Events

Past Event

Spot the Bot 2020

February 18, 2020
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
America/New_York
The Milstein Center at Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027 Empirical Reasoning Center, First Floor
The Digital Scholarship Unit at Columbia University, in collaboration with Barnard College's Empirical Reasoning Center, are excited to launch a unique spring initiative: Spot the Bot 2020. This initiative seeks to tap into the power of mass reporting as a diligent effort to hold platforms accountable. We will be learning about the grave threats disinformation poses on our democracy, as well as tips and tricks for how to adequately identify and report it. Specifically, we will be honing in on suspicious and threatening content - including, but not limited to bots, fake news, fake accounts, harmful language and/or content, and deepfakes. We will be using a variety of methodologies from manual reporting to web scraping and automating. Launching what we are calling a "Hacktivist Initiative" this community data project will meet 3 times over the course of the Spring semester. No experience coding/scraping is required, and we welcome students, staff, and faculty with all levels of expertise across all disciplines. Our first meeting will be held at the Empirical Reasoning Center (Milstein 102) at Barnard College on February 18th from 1pm-2:30pm. Snacks will be provided. RSVP Required.

Contact Information

Madiha Choksi