Award Abstract # 2309846
I-Corps: Social Media Misinformation Interactive Dashboard

NSF Org: TI
Translational Impacts
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM
Initial Amendment Date: December 20, 2022
Latest Amendment Date: December 20, 2022
Award Number: 2309846
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Ruth Shuman
rshuman@nsf.gov
 (703)292-2160
TI
 Translational Impacts
TIP
 Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships
Start Date: December 1, 2022
End Date: October 31, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $50,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $38,515.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2022 = $38,515.00
History of Investigator:
  • Zhijie Dong (Principal Investigator)
    zdong5@central.uh.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Houston
4300 MARTIN LUTHER KING BLVD
HOUSTON
TX  US  77204-3067
(713)743-5773
Sponsor Congressional District: 18
Primary Place of Performance: University of Houston
4800 W Calhoun
Houston
TX  US  77204-3067
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
18
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): QKWEF8XLMTT3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): I-Corps
Primary Program Source: 01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 8032
Program Element Code(s): 802300
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.084

ABSTRACT

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an online dashboard with misinformation forecast trends and analysis to help address the misinformation endemic in America. Misinformation is a significant issue that may create confusion and misunderstanding about essential topics. Misinformation online may result in people questioning evidence-based medical guidance or refusing safe treatments. Understanding current misinformation content and trends supports both corporate entities and social media users. For corporations, th proposed suite of tools may show how misinformation impacts businesses by exploring and forecasting public sentiment concerning relevant misinformation topics. This analysis may provide value to these agencies by shifting resources from manual identification to analyzing the content and implications of misinformation posts. Individual users may be better equipped by understanding not only the major topics in misinformation but also an explanation of why this misinformation topic is being spread. Potential customers may be drawn to this proposed technology since information demand is met from grassroots organizations, which can be inconsistent with data quality.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of automated data collection, data analytics, and deep learning methodologies. The goal is to develop an application and associated website that centralizes up-to-date misinformation content and metrics. Such a solution will provide potential customers with an enterprise-level system to help better understand the implications and types of misinformation spread across social media platforms. Currently, an array of tools to interact with misinformation content is under development. Pipelines are being constructed to channel and store raw data using the selenium framework for the collection step. Thesedata are stored locally and will act as the raw information to support the finalized dashboard. Deep learning models that are trained to identify text-based misinformation have been developed with the goal of expanding to image, sound, and video identification to address current social content trends. This Transformers framework also identifies sentiment on specified topic groups to support analysis. The proposed technology involves multiple research areas, including big data, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and statistical analysis.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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