ANTISOCIAL COMPUTING
CS 498 | FALL 2022
Instructor: Eshwar Chandrasekharan
Email: eshwar at illinois dot edu
TA: Fred Choi
Email: fc20 at illinois dot edu
Office hours by appointment.
Class time: Tues & Thurs, 3:30 - 4:45 PM Central Time
Location: 1035 Campus Instructional Facility (in-person, synchronous discussions).
Class schedule: Syllabus
Syllabus:
In this course, we will explore recent advances in detecting and discouraging antisocial behavior on the Internet. Focusing on a combination of sociological foundations and recent advances in HCI, NLP, and human-centered AI, we will examine online moderation through three lenses: understanding, building, and evaluating.
First, we will survey the large spectrum of abusive behavior prevalent on the Internet and understand how current research defines such behavior. Next, we will examine existing moderation tools built using computational techniques and social computing theory. Finally, we will review experimental studies, surveys and real-time deployments that evaluate the efficacy of moderation strategies.
Here's the link to the course schedule.
Course Overview:
Through this course, students will read and critique high-impact research papers, lead class discussions, engage with peers, brainstorm research ideas, learn to provide and receive constructive peer-feedback, and execute new research ideas for their final project.
Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
Assignments and Grading:
Your grade is based on:
Detailed information about the course components can be found here. All related course documents can be found on Google Drive.
Texts:
There are no required texts in this course. The readings assigned for each class will be linked in the class schedule.
Note:
Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, substance/alcohol abuse, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance, social development, and emotional wellbeing. The University of Illinois offers a variety of confidential services including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, psychiatric services, and specialized screenings at no additional cost. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above mental health concerns, it is strongly encouraged to contact or visit any of the University's resources provided below. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for those who care about you.
Counseling Center: 217-333-3704, 610 East John Street Champaign, IL 61820
McKinley Health Center:217-333-2700, 1109 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
University wellness center: https://wellness.illinois.edu/
Related classes:
Social Computing by Eric Gilbert
Social Computing by Munmun De Choudhury
Computational Social Science by Jacob Eisenstein
Email: eshwar at illinois dot edu
TA: Fred Choi
Email: fc20 at illinois dot edu
Office hours by appointment.
Class time: Tues & Thurs, 3:30 - 4:45 PM Central Time
Location: 1035 Campus Instructional Facility (in-person, synchronous discussions).
Class schedule: Syllabus
Syllabus:
In this course, we will explore recent advances in detecting and discouraging antisocial behavior on the Internet. Focusing on a combination of sociological foundations and recent advances in HCI, NLP, and human-centered AI, we will examine online moderation through three lenses: understanding, building, and evaluating.
First, we will survey the large spectrum of abusive behavior prevalent on the Internet and understand how current research defines such behavior. Next, we will examine existing moderation tools built using computational techniques and social computing theory. Finally, we will review experimental studies, surveys and real-time deployments that evaluate the efficacy of moderation strategies.
Here's the link to the course schedule.
Course Overview:
Through this course, students will read and critique high-impact research papers, lead class discussions, engage with peers, brainstorm research ideas, learn to provide and receive constructive peer-feedback, and execute new research ideas for their final project.
Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand research issues in this field,
- Engage with scholars and scholarly work critically, and
- Design new research projects to address existing gaps.
Assignments and Grading:
Your grade is based on:
- Reading reflections (20%),
- Leading a class discussion on assigned readings (15%),
- Class participation and engaging with discussion leads (15%),
- Research pitches on two new ideas: data or design (5 + 5%)
- Project proposal and talk on the design of a project building on your pitch (7.5 + 7.5%),
- Final paper and talk to summarize the project and present findings/demo (12.5 + 12.5%).
Detailed information about the course components can be found here. All related course documents can be found on Google Drive.
Texts:
There are no required texts in this course. The readings assigned for each class will be linked in the class schedule.
Note:
Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, substance/alcohol abuse, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance, social development, and emotional wellbeing. The University of Illinois offers a variety of confidential services including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, psychiatric services, and specialized screenings at no additional cost. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above mental health concerns, it is strongly encouraged to contact or visit any of the University's resources provided below. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for those who care about you.
Counseling Center: 217-333-3704, 610 East John Street Champaign, IL 61820
McKinley Health Center:217-333-2700, 1109 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
University wellness center: https://wellness.illinois.edu/
Related classes:
Social Computing by Eric Gilbert
Social Computing by Munmun De Choudhury
Computational Social Science by Jacob Eisenstein