DISMIS Speaker Series, Fall 2023: Andrew Guess

The Hub for Dis-/misinformation research (DISMIS) is launching its first Speaker Series this fall, where we will have the pleasure to welcome Andrew Guess (Princeton University) and Anita Gohdes (the Hertie School) to the University of Copenhagen.

They will present their cutting-edge research and recent insights on misinformation and digital repression with plenty of time to engage with the audience following their presentations. Their talks will take place on the following dates:

• Andrew Guess: Wednesday, October 25^th, 2023, at 11:00-12:30 at Centre for Health and Society in room 5.0.28
   
• Anita Gohdes: Monday, November 20^th, 2023, at 11:00-12:30 at Centre for Health and Society in room 2.0.63

Andrew Guess: "How Social Media Algorithms Shape Feed Content: Evidence from the Meta Collaboration Studies".

Abstract:

Policymakers and the public are increasingly interested in the effects of social media algorithms on society. In this talk, I outline some of the challenges this topic poses to researchers. I then introduce an approach to studying these systems' effects on individuals: a large-scale collaboration with Meta during the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign. Focusing on experiments designed to change how posts were ranked in users’ feeds, I explore how our treatments altered the types of content users saw. Among the categories we analyze are political news, posts from like-minded (vs. cross-cutting) sources, and posts from sources deemed untrustworthy. Finally, I discuss the effects of our treatments on individuals’ political behavior, knowledge, and attitudes.

Bio:

Andy Guess is an assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University whose research uses quantitative and computational methods to study the relationship between digital media and politics. His work has been supported by grants from VolkswagenStiftung, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the National Science Foundation and published in peer-reviewed journals such as Science Advances, Nature Human Behaviour, and the American Journal of Political Science. He is a founding co-editor of the Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media.

Make sure to sign up ahead of the talks. Spots are limited! [REGISTRATION IS CLOSED]

NB: We kindly ask you to cancel (by writing to oham@ifs.ku.dk) if your plans change and you are prevented from coming, thereby we can give the spot to someone else and ensure that the lecture room is full.

Office hours with Andrew Guess: Andrew has agreed to meet with students and faculty one-on-one. Reach out to oham@ifs.ku.dk if this is of interest to you, and we will designate 5-10 min for you to meet.