Profile
Unit: Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche
Scientific-disciplinary sector: Sociologia dei Processi Culturali e Comunicativi GSPS-06/A
Positions
- Vice Presidente - Sistema Informatico di Ateneo
She is the director of MediaLaB | Big Data in Social and Political Research Lab|, a laboratory focused on analysing big data in social and political research.
Her research interests focus on the interconnections between digital media, everyday life, and the public sphere. Her areas of expertise are: (i) the relationship between social and digital inequalities, with an in-depth analysis of the outcomes of the processes of inclusion vs. exclusion; (ii) the transformations of participatory practices following the platformisation of society, with a specific focus on the mechanisms of grassroots production and of memeification of the public sphere seen as connective aggregators of individual instances; (iii) the redefinition of the communication strategies of social actors achieved through the introduction of emotional elements, and the adoption of populism as a communication style, to increase the involvement and attract the attention of their audiences exploiting the algorithmic logics of the platforms; (iv) the application of computational methods to the domain of social sciences.
In addition to her research activities, she is the Co-Chief Information Officer of Pisa University. She is also the co-chief editor of the scientific journal “The Lab's Quarterly”. She is a member of the doctoral board of the national program in "Artificial Intelligence" and also of the "Political Sciences" at Pisa University program. Furthermore, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Association of Political Communication.
She is also a founding partner and member of the Board of Directors of the Spin-off company of Pisa University “VoisLab” (Evaluation of outcomes and social impact).
#MediaEcosystem #PoliticalCommunication #Populism #InternetMeme #SocialMedia #DataScience
Teaching
Teaching activity
Teaching responsibility for modules/courses
- Sociologia della comunicazione (cod. 062QQ) per Laurea in Scienze politiche
- Comunicazione istituzionale (cod. 313QQ) per Laurea Magistrale in Istituzioni, politica e societa'
- Comunicazione per il turismo (modulo dell'insegnamento comunicazione e nuove tecnologie per i beni culturali cod. 003li) per Laurea in Scienze del turismo
- Comunicazione digitale (cod. 346QQ) per Laurea Magistrale in Comunicazione d'impresa e politica delle risorse umane
Incarichi di co-docenza in moduli/insegnamenti
- Comunicazione per il Turismo (Modulo dell'insegnamento Comunicazione e Nuove Tecnologie per I Beni Culturali Cod. 003LI) per Laurea in Scienze del turismo
Student consultation hours
Mode of office hours: Leggere con attenzione le istruzioni su https://people.unipi.it/roberta_bracciale/didattica/ricevimento/ per prenotarsi a un ricevimento online o in presenza.
Location: Online su MsTeams prenotandosi qui: https://agende.unipi.it/xxc-gbp-lvc. In presenza inviare una e-mail a roberta.bracciale@unipi.it per fissare un appuntamento.
Time: Vedi disponibilità su https://agende.unipi.it/xxc-gbp-lvc
Research
Research interests
Her research interests focus on the interconnections between digital media, everyday life, and the public sphere. Her areas of expertise are: (i) the relationship between social and digital inequalities, with an in-depth analysis of the outcomes of the processes of inclusion vs. exclusion; (ii) the transformations of participatory practices following the platformisation of society, with a specific focus on the mechanisms of grassroots production and of memeification of the public sphere seen as connective aggregators of individual instances; (iii) the redefinition of the communication strategies of social actors achieved through the introduction of emotional elements, and the adoption of populism as a communication style, to increase the involvement and attract the attention of their audiences exploiting the algorithmic logics of the platforms; (iv) the application of computational methods to the domain of social sciences.
Publications
- Serialità memetica e costruzione dell’immaginario: il meme come dispositivo di world-building politico pop (Bracciale, Roberta - 2025 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- Trash Politics: i meme tra partecipazione e rinegoziazione del discorso pubblico (Bracciale, Roberta; Aglioti Colombini, Junio - 2025 - 2.1 Contributo in volume (Capitolo o Saggio))
- Meme Tales: Unraveling the Function of Memes in the Russian-Ukraine Conflict (Bracciale, Roberta; AGLIOTI COLOMBINI, Junio - 2023 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- Leaders' Visual Communication Style: Between Personalisation and Populism (Bracciale, Roberta; Martella, Antonio - 2023 - 2.1 Contributo in volume (Capitolo o Saggio))
- Populism and emotions: Italian political leaders’ communicative strategies to engage Facebook users (Martella, Antonio; Bracciale, Roberta - 2022 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- Does populism go viral? How Italian leaders engage citizens through social media (Bracciale, Roberta; Andretta, Massimiliano; Martella, Antonio - 2021 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- Sharing a Meme! Questioni di genere tra stereotipi e détournement (Bracciale, Roberta - 2020 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- From Super-Participants to Super-Echoed, Participation in the 2018 Italian Electoral Twittersphere (Bracciale, Roberta; Martella, Antonio; Visentin, Chiara - 2018 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- Socially mediated populism: the communicative strategies of political leaders on Facebook (Mazzoleni, Gianpietro; Bracciale, Roberta - 2018 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)
- Define the Populist Political Communication Style: the case of Italian political leaders on Twitter (Bracciale, Roberta; Martella, Antonio - 2017 - 1.1 Articolo in rivista)