We are excited to announce an upcoming workshop on Social Contagions, Artificial Intelligence, and Democracy, which will bring together scholars from diverse fields to explore how social contagions can help us understand the impact of AI and digital technologies on democratic institutions and practices.
In today's interconnected world, digital technologies play a crucial role in our daily lives, mediating global connections through networks for trade, human mobility, social interactions, and information sharing. These technologies can either enhance or undermine personal health and well-being, access to high-quality information, the free exchange of goods and services, and opportunities for civic participation.
Contagion science offers a valuable perspective on how information, beliefs, attitudes, and goods and services spread through these networks. This workshop seeks to engage participants from a wide range of disciplines, including biological, computational, social, economic, behavioral, and political sciences.
The workshop aims to:
Identify external and internal resources on these topics.
Foster conversation and collaboration within the UVA community.
Define directions for new researchers.
The event will feature keynote speakers and panels, followed by participatory discussion sessions. We are honored to have the following keynote speakers:
Damon Centola, Elihu Katz Professor of Communication, Sociology, and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
Serina Chang, Incoming Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley, with a joint appointment in EECS and Computational Precision Health
Bimal Viswanath, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
The workshop will follow Chatham House rules, and the organizers plan to produce an open-access publication/report for distribution to advocates, scholars, legislators, and policymakers.
Click here to learn more and register today!