Week 12 Activity (Tuesday): Colloquium talk at Mudd

This week, Harvey Mudd College hosts a talk by Jonathan Chang, from Cornell University, who is a candidate for a faculty position in the CS department at the college and a Mudd alum. The talk begins at 4:15 PM on Tuesday, but a reception with refreshments will be held outside at 4:00 PM.

There are two colloquium talks this week, so we have slightly different rules for this week for students enrolled in CS Colloquium (CS 195).

• We would be hugely pleased to have you attend both talks. These talks don't only let us see a faculty candidate, they also let the faculty candidate see us, so having a good audience is important. But if you can only manage to see a single talk this week, that is okay too.
• If you are in Section 1, we know you're free for our other talk (which is at the usual time on Thursday), but if you're free to attend this talk, feel free to do so, either as well or instead.
• If you are in Section 2, and you can attend this talk live and in person in its timeslot, we would be strongly encourage you to do so.

Towards Computational Methods for Supporting Healthier Online Interactions

Abstract

One of the biggest problems facing online platforms today is the prevalence of so-called “toxic'” behavior, such as personal attacks, harassment, and general incivility. While a lot of recent computational research has responded to this problem by developing algorithms to detect toxicity, I argue that this approach implicitly centers the perspective of platform owners, who would be in a position to employ these algorithms for moderation, and leaves out an equally important perspective: that of the communities of ordinary users who interact on these platforms. Therefore, my research focuses on the following question: how can technology support members of online communities in having healthier interactions, and thereby prevent toxicity from taking root? I tackle this question through a combined social and technical research agenda, in which I use both data-driven analysis and qualitative interviews to identify specific needs that are faced by online communities, pioneer new computational methods to address those needs, and collaborate with online communities to explore the potential real-world impact of these new technologies.

Content warning: This talk discusses issues surrounding toxic behavior in online communities. Some behavior depicted may be considered offensive or disturbing.

About Jonathan Chang

Jonathan P. Chang (HMC ‘17) is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, advised by Professor Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil. His research focuses on finding ways to promote healthier interactions in online communities. He approaches this problem both from a technical perspective—developing new algorithms and computational models to characterize and detect behaviors that are harmful to online communities; and a social perspective—exploring how such technologies can best be leveraged to create tools and policies with a positive impact. His work has been covered in popular media outlets including NPR, MIT Technology Review, and The Verge.

When and How to Attend

• Tuesday, November 14
  • Location: Galileo McAlister, Harvey Mudd College
  • Optional reception begins at 4:00 PM
  • Talk runs from 4:15–5:30 PM

Recording for Section 2

Required Assessment

To receive credit for attending this colloquium, complete the assessment:

• Assessment

Please do so at your soonest convenience, within 24 hours of seeing the talk.

(When logged in, completion status appears here.)

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