Dr. Joanna Strycharz (PhD, University of Amsterdam, 2020) is an assistant professor of persuasive communication at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on how insights gained from data can be used to adjust persuasive communication between organizations and consumers (so-called algorithmuic persuasion). She is interested in how such data-driven communication impacts cognitions, attitudes, and behavior of consumers related to their privacy as well as what unintended effects such communication has on individuals and the society. Supported by an NWO Veni grant, Joanna currently focuses on digital vulnerabiltity exploitation through algorithmic persuasion.
Additionally, Joanna is involved in several infrastructure and data science initiatives, with the goal of making computational and data science research methods accessible for communication and advertising scholars. She co-directs the Digital Communication Methods Lab which aims at expanding innovative work on methods, analyses, and scientific practices critical to communication science. She is also an affiliate member of the Data Science Center.
Companies collect and process large amounts of data about individuals online. They use this data to make their communication more persuasive through personalizing messages. Such personalization is impactful as it can decide who gets to see information and opportunities online and allows companies to strike the right chords by persuading individuals in the most effective way. This means that everyone can be vulnerable to exclusion from information and manipulation online when their data is used for targeting. This project studies this new type of vulnerabilities and explores protection individuals need in the digital society.