Kate Starbird's research is situated within human-computer interaction (HCI) and the emerging field of crisis informatics—the study of the how information-communication technologies (ICTs) are used during crisis events. More specifically, her research examines how people use social media to seek, share, and make sense of information after natural disasters (such as earthquakes and hurricanes) and man-made disasters (such as acts of terrorism and mass shooting events). Kate's research deals firsthand with the nature of disinformation that flourishes in the developing world, now often transmitted through ICT technologies. She points out how the spread of misinformation following disaster events or violence is often accidental - where events move so fast that the proper information is obscured. This would sometimes even occur among journalists, where due to the need for stories to be broken as early as possible, errant facts would spread like wildfire. As for whether this current proliferation of false information is a blip or a long-term trend, Kate suggests that it is here to stay as long as technology is not evolving to keep pace with this new rapid-fire spread of information. But she also makes it clear that moreso than the need for a technological development, the symptoms of the misinformation crisis are more to do with culture and education than anything else.