November 2, 2018 - November 3, 2018
9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
This workshop, organized by The Warren Center, will run over two days. In the first day, five keynote speakers will survey the “lay of the land” from different perspectives. For example, how does propaganda or deceptive news spread over social networks, and what can different institutions do about it? Does viral deception cause polarization, or is it merely a reflection of it? How has viral deception and polarization affected recent election outcomes?
In the second day, leading specialists in computer science, economics and sociology will discuss different ways to think about the spread of deceptive news, its effects on important social outcomes—like misinformation and polarization—and what might social media platforms be able to do about it.
Organized by Eduard Talamàs, Michael Kearns, and Rakesh Vohra.
Day 1: Keynote speakers
9:45 am – 10:00 am: Coffee and light snacks
10:00 am – 11:00 am: Alan Abramowitz, Department of Political Science, Emory University
“Polarization, Negative Partisanship and the State of American Politics” SLIDES
11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Levi Boxell, Department of Economics, Stanford University
“The Internet, Political Polarization, and the 2016 Election” SLIDES
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Samantha Bradshaw, Computational Propaganda Project, Oxford University
“Why Does Disinformation Spread So Quickly on Social Media?” SLIDES
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Eugene Kiely, Executive Director of FactCheck.org
“Combating Viral Deceptions: Stories from the front lines” SLIDES
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Katerina Eva Matsa, Pew Research Foundation
“The News Media Landscape in a Digital, Polarized Age” SLIDES courtesy of Pew Research Center
6:00 pm: Dinner for all speakers
Day 2:
8:30 am – 9:00 am: Light breakfast
9:00 am – 9:45 am: Ron Berman, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
“Curation Algorithms and Filter Bubbles in Social Networks” SLIDES
10:00 am – 10:45 am: Ozan Candogan, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
“Optimal Signaling of Content Accuracy: Engagement vs. Misinformation” SLIDES
11:00 am – 11:45 am: Marcos Fernandes, Department of Economics, Stony Brook University
“Social Media Networks, Fake News, and Polarization” SLIDES
11:45 am – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm: Sandra González-Bailón, Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania
“The Backbone Structure of Audience Networks” SLIDES
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm: Evan Sadler, Department of Economics, Columbia University
“Influence Campaigns” SLIDES
3:00 pm – 3:45 pm: Donghee Jo, Department of Economics, MIT
“Better the Devil You Know: An Online Field Experiment on News Consumption” SLIDES
4:00 pm – 4:45 pm: Srijan Kumar, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University
“Conflicts and sockpuppets on the web” SLIDES