Location: Old Main, Room 106A
The Digital Media and Everyday Life Lab explores the social formations that emerge with the assemblage of publics and platforms. We investigate how people use digital media platforms, such as social media, gaming, and streaming through hardware platforms ranging from mobile devices and wearables to smart speakers and artificial intelligence. Our research emphasizes media appropriation, consumption, influence, and literacy, often working collaboratively with faculty and graduate students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, across Texas State University, and with other institutions/labs.
Founded in 2023 by Dr. Nicole K. Stewart, the lab examines the intersections of digital platforms and mediatized everyday life. Dr. Stewart’s work bridges cultural studies, critical theory, platform studies, media sociology, and science and technology studies (STS). Dr. Stewart’s cutting-edge research has resulted in the introduction of two novel research methods and a communication model. Her work is regularly featured in top-tier journals like Social Media + Society, New Media & Society, Digital Journalism, Convergence, and Communication, Culture, & Critique.
The Digital Media and Everyday Life Lab is incredibly fortunate to partner with the following faculty and students:
Join one of our 2026/2027 Digital Media Research Working Groups. The research groups will be hosted in The Digital Media and Everyday Life Lab in 106A Old Main and will meet for two hours every other week from August 2026 to May 2027. The objective is for these groups to only facilitate research but also allow us to develop more formal professional collaborations within the university.
Participation is limited to seven members per research group, but is open to faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students. The first half of the year will function as a reading group that supports the second half of the year, where each group will work on a tangible research asset. Space is limited so be sure to sign up for one of the three streams today: [click this link]
Fridays, 12-2PM (2nd and 4th weeks of each month)
Dr. Kristen Sussman is the director of the Media, AI, and Persuasion (MAP) Lab, whose research focuses on how artificial intelligence reshapes persuasion, emotion, and engagement in digital environments. Her work integrates computational methods with theories from advertising, psychology, and communication. This stream will focus on AI subjects related to persuasion and power.
Thursdays, 12:30-2:30PM (1st and 3rd weeks of each month)
Dr. Anthony Martinez and Prof. Dale Blasingame both share interests in how artificial agents operate on social media platforms through the lens of media psychology. This stream will focus on artificial sociality, including virtual influencers, AI creatives, and social chatbots.
Thursdays, 9-11AM (2nd and 4th weeks of each month)
Dr. Amber Hinsley research examines the public’s experience with fake news, the credibility of online information, and journalists’ use of digital media as reporting tools. This stream will focus on the intersections of AI and journalism.
We look forward to having you join us. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Dr. Stewart (nstewart@txstate.edu) if you have any questions. If you are able, we would very much appreciate your help with sharing our research working groups with your networks.
