Research Challenge 4

Fixing Social Media

The spread of false information and increasingly polarized political discussions on social media poses a threat to democracy. This is particularly true in the Philippines, which consistently tops ranking of social media use, and where "divided politics feed – and feed on – a divided web". How does social media contribute to political conflict in the Philippines? Can ICTs be reimagined/redesigned to facilitate more empathetic and effective online conversation? How can we reimagine community through technology? Should we fundamentally question the idea that more connectivity doesn’t necessarily lead to better conversations? What are the emerging trends in social media, especially among the youth? Why have the monopolies of powerful social media platforms continued to persist, and what are new emerging platforms for online communication that may disrupt these monopolies? When new trends are emerging in terms of online communication and behaviors, and when do certain behaviors become acceptable or unacceptable?

In this project you will explore and learn to

Construct a descriptive framework that captures the features and shortcoming of current social media environments and how it enables (or hinders) ideal online interactions
Review policies (e.g., net neutrality) and management decisions (e.g., walled gardens) that influence (perhaps in unexpected ways) online communication and behavior
Play with and understand techniques for creating fake information, such as deep fake media
Use and evaluate existing tools for detecting fake information and compare them with other evaluation techniques
Predict or speculate about potential problems with social media and online communities in the future
Identify specific case studies to test out interventions, and design and test solutions for monitoring and intervening in current and emerging future problems in social media and online communities

Skills, disciplines, and perspectives welcome include (but are not limited to) the following

Development communication, technology management, science and technology studies, history, data science, machine learning, personal psychology, performance studies, anthropology, community development, multimedia

Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Primary Facilitators and Mentors

Other facilitators and mentors may also contribute to this project

Inspiration, resources, and readings

Suggested by Pieter
Suggested by Birdie
Suggested by Al
Suggested by Mona
- Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy
- Theater of the Oppressed
Suggested by Diego
- ‪Hidden resilience and adaptive dynamics of the global online hate ecology (see also the layperson's summary and the Nature podcast episode about the article)
- Dunbar's number: Is there a limit to the number of people we can meaningfully have a relationship with? NPR/TED talk and Christopher Allen's blog post
- A Little Less Conversation
- Other suggestions: Calling Bullshit: Data Reasoning in a Digital World • Episode from The Fix: Let's Fix Social Media • On Facebook, "political ads are ineligible for fact-checking." • #2030Now: We are entering a ‘new dark age’ because of internet – Andrew Keen • Taking Back Social Media from Glitch.com • Talking Europe and What happened when we paired up thousands of strangers to talk politics • Twitter's Harassment Problem Is Baked Into Its Design • How Cambridge Analytica’s parent company helped ‘man of action’ Rodrigo Duterte win the 2016 Philippines election • Why #blessed is the most annoying hashtag on Instagram • What obligation do social media platforms have to the greater good? (TED Talk) • Academic Carelessness, Bootstrapping, and the Cybernetic Investigator • The Internet Imaginaire • Are networks (becoming) conscious?