iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

L’infrequenza delle nevicate anche da riscontrare nella completa impreparazione delle città - gli spazzaneve sono partiti oggi (giorno tre), aeroporto funziona a singhiozzo, treni fermi, persino le biblioteche intorno ad Amsterdam chiuse domani.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Though I would already be radicalized at this point (hirtenkäse is cottage cheese, right?).

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Stasera alle 21:15 in diretta con Radio Incredibile per il programma Io Divilgo Forte parliamo per un’oretta di open science e di cosa vuol dire cercare nelle cose frivole (tipo le app di dating) segnali di una società che cambia. In Italiano!!! Link a YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzNj...

youtube.com

IoDivulgoForte S7Ep09 - La sociologia delle app di dating con Giulia Ranzini

YouTube video by Radio Incredibile

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

As a teen I spoke good English, so a journalist friend brought me to interview metal bands and (more often) to see shows. Mixed experiences (it was peak nu metal) but mostly great conversations, harmless approaches, respectful moshpits. Overwhelmingly I have experienced metal dudes as decent folks.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

*or young children, or neurodivergence, or tinnitus, or really enjoying having 10 fingers.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Government, everyone with pets* : Amsterdam you go too crazy on NYE, in 2026 we introduce a full ban. Amsterdam, NYE 2025:

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Oh and also. (if we can’t be near the mountains then)

Cut apples, a discarded lemon and many apple peels.

Hands of a toddler rolling strudel dough.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

How’s your NYE going I just washed 1.5 kg of second hand Lego

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

A significant motivation to drag my body to the gym is that the locker rooms have those + the hair straightener which is perhaps even more impressive.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Comunque gli americani della famiglia preferiscono il pandoro al panettone e questo ci dice tutto quello che dobbiamo sapere.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Approximately 50% of Dutch academics (including phds and postdocs) are not Dutch. Of course universities can decide what course they want to take, but ignoring the fact that foreigners (students and staff) contribute fundamentally to the value of a field seems a form of self-harm.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

I would not be an academic if I had not followed an English language BA in International Economics in my hometown of Milan. Studying economics among a multitude of nationalities allowed me to grow as a researcher.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I feel like AI effects research is going to make us nostalgic for anti screen rhetoric.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Non so, davvero. Però così è umiliante. Abbiamo capito che all’Italia i giovani fanno schifo, ma non è che proprio glielo dobbiamo dire in faccia.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Quest’anno a Natale ai “vabbè ma quando tornate dai?” pronto sul cellulare il video della ministra Bernini.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

A field that often is hyper contextual (“I study exclusively and only the effect of bluesky use on seasonal affective”). I think undoing a tradition of thinking overcomplexly, and non-causally, is hard to do (I know because it’s a process I go myself since a decade, and I’m an economist)

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Eh…that is a debate I find myself frequently in. The thing is: with a reconsideration of what methodologically valid practices are (essentially, don’t p-hack), not everywhere we came to also have a recentering of what our goal as social scientists is. Add to that…

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

…just completely out of our reach. So it’s more of a distancing (hey we never claimed that!) coming from knowledge that causality was even within the possibilities acknowledged by the design. Under the idea that a small step (solid study that is not causal) is better than no step.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

This is a big recurrent conversation in a field like mine where much of the methodological revision post replication crisis is still ongoing. I think part of this is that we (com folks, but also sociologists and other disciplines borrowing from socpsy) have convinced ourselves that causality is…

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Agreed. I would also a that 20 extra minutes on a multiple choice test, where overthinking answers is a risk, could be a mixed blessing.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

You’d be surprised how many educational decisions are made based on the availability of rooms alone 🙂

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Which of course clashes with a multitude of other issues, such as the availability of rooms , or the fact that AI made remote testing basically impossible to trust. But it’s a valid principle.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

A more useful question would be: is doing tasks within a given time ALSO something we want to test, or a skill we want to develop? If so, accommodations should be few if any. If not, we need better testing. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

theatlantic.com

Accommodation Nation

America’s colleges have an extra-time-on-tests problem.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I am a bit skeptical of the rise of student detachment (personally I felt there was a peak of distance after Covid, and then a partial return) BUT this is one possible consequence of broad LLM availability. What I have noticed is one rather silly effect: lately, my students are particularly nervous.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Sick child, grant proposal rejected, Amsterdam wintering extra hard, thankfully we planned Friendsgiving for tomorrow. Today is for grumpy baking.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

That’s the untold narrative of the migrant/dual identity person, when people from home tell you to go not-home.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

I think this is a great opportunity also to fight effects of declining birth rates - openness to youth could save our societies. Said as someone who was an economic migrant before becoming an academic

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

As the only non-American in my household, I am definitely the one who is most irrationally attached to thanksgiving dinner. Not thanksgiving per se - it is not my culture after all. Just dinner.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

To write on paper, compute and memorize while everyone else just trains a bot from childhood to old age.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

What I find dystopic and fascinating is the no tech narrative that I have seen pushed in some of the introductory rounds of the elementary schools we toured for our kid. “Our school has no tablets”. I am wondering if this is going to become yet another badge of the privileged, educated…

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

It’s a horrible disease but grateful the state of care is excellent. For the whole family, it’s been a true mental exercise in deciding whether we should let statistics dictate how we live. Funny to dedicate a career to better understanding data and then choosing to not want to know.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

My dad’s diagnosis has been revelatory in understanding - and I mean TRULY understanding, not just scholarly “getting” - the stats of correlation, causation, and missing data. Are we grateful that we’ve advanced in gene diagnosis? Certainly. But are we keeping up with everything else? Not quite.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

This is a stellar position in an excellent place. Doing research in Switzerland changed my life in more ways than one. Viu glück!

Tobias Dienlin @tobiasdienlin.com · 03/03/2025

Reposted by Giulia Ranzini

I'm hiring! I'm looking for 1️⃣ pre-doc and 2️⃣ post-docs. If you're fascinated by media effects, quantitative methods, and open science, please consider applying 🙂 International applications welcome! Application Pre-doc: jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie... Application Post-doc: jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

About the position
• 3-year Ph.D. position (60%, paid according to cantonal salary scheme)
• Can be extended by another 17 months
• Workplace is Zurich

What will be your main tasks?
• Conduct a Ph.D. thesis in the field of communication, media psychology, and media effects
• Publish in leading academic journals; present at conferences; engage in outreach
• Teach courses on media effects, methods, and statistics at BA and MA levels
• Take part in doctoral training programmes offered by UZH and IKMZ
• Participate in organisational or administrative tasks as required

What should you bring to the team?
• Master’s degree in communication science, psychology, or a related discipline
• Strong interest in research on media effects, including topics such as social media, well-being, privacy, AI, or media effects theory
• Expertise in quantitative research methods
• Proficiency in (or openness to learn) R, open science practices, and advanced statistics
• Proficiency in English; knowledge of German is desirable but not mandatory

What do we offer you?
• Great background and support for high quality research
• Much freedom to develop your own research interest within the topics of the division
• Dynamic and supportive team with a collegial and inspiring working atmosphere
• Excellent track record of the department in academic career development

How to apply
Please send the following documents as a single PDF file using UZH’s job portal (see link in post):
• Letter of motivation (including ideas for your Ph.D. project; max. 2 pages)
• Your CV (including a list of scientific publications and presentations, if applicable)
• MA thesis or equivalent, research publications if already applicable
• Copies of degrees and relevant transcripts

Deadline for applications is March 16, 2025
Applications arriving later will also be considered if no candidate has been selected until then
The position starts in April or by agreement

About the position
• 3-year postdoctoral position (80%, paid according to cantonal salary scheme)
• One position can be extended up to 3 years, the other up to 6 years
• Workplace is Zurich

What will be your main tasks?
• Conduct research in the field of communication, media psychology, and media effects
• Lead your own projects and collaborate in team projects
• Publish in leading academic journals; present at conferences; engage in outreach
• Teach courses on media effects, methods, and statistics at BA, MA, and Ph.D. levels
• Take part in supporting and training predocs at the division
• Engage in third party funding activities
• Participate in organisational or administrative tasks as required

What should you bring to the team?
• Doctoral degree in communication science, psychology, or a related discipline
• Strong interest in research on media effects, including topics such as social media, well-being, privacy, AI, or media effects theory
• Expertise in quantitative research methods
• Proficiency in (or openness to learn) R, open science practices, and advanced statistics
• Proficiency in English; knowledge of German is desirable but not mandatory

What do we offer you?
• Great background and support for high quality research
• Much freedom to develop your own research interest within the topics of the division
• Dynamic and supportive team with a collegial and inspiring working atmosphere

Please send the following documents as a single PDF file using UZH’s job portal (see link in post):
• Letter of motivation (including ideas for future research projects; max. 2 pages)
• Your CV (including a list of scientific publications and conference presentations)
• Full-texts of up to three sample publications & PhD dissertation
• Copies of degrees and relevant transcripts

Deadline for applications is March 16, 2025
Applications arriving later will also be considered if no candidate has been selected until then
The position starts in April or by agreement

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

pretty much the only takes that matters on the matter.

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Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

This is amazing! Congratulations Tobias!

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

We’re trying a poker chip based approach to tv. As in: you get 3 x 10 minutes chips to use in a day, to cut on the negotiations. Still gathering data.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

It’s still very cool for the youths of everywhere else, who are not very concerned with the dangers of mischkonsum. I think there is (still!) a myth of getting wasted in Amsterdam, which inhabitants of the center have very mixed feelings about.

Giulia Ranzini @giuliaranzini.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Well weed has a fascinating legal status where it’s both sold legally and not legal - this has been the case for a long time and I think has mostly made it very ordinary/unproblematic/uncool to the local youths (this is what all former youths tell me since a decade). However!