Politics, Sense-making and Persuasion: NLP Case studies from Edinburgh’s SMASH research group

Abstract: Sandrine Chausson and Tom Bidewell are PhD students at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in Natural Language Processing and Computational Social Science. They are currently visiting Australia, where they are meeting with research labs across the country to connect with existing collaborators and build new research relationships.

 

In this introductory talk, they will briefly introduce themselves and outline their research interests.

 

Sandrine’s work focuses on developing computational text analysis methods and applying them for social science research. Substantively, her research investigates collective processes of narrative-building, sense-making and norm-shifting on social media and in the “mainstream” news. In her presentation, she will talk about some of the tools and methods she co-developed, and describe two of her projects related to the 2020 US presidential elections and 2022 FIFA World Cup respectively.

 

Tom’s research examines the persuasive capabilities of AI, with ongoing projects on persuasion in multilingual contexts and cultural targeting. His work also engages with political communication, including research on how gender shapes the communication practices of political elites on far-right social media platforms. As he is still early in his PhD journey, Tom hopes this visit will open up opportunities for future discussions and connections.

The talk will also introduce the Social Media Analysis and Support for Humanity (SMASH) research group at the University of Edinburgh, of which Sandrine and Tom are members. They will discuss the group’s research agenda and highlight some of its key members.