About Me

My name is Jing (Kristen) Zhang. I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. I completed my Bachelor’s degree from the School of Journalism at Fudan University and my Master’s degree from the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

My research primarily centers around communication technology, science communication, and media effects from the perspective of media psychology. Specifically, I use survey and experimental studies to investigate:

a) How emerging technologies and narratives bring new opportunities and challenges to controversial science topics.

b) How technical elements (AI, algorithms, platform affordances) influence human behaviors such as news/media consumption and engagement in various contexts such as science, entertainment, and politics.

My research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Communication, Telematics and Informatics.

🔥 News

• [Mar. 2024] One paper is accepted by APSA 2025! See you in Vancouver this September.
• [Aug. 2024] I am joining the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan as a Ph.D. student.
• [Jun. 2024] I am presenting our research report about the media ownership and concentration in China from 2019 to 2021 on Global Media and Internet Concentration Project with Dr. Min Jiang and Xiaofei Han at the 74th ICA.
• [May. 2024] I graduated with my Master’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
• [Apr. 2024] 🎉 Our paper titled Addressing Whiteness in communication scholar composition and collaboration across Seven Decades of ICA journals (1951–2022) has been accepted to be published in Journal of Communication. [doi]
• [Mar. 2024] 🎉 Our research report titled Communications, media and internet concentration in China, 2019-2021 has been published. The dataset can also be accessed. [doi]
• [Nov. 2023] 🎉 Our paper titled Why do Chinese people consume video game live streaming on the platform? An exploratory study linking affordance-based gratifications, user identification, and user engagement has been accepted to be publishd in *Telematics and Informatics. [doi]

📝 Publications

Journal Articles

• [2](2024) Addressing whiteness in communication scholar composition and collaboration across seven decades of ICA journals (1951-2022).
  Haley R Hatfield, Hongtao Hao, Matthew Klein, Jing Zhang, Yijie Fu, Jaemin Kim, Jongmin Lee, and Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn
  Published in Journal of Communication.
  [doi]|[Data]|[Code]

• [1](2023) Why do Chinese people consume video game live streaming on the platform? An exploratory study connecting affordance-based gratifications, user identification, and user engagement.
  Jing (Kristen) Zhang, Riwei Liu
  Published in Telematics and Informatics.
  [doi]

Research Reports

• [1](2024) Communications, media and internet concentration in China, 2019-2021.
  Min Jiang, Xiaofei Han, Jing (Kristen) Zhang
  China Team’s report on the project [Global Media and Internet Concentration Project]

📖 Teaching Experiences

Teaching Assistant

• 2023 Fall and 2024 SPRING Teaching Assistant for COMM2100: Introduction to Communication Theory at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. [Course Website]
• 2023 SPRING Teaching Assistant for COMM3100: Communication Research Methods at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
• 2022 FALL Teaching Assistant for COMM1101: Public Speaking at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
• 2020 SPRING Teaching Assistant for JOUR120008: Introduction to Journalism Studies at Fudan University.