Chris Coward

Chris Coward is Senior Principal Research Scientist and Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington Information School. Chris studies how people engage with new information and communication technologies, motivated by an interest in supporting individual and community agency in today’s complex information environment. A social scientist with an applied research and participatory methods orientation, Chris partners with communities to co-design, implement, and assess programs in culturally diverse settings. Many projects involve public libraries as sites of learning and community-based action.

Much of Chris’ work is rooted in the literacy fields — information, digital, media, civic — and informed by sociocultural models. One focus is misinformation where he collaborates with game researchers and designers to develop escape rooms and other play based activities for boosting people’s resilience and confidence online. Another interest is youth civic engagement. As many of the issues that motivate civic participation also suffer from misinformation, Chris is particularly focused on the intersection of these two areas.

At the University of Washington Chris co-founded the Center for Internet Studies in 1999, which later became the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA), a research center he directed until 2023 that explores the role of digital technologies in building more open, inclusive, and equitable societies. In 2019, Chris was one of five principal investigators to establish the Center for an Informed Public, a nexus for multidisciplinary research on misinformation and translating research into policy, technology design, curriculum development, and public engagement. He is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Copenhagen (2023-2025).