Projektbeschreibung
Algorithmen zur Verringerung von Unzulänglichkeiten in Online-Medien
Der Aufstieg der Online-Medien schuf die Erwartung demokratischerer und vielfältigerer Informationen und einer wirklich öffentlichen Debatte. Die Verbreitung der Online-Medien und insbesondere der sogenannten sozialen Medien zeigte jedoch, dass die Effekte nicht die Vielfalt förderten, sondern Silos geschaffen und eine Polarisierung bewirkt haben. Beobachter stellten fest, dass Nutzer dazu neigen, jenen Medien zu folgen, die ihre Ansichten stützen und den Kontakt mit jenen meiden, die widersprüchliche Ansichten fördern. In der Folge neigen die Netzbürger dazu, ihre bestehenden Überzeugungen und Meinungen zu verstärken, statt alle Ansichten zu berücksichtigen. Im Rahmen des EU-finanzierten Projekts REBOUND werden theoretische Programme und eine Reihe spezifischer algorithmischer Techniken entwickelt, um Unzulänglichkeiten in Online-Medien zu untersuchen. Das Projekt soll neue Methoden vorschlagen, die zu mehr Vielfalt in Online-Medien beitragen.
Ziel
Online media is an important part of modern information society, offering a podium for public discourse and hosting the opinions of hundreds of millions of individuals. Online media are often credited for providing a technological means to break information barriers and promote diversity and democracy. In practice, however, the opposite effect is often observed: users tend to favor content that agrees with their existing world-view, get less exposure to conflicting viewpoints, and eventually create information silos and increased polarization. Arguably, without any kind of mediation, current social-media platforms gravitate towards a state in which net-citizens are constantly reinforcing their existing opinions.
In this project we will develop theoretical foundations and a concrete set of algorithmic techniques to address deficiencies in today's online media. We will develop methods to discover structure and patterns of segregation, conflict, and closeness in social-media systems. We will address the issues of reducing bias and polarization, breaking information silos, and creating awareness of users to explore alternative viewpoints. We will also study the effect of different design features to the willingness of the users to explore viewpoints that conflict their opinion.
The project is structured along three interwined research thrusts: knowledge discovery, exploration, and content recommendation. To accomplish its aims the project will formulate novel problem representations that provide a deeper understanding of the undesirable phenomena observed in online media and allow for effective remedial actions. Strong emphasis will be given on designing algorithms that are scalable to large data, are able to deal with uncertainty, and offer theoretical guarantees. The end result will be a set of new methods and tools that will contribute to increasing exposure to diverse ideas and improving online deliberation.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Schlüsselbegriffe
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Finanzierungsplan
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
100 44 Stockholm
Schweden