How did echo chambers influence the 2020 election?

Research from Sandra González-Bailón shows that people are consuming news from more diverse sources, but many don’t consume any news at all. It’s too soon to tell what role that played in the recent race for president.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

How Data Science Can Help Marketers Manage Unprecedented Disruption

Recently, Barbara Kahn, executive director of MSI and Wharton Marketing Professor, sat down with Kartik Hosanagar and Raghuram Iyengar. They discussed how AI and analytics can be used for governance and risk mitigation, and how algorithms can be used to manage disruption in unpredictable times.

Marketing

Ubiquity of Data

Mobile Phones Help Americans Encounter More Diverse News

In a new study published in PNAS, Sandra González-Bailón found that contrary to the conventional wisdom about segregated news bubbles, mobile devices are exposing Americans to a much greater variety of news, diversifying the stories that people encounter and exposing them to a breadth of information sources.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

The role of data in a world reshaped by COVID-19

Experts across Penn, including Warren Center affiliates Duncan Watts, Maria Cuellar, Shane Jensen, and Jason Moore, share their insights on how data and data science affect their fields in the context of an ongoing pandemic.

Biomedical Informatics
Communication
Computer and Information Science
Criminology
Operations Information and Decisions
Statistics

Ubiquity of Data

Amazon Scholars Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth discuss the ethics of machine learning

Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth, two of the world’s leading experts on algorithmic bias, look back at the events of the past year and reflect on what we’ve learned, what we’re still grappling with, and how far we have to go.

Computer and Information Science

Social Norms for Algorithms

Why Social Media Makes Us More Polarized and How to Fix It

Facebook has become a battleground among partisan “echo chambers.” But what is it about social media that makes people so polarized? According to Damon Centola's Scientific American op-ed, research shows it’s the influencers, not the networks themselves, that amplify differences between us.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Outside Their Bubbles

The Undergraduate Data Science Hangout, organized by Bhuvnesh Jain, connects students and faculty across seemingly disparate disciplines. This summer, researchers from 10 departments covered 22 topics ranging from virus tracking to electoral politics to the universe’s expansion.

Physics and Astronomy
Statistics

Ubiquity of Data

Eleni Katifori awarded the 2021 APS Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research

Congratulations to Eleni Katifori, who has been awarded the 2021 APS Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research for her work "For the seminal use of physical principles in understanding living transport networks."

Physics and Astronomy

Resilience in Networked Systems

New study by Prof. Coglianese shows that ‘unrules’ are ubiquitous in U.S. regulatory system and require greater oversight

In the recently released paper “Unrules,” Cary Coglianese present his findings from the “first systematic empirical investigation of the hidden world of unrules”: evidence that challenges the widespread perception of the U.S. regulatory system as inflexible and burdensome.

Law

Ubiquity of Data

Facebook Keeps Data Secret, Letting Conservative Bias Claims Persist

Duncan Watts was quoted in this recent NPR article exploring Republicans claims that Facebook is biased. The consensus: There is no statistical evidence to support the argument that Facebook does not give conservative views a fair shake.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Operations Information and Decisions

Ubiquity of Data