Collaboration

Detecting Misinformation Flows in Social Media Spaces During Crisis Events Starbird, Kate (PI), Emma S. Spiro (Co-PI), and Robert Mason (Co-PI). (09/2014-09/2016) National Science Foundation [#IIS-1420255]: $467,629.00. Abstract: This research seeks both to understand the patterns and mechanisms of the diffusion of misinformation on social media and to develop algorithms to automatically detect misinformation as events unfold. During natural disasters and other hazard events, individuals increasingly utilize social media to disseminate, search for and curate event-related information.

Emma Spiro, interning at Microsoft Research (MSR) this summer, is studying the relationship between social media and the recent Brazilian uprising. The research, done in collaboration with MSR researcher Andrés Monroy-Hernández, looks at how the protestors use social media, particularly Twitter, to share their experiences and invite others to join the protests. Findings currently include information about the peak of the protests’ tweets, the international nature of the protests, and the interaction network among the most active users.

The NCASD Lab is proud to announce the kick-off of Project HEROIC, a collaborative, NSF funded effort by the Lab in conjunction with researchers at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS). Through a combination of data collection and modeling of conversation dynamics, the project team aims to understand the relationship between hazard events, informal communication and emergency response. Project HEROIC’s initial phase seeks to understand the role and effectiveness of informal communications on popular microblogging sites, like Twitter, as information sources during disaster events of all types.