Pol Comm Tech Lab

Political actors are experimenting with tools like machine learning and artificial intelligence. In this report we looked for key cases highlighting specific uses of AI in the Canadian political context. This includes creating synthetic content, using AI-driven tools to analyze social media posts, polling and predicting elections, targeted political advertising, and more.

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Funding: uO Research Chair in Politics, Communication and Technology; the Scotiabank Fund for AI;  Society at the University of Ottawa AI + Society Initiative.

This project examines the amount and types of negativity directed at journalists on Twitter. While social media has fostered an environment for journalists and the public to connect and interact in creative ways, it also makes journalists, particularly women journalists, vulnerable to online bullying and harassment. Dealing with mean tweets has become part of journalists' job description.

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Funding: SSHRC Insight Development Grant

This project investigates how explanatory journalism informs public dialogue and policy action, against a backdrop of declining commercial news media and concerns about disinformation. This is part of a larger project led by Dr. Alfred Hermida and Dr. Mary Lynn Young at the University of British Columbia, in collaboration with The Conversation Canada, and its network of affiliates in Australia, France, the UK, and the US.

 

Funding: SSHRC Partnership Grant

This large-scale collaboration included 18 research teams from across Canada and internationally who each worked with digital data collected during the 2019 federal election in Canada. Running from April 2019 to March 2020, the goal of the project was to map the digital ecosystem during the 2019 federal election in order to support increased civic and digital literacy. 

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Funding: Canada History Fund Grant (Digital Citizen Initiative), Government of Canada

This project unpacks what it means to be a citizen in a digital context in Canada and presents a research agenda for developing a deeper understanding of the ways Canadians use the Internet to engage in digital media environments. So far the Initiative includes a conference, report, edited book, and book chapter.

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Funding: SSHRC Connections Grant