Researching how people make sense of data, media, and evidence
I study how people build explanations and beliefs while navigating complex information environments. My work combines research, thinking tools, and public writing to explore how data, media, and evidence shape everyday reasoning.
Learning Sciences · Columbia University · M.S. Stanford University
Explore the workResearch themes
How people come to believe what they believe
Why arguments without evidence convince, and what that reveals about how we process information day to day.
Digital platforms and public debate
How the design of social media shapes what people understand about politics, science, and society — for better and for worse.
Tools for studying public reasoning
Experiments, simulations, and interfaces that make belief formation and disinformation processes visible.
Research translated for people who make decisions.
Written for those who need to understand these phenomena, not necessarily those who study them.
O modelo moral de Flávio Bolsonaro em sua lista de desejos para os conservadores dos EUA
Senador enquadra relação Brasil-EUA a partir de um modelo de família idealizada da "mitologia estadunidense"
Interfaces, simulations, and conceptual tools that help make complex ideas thinkable.
Belief Drift
A prototype for exploring how discourse can gradually shift beliefs across acceptable, questionable, and harmful directions.
Explore tool →Decision Tree Experiments
Interactive tools for studying how people reason through public policy questions and competing claims.
Explore tool →Media Sensemaking
Research designs and analyses focused on how people interpret evidence in social media environments.
Explore tool →Peer-reviewed work exploring the cognitive and social dimensions of online sensemaking.
Twisted Knowledge Construction on X/Twitter
Russo, Blikstein & Literat · Information and Learning Sciences
2024Just Asking Questions: Can a Far-Right President Turn Agentic Knowledge Construction into Political Manipulation?
Russo & Blikstein · Information and Learning Sciences
2023Weaponizing John 8:32: The Complex Interconnections Between Religion and Politics on Brazilian Twitter
Russo, Literat & Blikstein · Social Media + Society
2023Research-grade rigor applied to practical questions about belief, media, and public reasoning.
Media organizations
Editorial consulting and team workshops on how audiences process evidence, disinformation dynamics, and the cognitive underpinnings of viral content.
Government and policy
Research and analysis on information ecosystems, online radicalization, and the Brazilian media landscape.
Consulting and agencies
Talks and workshops on public reasoning, belief formation, and communication in polarized environments.
What I'm currently working on.
A running log of what's happening — publications, talks, work in progress.
See all →Organized guest talk at TLT Lab @ Columbia University with Dr. Thomas Gennen, postdoctoral researcher in Learning Sciences at UC Berkeley
Invited (with funding!) to participate in the Alt-Academia Workshop at the Learning Sciences Society Annual Conference \o/
Accepted to the Doctoral Consortium of the Annual Conference of the International Society of the Learning Sciences \o/
Presentation and workshop on methods and preliminary results from the interview-based clinical study that forms the basis of the first article of my thesis @ TLTLab Columbia University
Reached 500 reads on my article "Twisted knowledge construction on X/Twitter"
For collaborations, talks, projects, and conversations.
I work with media organizations, government agencies, and consulting firms on disinformation, public reasoning, and media ecosystems. Available for consulting, research, and speaking from September 2026 — reach out early if you have a project in mind.