Biography

Dr. Xu researches political discourse across digital platforms, focusing on how such discourse is spread through networked digital infrastructure and the impact of ideologies. He employs computational models to identify key players, influential spheres, and prominent topics in online political conversations. His work aims to foster a global public sphere that is open, vibrant, and robust, capable of countering the threats of democratic backsliding. His recent projects and startups focus on GenAI in education and research.

Current AI projects

• I am behind LampBotics, a pre-startup which leverages Generative AI tools for storytelling.
• I am running a series of experiments & simulations for agent-based storytelling.
• I am the mastermind behind several AI-coauthored podcasts: Synthetic History) and LampTales.
• I co-founded Robovive, a startup dedicated to empowering K-12 students with hands-on learning in AI, robotics, and media literacy.

Past Publications & Projects

On Google Scholar

What is CuriosityBits CC for?

I built this site to share open-source content created in my research and teaching. You will find interactive tutorials on using R to collect, analyze, and visualize social media data, copies to my recent publications, and a repository for past data visualization projects. Please note that I no longer provide updates to the data science courses I teach through this website. If you are interested in taking my data science courses, please reach out to me directly.