore how it could become a new Working Group.
Learn more about a specific group
Below is a list of our current Working Groups. Each group is coordinated by one or more leads who can provide more information about ongoing activities and how to get involved. If you are interested in joining a Working Group, please reach out directly to the listed lead(s)—they will be happy to welcome you and answer any questions you may have.
AI Hype
Chaired by Aimee Rinehart
Welcome to AI Hype, a collaborative working group at the Public Tech Media Lab dedicated to critically examining how news coverage, public discourse, and cultural narratives shape the perception, development, and adoption of artificial intelligence across journalism and other industries. AI Hype brings together researchers, journalists, and technologists to promote responsible and evidence-based dialogue about artificial intelligence in the public sphere.
AI, Intimacy & Mental Health
Chaired by Facundo Suenzo
This group aims to examine how new technological infrastructures are reshaping intimacy, sociability, and mental health. Bringing together scholars working on dating platforms, AI companions, and algorithmically mediated relationships, it explores how these technologies reconfigure desire, trust, and social bonds — and what their growing role in emotional and psychological life means for gender and sexuality.
Critical Platform Studies
Chaired by Justin Yeung
This group is dedicated to facilitating conversations among scholars, practitioners, and activists to better understand how we can study small and large platforms more critically, ethically, and responsibly.
Narratives of AI
Chaired by Yanshu Sybil Wang
This group looks at the narratives that shape how AI is understood, promoted, and contested. By discussing how metaphors and cultural frames circulate across academic research, industry, and public debate, it explores their influence on literacy, trust, and adoption.
Open Source Investigations in Journalism
Chaired by Guillén Torres, Johanna Wild & Tomás Dodds
This working group on open-source investigations in journalism brings together reporters, researchers, and technologists to develop, share, and refine methods for gathering, verifying, and analyzing publicly available digital information and reflect on the ongoing institutionalization of OSINV in journalism.
Public Interest Technologies
Chaired by Tomás Dodds & Juliane A. Lischka
The Public Interest Technology Working Group (PIT4C) is a RISE-funded i interdisciplinary group of researchers advancing communication technology in the public interest. We conceptualize, design, and test recommenders, platforms, AI systems, and communication infrastructures that serve democratic information needs.
Visual AI Manipulation & Generative Disinformation
Chaired by Rana Arafat
This group would focus on investigating how AI-generated visuals, such as deepfakes, manipulated images, synthetic videos, and other generative outputs, are being used in elections, social movements, and conflicts. The aim is to understand the strategies, narratives, and techniques behind these manipulations, as well as their impact on public opinion, trust in media, and democratic processes.