About Dr Yin Lü
Rhetoric Doctor | Communication Scientist | AI & NLP Product Leader | Interdisciplinary Researcher, Writer, & Speaker
I am a creator, communicator, and connector. According to my academic degrees, I am a ‘Master of the English Language’ and a ‘Doctor of the Internet’. Professionally, I am or have been an AI product leader, product (marketing) manager, freelance consultant, researcher, social data scientist, digital marketer, writer, editor, project manager, founder, mentor, and teacher. Language captivates me, particularly in the context of digital media.
I have an interdisciplinary and international outlook. I firmly believe that categories are meant to be transcended. I am a strong advocate for computational approaches to the social sciences and humanities, and for qualitative approaches to big data analyses. I belong to three cultures across three continents, and derive energy from travel and meeting new people. The greater the diversity, the better.
My research at the Oxford Internet Institute (www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/yinyin-lu) analysed persuasion in new media, focusing specifically on the rhetoric and resonance of Brexit tweets. Which content and context features influence engagement (and does content even matter)? How can messages be expressed and delivered most effectively? My multi-strategy design encompassed qualitative text analysis, multivariate regressions, outlier detection and analysis, semi-structured trace interviews, supervised machine learning algorithms, and natural language processing. As such, it represents the intersection of social data science and user research.
One of the main contributions of my research is a rhetorical framework that can be used to improve the resonance of any message. I apply it every single day to every single form of communication that I produce or consume.
I am a thought leader in the area of communication and the internet. I have provided expert commentary on 'fake news' and online propaganda for a number of media outlets, including Sky News, Wired, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, El País, and The Takeaway (a US national public radio programme). I have delivered talks for a wide variety of organisations, including FWD50 (the largest digital government conference in the world), the Ditchley Foundation, the Misk Global Forum, and the University of Oxford. I am always open to speaking, moderating, and writing opportunities.
On a higher, more whimsical level: I am betwixt academia and industry, fact and fiction, life and art.
My modus operandi: Put your faith in Circumstance, and let Spontaneity—with a generous dash of Whimsy—be your guide. What could possibly go wrong?