Programs
CISI creates unique programs to support truth-telling experts and mobilize tech knowledge for democratic resilience.
Creative Engagement
CISI deploys dramaturgy as a cybersecurity public literacy tool. Piloted at the University of Chicago, Everyone Hates AI is an experimental lecture that invites the audience to embody rogue AI agents, exposing urgent questions around sentience, agency, exploitation, and power.
CISI Workshops
CISI workshops combine technical training with relevant and actionable findings. We teach via expert practitioners on the frontlines of cross-disciplinary research and advocacy. Our goal is to meet practitioners where they are, understand their pain points, and provide preparation and inspiration for lasting institutional and community resilience.
To connect about hosting a workshop, teach-in, or talk, send us an email.
Journalists & Investigators:
Investigations Workshop
Our Investigations Workshop helps newsrooms and other institutions build training capacity for tracking and data scraping as platforms and actors rapidly change. We build partnerships that co-evolve a responsive curriculum for journalists and other investigators on themes relevant to our research programs, including threats to safety and privacy for vulnerable groups.
The Critical Internet Studies Institute engages regularly with The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) at the University of Chicago, including a 2026 lecture and the CISI Investigations Workshop for journalists, researchers, and advocates for civil rights. The workshop offered technical capacity-building training on Telegram from ProPublica senior staff and a vibrant civil society discussion on technology and human rights featuring leading voices from the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and Check My Ads.
Journalists, Researchers, & Civil Society:
Networked Incitement
The CISI team supports civil society and truth-telling institutions in understanding the phenomenon of networked incitement and its relationship to trends and tactics in online disinformation campaigns. Our team of trainers not only teach the latest evidence and concepts, but also assist practitioners in technical capacity-building for further observation and action on their own.
Below, CISI Co-Director Dr. Joan Donovan discusses relevant actors with Northwestern University historian Dr. Kathleen Belew at the University of Chicago.