Events Calendar

CS Colloquium: Mai ElSherief (Georgia Institute of Technology) - Computational Methods for Identifying Deviant Content in Online Media Ecosystems

Speaker: Mai ElSherief, Georgia Institute of Technology

Talk Title: Computational Methods for Identifying Deviant Content in Online Media Ecosystems

Series: CS Colloquium

Abstract: In recent years, the pervasive adoption of social media has created an ecosystem populated by a pandemonium of opinion, true and false information, and an unprecedented quantity of data on many topics. While online information ecosystems provide freedom of expression and give voice to individuals, they have also suffered a wave of disorder due to the prevalence of malevolent online misuse, manifested as online harassment, cyberbullying, and hate speech; and online misinformation, such as fake news and medical misinformation movements. In this talk, I will present language-centric approaches for improving online hate speech detection and characterization. I will then showcase a human-machine mixed-initiative that aims at investigating and detecting online misinformation surrounding Opioid Use Disorders in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

Biography: Mai ElSherief is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. Her research interests lie at the intersection of Social Computing, Natural Language Processing, and Online Social Networks, specifically causes of social good. In her research, she adopts Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning methods to examine human behavior pertaining to online abuse, biases, public health intelligence, and community wellbeing. Prior to her Postdoctoral Fellowship, she received Ph.D. from the Computer Science department at UC, Santa Barbara within the Mobility Management and Networking (MOMENT) Lab along with a Certificate in College and University Teaching (CCUT) to demonstrate superior competence and experience in preparation for teaching at the university or college level.

Her research on computationally understanding the psychological impacts of active shooting drills on K-12 school communities received press coverage by NBC, the Hill, and 11Alive. She has been a summer research intern at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University understanding anti-immigration sentiment and the discursive practices of online hate groups. She has been selected as a 2020 UC Berkley EECS Rising Stars Participant. She was also awarded the UCSB 2019 CS Outstanding Graduate Student and the 2017 Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate mentoring award for her distinguished research mentoring of undergraduate students.


Host: Bistra Dilkina

Audiences: By invitation only.

Contact: Assistant to CS chair