RESEARCH
AI and Social Media are shattering shared, social reality. It doesn't have to be this way.
People have always disagreed about what's right and wrong, good and bad, essential and optional. However, now people fundamentally disagree about reality. Every person and every group can choose their facts out of an infinite menu of online options - podcasts, reels, posts, tweets, and blogs. If we can't agree on what reality looks like, how can we work together?
In his research, Derek is building tools and techniques that help researchers and practitioners rapidly discover these emerging realities, figure out where they're coming from, and respond to them - all without being totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume of facts, conflicting realities, and groups active at any moment in time on the internet.
Initiatives
Together with his students and collaborators, Derek is tackling these challenges and pursuing these opportunities from multiple directions.
Mapping Realities
How do different groups understand the world at any given moment? Who believes in which story? What evidence is being used to support them?
Bot or Not?
To what extent are particular agendas being promoted by algorithms pretending to be humans? Do we have any hope of countering bots directly?
Counterspeech at Scale
How do we equip vulnerable and marginalized groups to push back against stories that are mobilizing people to target, disempower, or dehumanize them?
Creating One Discussion
Researchers, activists, companies, and governments often all care about the same problem, but work in silos. How do we bring all these separate conversations into one, big productive discussion? Derek is building techniques to figure out where the disconnects are and how to link up different stakeholders.