An increasing number of people across the United States are opting to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Still, polls suggest that roughly one-quarter to one-third of the American public remains hesitant to get the vaccine, a serious concern when it comes to reaching herd immunity.
A new project from Indiana University's Observatory on Social Media, or OSoMe, which is an IUNI partner-project, points to misinformation as a factor affecting COVID-19 vaccine adoption.
IUNI Advisory Council Members Brea Perry and Bernice Pescosolido were awarded a Russell Sage Foundation research grant for their study of social network dynamics and consequences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. More specifically, the research project will examine the role of personal community networks in mitigating the adverse consequences of the pandemic.
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named 95 members ACM Fellows for wide-ranging and fundamental contributions in areas including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, computer graphics, computational biology, data science, human-computer interaction, software engineering, theoretical computer science, and virtual reality, among other areas. The accomplishments of the 2020 ACM Fellows have driven innovations that ushered in significant improvements across many areas of technology, indus.try, and personal life.
IUNI Advisory Council Member Filippo Menczer was selected as a fellow for his research on the vulnerability of social media networks to disinformation and manipulation.
An interdisciplinary team led by Indiana University social neuroscientist Anne Krendl and IUNI Advisory Council Member Brea Perry was awarded $3.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to navigate a phenomenon with major promise for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease: that the social connectedness of older adults predicts their vulnerability to Alzheimer's and general cognitive decline.
Similarities among individuals living in the same communities can dramatically change their risk of dying by suicide, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers, including Indiana University Network Science Institute Advisory Council Member Bernice Pescosolido and Affiliate BK Lee.
The first presidential debate has come and gone, early voting is underway in many states, and the 2020 election is top of mind for most Americans and at the center of many conversations online. But the spread of false narratives about the election through social media poses a serious threat to American democracy. The Observatory on Social Media (OSoMe) at Indiana University has a collection of tools and studies that aid in the fight against election manipulation and disinformation.
OSoMe is a partner project of the Indiana University Network Science Institute.
"Kamala Harris is not a natural-born American citizen." False. "Joe Biden's family has illegal business ties with China." False. Believe it or not, large segments of the population are aware of these kinds of unsupported narratives related to the fall 2020 election and believe that at least some of these narratives are true, according to the first in a new series of reports by Indiana University's Observatory on Social Media, also known as OSoMe.
OSoMe is partner project of the Indiana University Network Science Institute.
In the world of scientific research today, there’s a revolution going on – over the last decade or so, scientists across many disciplines have been seeking to improve the workings of science and its methods.
To do this, scientists are largely following one of two paths: the movement for reproducibility and the movement for open science. Both movements aim to create centralized archives for data, computer code and other resources, but from there, the paths diverge. The movement for reproducibility calls on scientists to reproduce the results of past experiments to verify earlier results, while open science calls on scientists to share resources so that future research can build on what has been done, ask new questions and advance science.
Now, an international research team led by IU’s Mary Murphy, Amanda Mejia, Jorge Mejia, Yan Xiaoran, Patty Mabry, Susanne Ressl, Amanda Diekman, and Franco Pestilli, finds the two movements do more than diverge.
Many Americans say they know someone who has battled drug addiction. And meaningful social contact with people who have experienced addiction can effectively reduce prejudice and discrimination, according to preliminary findings from Indiana University researchers.
The study, conducted by Brea Perry, professor of sociology at IU and an advisory council member at the IU Network Science Institute, used data from the Person to Person (P2P) Health Interview Study, a state representative, face-to-face survey, to assesses negative stereotypes, attitudes and behaviors that affect people with opioid use disorder, their families and friends, and healthcare providers. As of August 2020, around 1,800 respondents had completed the survey.
Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media, funded in part last year with a $3 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has named two new Knight Fellows.
Matthew DeVerna and Harry Yaojun Yan will help advance the center’s ongoing investigations into how information and misinformation spread online. The Observatory on Social Media, or OSoMe (pronounced “awesome”), is a collaboration between the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering; The Media School; and the IU Network Science Institute.
