Ongoing Projects
- Exploring AI Fortune-Telling: User Interactions, Interpretations, and Meanings
- with Austin Toombs, Xinran Peng
- MERRY: A Community-Based Robot For Enhancing Social Connections Among Older Adults (Accepted, HRI 2026)
- I-540 Human Robot Interaction class group project with Nan Hu, Renee Zhu, Leo Zheng
- It Gives Me Something to Hold on to”: Understanding How People Perceive the Role of AI through Spiritual Journeys (Submitted, CHI 2026 Poster)
- with Hansen Lee, Liming Liu
- Inherited Patterns of Care: Translating Cultural Practices for Online Communities (Accepted, DRS 2026)
- with Austin Toombs, Seora Park, Tilar Manion
Bachelor’s Thesis
- The Development of Human–Social Chatbot Relationships: A Case Study of Doubao Users
Conference Presentations
- Zhang, X. (2024). Biopolitical Governance and Gender Dynamics in China: An Analysis of the One-Child Policy and the Emergence of “Leftover Women”. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of National Communication Association (NCA), Feminist and Gender Studies Division, New Orleans, LA.
- Zhang, X. (2024). Empowering and Constraining: The Dual Role of RED in Shaping Queer Women Communities in Digital China. **Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Communication Technology Division, Philadelphia, PA.
- Zhang, X. (2024, April). Entwined Discourse of Misogyny, Confucian Legacy, and Nationalism: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the 'Leftover Women' in Chinese Online Platform. Paper presented at the annual conference of the British Sociological Association (BSA), virtual conference.
- Zhang, X. (2024, April). Streaming Selves: Navigating Gender, Labor, and Power in China's Live Streaming Platform. Paper presented at the annual conference of the British Sociological Association (BSA), virtual conference.
- Zhang, X. (2024). Social Media Use among LGBTQ+ Communities in Everyday Life. Invited talk at the School of Social Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
- Zhang, X. (2023). Networked Queer Communities: An Affordance Analysis of RED's Role among Queer Women. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Hong Kong Sociological Association (HKSA), Hong Kong SAR.