Dr. Jeong-Nam Kim has won a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant for his work titled “Opinion Spam in Digital Rulemaking: Techniques, Effects and Interventions" with three OU faculty (Matt Jensen, Yifu Li, & Elena Bessarvoba). His research team will include Gaylord master’s student James Hollenczer, doctoral candidate Hyelim Lee and alumna Dr. Loarre Andreu Perez. Their research will examine how opinion spam across digital spaces could be prevented, thereby preserving or restoring public trust in digital rulemaking. The three-phase study will include generating models for distinguishing fictitious or artificial comments and also testing efficacy of the mitigating strategies using AI deduplication system.
Kim, Gaylord Family Chair of Public Relations/Strategic Communication, is director of OU’s Debiasing and Lay Informatics Lab. The lab has also partnered with the Analytics/Assessment Research Centre in Hong Kong (Director, Ming Ming Chiu) and Data Institute for Societal Challenges (Director, David Ebert) for a grant-funded study using Kim’s situational theory of problem solving to develop theories and operating systems to detect fake pandemic information on globalized social media. The $1 million project, “Detecting COVID-19 fake news on social media across four languages: Followers, emotions, relationship and uncertainty,” has been funded for five years.
About the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication
The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma is committed to preparing the next generation of media professionals. The college offers five undergraduate majors in advertising, creative media production, journalism, professional writing and public relations, providing students with a diverse and engaging educational experience. In addition to its undergraduate offerings, Gaylord College features graduate and Ph.D. programs, as well as an online master's degree. These advanced programs are designed to nurture academic excellence, adapt to diverse learning needs and inspire innovative thinking among students. For more information, visit ou.edu/gaylord.
