During the University of Washington Information School’s recent Capstone 2021, where soon-to-graduate iSchool students presented projects where they applied skills and lessons from their coursework to solve a real-world information problem, often in partnership with a business, organization or government agency, two projects sponsored by the Center for an Informed Public received awards for research and social impact.
In “Tracking Users Across Parler and Twitter,” which was honored with Capstone’s Research Award, MSIM student Steven Prochaska asked this primary question: “What were the social media behavior and content patterns of users across Parler and Twitter that engaged in conversations leading up to the January 6th insurrection?”
According to Prochaska’s project description:
The riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, exemplify in dramatic fashion the potential for problematic online narratives to have offline consequences. More work is needed to better understand the impacts of mis/disinformation and its role in such events. Using case studies of users across Parler and Twitter, I found that definitions of acceptable conservativism are becoming more narrowly defined and that there is increasing narrative-based collaboration between international conservative groups. These are important discoveries that will increase researchers’ understandings of mis/disinformation and help align solutions designed to mitigate these problems.
Prochaska was advised by iSchool associate professor and CIP director Jevin West.
In Combating Misinformation through Facebook Messenger Chatbot (iSIFT), which won a Capstone Social Impact Award, Informatics students Joseph Altamira, Jazmynn Combes-Troyer, Saasha Mor and Judith Wong helped create a Facebook Messenger chatbot inspired by the “SIFT” fact-checking method developed by Michael Caulfield, a Washington State University Vancouver digital literacy expert, UW iSchool affiliate instructor and CIP faculty member. Caulfield and CIP postdoctoral fellow Kolina Koltai advised the students.
From the iSIFT team’s project description:
Digital misinformation is a growing problem which threatens to undermine U.S. democracy. Working with the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public (CIP), this project applies the SIFT fact-checking strategy to a Facebook-based intervention to mitigate the spread of misinformation online. A Facebook Messenger chatbot prompts users to fact-check articles and provides an information extraction tool to expedite the fact-checking process. The project, iSIFT, reduces the amount of time needed to fact-check and trains users in information verification best practices to create a community of information skeptics and critical thinkers.
Development of the iSIFT chatbot will continue by future iSchool student Capstone teams.
