The spread of misinformation via social networks has become a major problem in societies all over the world in recent years, impacting areas including political elections and public health. As a result, many agencies are looking to technologies - including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data science and cybersecurity - to help manage the impacts of rumours and false information. This is an active area of research in Cardiff University's Crime & Security Research Institute and we are looking for project students to help our efforts this summer. There are many possible individual project topics under this general area, depending on the interests and expertise of the students. Some examples are below, but feel free to suggest additional ideas:

1) Use AI and ML to classify types of misinformation and, potentially, the intent behind them; 2) Use data science techniques to identify recurring patterns of misinformation (e.g., rumours that keep popping up); 3) Use information management techniques (databases, fast search) to rapidly capture, catalogue and track kinds of misinformation; 4) Use data science/AI/ML techniques to analyse patterns of misinformation on specific social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, reddit, Instagram) and/or compare them; 5) For students fluent in languages other than English: use data science/AI/ML techniques to analyse patterns of misinformation in different languages/regions; 6) Use distributed ledger (self sovereign identity) technologies to ratify trustworthy sources (credentials and expertise) on social media; 7) Use social media platforms as a pseudo distributed ledger for identity management, as a way to ratify the identify of information sources.

Students undertaking these multiple projects will be supervised as a group, and supported by the research team in the Crime & Security Research Institute. Datasets will be made available for some of the projects; in other cases the team will guide you in how to collect data. You will be expected to present your work regularly and you will gain feedback from the research team.

SEE ALSO https://crimeandsecurity.org/feed/ http://upsi.org.uk/news/2018/4/23/briefing-paper-digital-influence-engineering https://orca.cf.ac.uk/89374/1/ita_spie2016_v2.pdf