About Us
Wenli Gao
Project Director
Wenli Gao is the Data Services Librarian at University of
Houston. She earned a master of library science degree from Syracuse University, and a master’s degree in communication media technologies from Rochester Institute of Technology. Wenli is active in the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). She has presented at a variety of conferences on the topic of data analysis and data visualization. Her scholarly work has been published in peer
reviewed journals including Journal of Library Administration, Collection Management,
Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, etc. Wenli is one of 30 librarians selected
nationwide to attend the inaugural Data and Visualization Institute for Librarians, a
week-long course hosted by North Carolina State University Libraries and the Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Linda Camaj, Ph.D.
Project Director
Dr. Lindita Camaj is an assistant professor at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston. She got her Ph.D. and M.A. at the Indiana University School of Journalism, concentrating on political communication and journalism
studies. A big portion of her scholarly work examines journalists’ access to information and Freedom of Information laws from a global perspective. Her scholarly work has been awarded by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
(AEJMC) and published in a wide range of high-quality research journals including
Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Press/Politics, Government Information Quarterly, Journal of Information Technology and Politics, etc. Her published research has used survey data, governmental data, data from global non-governmental organizations (United Nations, World Health Organization, etc.) and social media data (Facebook and Twitter). She teaches classes in journalism including Data
Journalism and Blogging. Before entering academia, she worked as a journalist for
multiple national and international media organizations in South-Eastern Europe,
including the Institute of War and Peace Reporting and Radio Free Europe. She specialized in public affairs reporting, electoral coverage, and reporting on judiciary affairs.
Regina Dennis
Research Assistant
Regina Dennis is a graduate student at the University of Houston studying mass communications. She received her bachelor’s
degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She previously spent eight years as a reporter for various Texas newspapers, including stints at the Bryan-College Station Eagle, the Austin American-Statesman, and the Waco Tribune-Herald, covering higher education, county government, city council, and crime. In 2015, she received second place in feature writing, Class 3A, from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors (Texas APME), and she was part of a team of reporters awarded the 2014 Headliner Excellence in Journalism Award for Star Breaking News Report, Class 3A, from Texas APME. Her research interests include journalistic roles and perceptions, activism and social movements, ethics and norms governing social media in reporting, and social media as a community empowerment tool.