Rik Ray

PhD (ABD) @ Institute of Communications Research
Statistics, Data, and Survey Research Consultant @ Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

rikray2[at]illinois[dot]edu

Research

I primarily study how audiences take shape on digital platforms and the ways in which platform logics influence audience behavior. My interest in research design and methodology has also led to collaborations across topical domains such as political communication, public opinion, journalism studies, etc. My research spans:

Platforms and Audiences

How do structural factors and individual preferences collectively shape audience behavioral patterns on digital platforms? What are the implications for users, industry, government, and institutional stakeholders?

Design and Methodology

Improving alignment between research objectives, design, data, measures, and methods. Development and application of new analytical tools, techniques, and approaches in academia and industry.

Data

Structured and unstructured platform data, surveys, observational data, media texts.

Analytical Approaches

Computational techniques, causal inference, regression, multivariate analysis, measurement theory, spatial econometrics.

Recent Publications

View Google Scholar Profile

Projects

Global YouTube Trends

Automated data collection pipeline gathering trending video data from 110 locales. Overall trends collected hourly, 6 categories collected 4x daily. Deployed on Raspberry Pi, data stored on Box. Collected from May 2024 - July 2025.

Python YouTube, Box API Bash

IPA/CBN Social Media Monitoring

Social media listening and analytics solution for Central Bank of Nigeria's Consumer Protection Department. Developed data collection pipeline and a hybrid machine learning model to classify incoming data in near real-time.

scikit-learn NLTK gensim

citlR Package

Streamlining, packaging, and documenting custom R functions developed at CITL’s Data Analytics division. Used for internal projects including survey data analysis, visualizations, and report preparation.

R roxygen2 pkgdown

Illinois Resource Map

ArcGIS Experience dashboard for the I3 Social Studies Network, reaching 5,000+ educators across Illinois. Maps educational and community resources, supporting K-12 social studies teachers in creating inquiry-based, justice-centered learning experiences.

ArcGIS geopandas SQL

About

I'm a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, currently wrapping up my dissertation on how YouTube is redrawing content genre boundaries, and its implications for audience behavior and industry practices. I currently work as a consultant for the Data Analytics division at the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at UIUC, serving students, faculty, and staff across the university. Between 2018 and 2020, I was the editorial assistant for Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.

I grew up witnessing the evolution of computers from i286 systems with 1MB memory and 40MB hard drive to smartphones with 12GB memory and 1TB storage. Some of my fondest memories are of building PCs with my dad, and trying to extract every last bit of performance out of older systems. After a brief detour in geology, I found my way back to computers, but this time focused on the intersection of computers and society. Over the course of my PhD, I fell in love with statistics and research methods, while simultaneously giving a formal shape to my curiousity about why and how people use computers and the internet.

When I'm not working, I'm usually playing my guitar, writing songs, trying my hand at analog photography, or attempting to decipher the genius of bad movies.