W. J. Zhang 张皖疆

Research Assistant ProfessorThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Wanjiang
Jacob Zhang

I study how digital technologies reshape human life: the rhythms they impose on our days, the interactions their designs invite, and the lifestyles they quietly re-pattern.

ORCID Google Scholar GitHub ResearchGate X Facebook

Department of Language Science and Technology, Faculty of Humanities
Previously postdoctoral fellow & PhD, School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK

Portrait of Wanjiang Jacob Zhang
01 News
  • 2026

    Joined the Department of Language Science and Technology (LST) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) as Research Assistant Professor.

  • 2024

    Completed my PhD in Communication at CUHK and joined the Digital Media Data Initiative (DMDI) as postdoctoral research fellow.

02 Research

My work sits at the intersection of computational social science and computer-mediated communication, and centres on a single question: how do digital technologies shape human life?

Ⅰ

Technology & social time

The temporal rhythms of digital media use: how they form, and with what consequences for individuals and societies.

Ⅱ

Platform design & engagement

How the design features of platforms steer users’ interactions, from engagement bait to geolocation cues that polarise group behaviour.

Ⅲ

Technology & lifestyle

How emerging technologies, most recently generative AI, re-pattern the textures of everyday life.

Methodologically I work with large-scale digital trace data, natural experiments, causal inference, and large language models. My research has appeared in Computers in Human Behavior, Social Media + Society, Telematics and Informatics, Public Relations Review, Environmental Communication, Journal of Health Communication, and Journalism, among others.

Education

  • 2024PhD in Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • 2019MA in Communication, Wuhan University
  • 2016BA in Communication, Anhui University
03 Selected publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles · * corresponding author

2025
2023

From grains to a tower: Residents’ self-organized actions in the early stage of COVID-19 — An analysis of organizational communication in a Wuhan residential WeChat group

Yan, Y., Shi, Y. H., Shu, C., Zhang, J. W., & Zhang, W. J.

Journalism & Communication, 30(6), 67–85

閆岩、時元皓、舒暢、張婧瑋、張皖疆（2023）。聚沙成塔：新冠疫情早期的居民自組織行動——武漢某小區業主微信群的組織傳播分析。《新聞與傳播研究》，30(6)，67–85。

2022

Emotional expressions in the online memory of the “Karamay Fire” on Baidu Tieba (2006–2018)

Yan, Y., & Zhang, W. J.

Journalism Research, (3), 100–116

閆岩、張皖疆（2022）。百度貼吧中「克拉瑪依大火」記憶的情感表達（2006–2018）。《新聞大學》，(3)，100–116。

2020
04 Software

Beyond papers, I build research infrastructure: platforms that put computational methods and AI in the hands of researchers.

ChatDMDI

An integrated AI platform I designed, built, and maintain for the School of Journalism and Communication at CUHK, where faculty and students work with multiple large language models side by side for research and learning.

Visit platform

Social Movement Lens

A human–AI collaborative research engine for studying global social movements. Expert-coded data meets semantic search, geospatial and temporal visualisation, and an AI agent for conversational analysis.

Visit platform · Source code

05 Teaching

My teaching interests sit where computation meets communication. I care about making technical methods feel within reach.

Teaching interests

  • Computational communication research methods
  • Statistics and causal inference
  • Large language models and human–computer interaction
  • AI programming and application development
  • AI agent development and applications
  • Quantitative research methods

Guest lectures

  • AI Agent for Everyone — Department of Language Science and Technology, PolyU
  • Scrolling Xiaohongshu with an AI Summarizer: Everything AI Marketing Accounts Didn’t Tell You — School of Journalism and Communication, Shenzhen University
    AI总结侠带你一起刷小红书：了解AI营销号没有告诉你的一切
  • Trying to Be the Last Human Replaced by AI — School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK

At CUHK

  • Three-time Best Teaching Assistant Award, School of Journalism and Communication
06 Recognition
  • 2022

    Top Three Student Paper, Public Relations Division

    72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association

  • 2021

    First Place, Markham Student Competition, International Communication Division

    AEJMC Annual Conference

  • 2020

    Top Student Paper Award, Environmental Communication Division

    70th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association

  • 2020–22

    Best Teaching Assistant Award (three times) & Best Research Assistant Award

    School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK

07 Contact

For research, collaboration, or teaching enquiries —

jacobwanjiang.zhang@polyu.edu.hk

Office

HHB815a, Hung Hom Bay Campus
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong SAR

08 Readership

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