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Samar Haider @samarhaider.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I'm thrilled to share that I defended my PhD at @upenn.edu! I've had the time of my life working with my amazing advisors and all the wonderful people at @csspenn.bsky.social over the past several years. Incredibly grateful for the journey and everyone who made it so special!

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

👩‍💻🧑‍💻👨‍💻 Want to apply LLMs to text analysis in your research? Join Timothy Dörr and Baird Howland tomorrow for a hands-on workshop! 💻 No prior computational experience needed. Food will be served! 📅 Sept. 9, 2–5 PM 📍 ASC 300 @asc.upenn.edu 💻 Bring a laptop & Google account! No installation needed!

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

What happens when scientific claims go beyond what a study can establish? In new Nature Human Behaviour research, Calvin, Timothy, Neil, Grace, and Duncan find causal claims in 46% of 194,631 cross-sectional studies and show that causal wording makes readers more likely to infer causation

nature.com

Quantifying the prevalence and impact of overreaching causal claims in social science - Nature Human Behaviour

An analysis of 194,631 social science articles found causal overclaiming in 46% of cases, increasing over time. This language shaped reader interpretations; AI-generated summaries often amplified over...

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Congratulations, Dr. Samar Haider! 🎓🖥️ @samarhaider.bsky.social Samar successfully defended his dissertation, "A Computational Approach to News Production", studying how computational methods can help us systematically understand what news organizations choose to cover and how they cover it.

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Measures like "stops🛑" are building blocks for studying human mobility. But how reliably can we identify them in sparse GPS data?🛰️📍 At the CSS Showcase, Paco Barreras, Andrés Mondragón, and Caroline Chen shared work on the robustness of stop detection in sparse location data

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

What have we been working on at the CSS Lab? 👀 A quick look inside our Spring Showcase, with lightning talks, posters, new tools, and works in progress across computational social science. A few highlights from the day 🎥 And of course, more to come!

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Using nearly 19,000 human survey responses collected across 40 waves during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Elliot Pickens(@elliot-p.bsky.social), David Rothschild, Jenny Wang, and Jonas Mikhaeil compared LLM-generated and human survey responses. #IC2S2

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Samar Haider @samarhaider.bsky.social presented Whose Voice Matters? Measuring Political Representation in News Quotations, with Chris Callison-Burch and Duncan Watts @duncanjwatts.bsky.social! #IC2S2

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Amir Tohidi @atohidi.bsky.social presented at #IC2S2 Measuring "Copaganda": An Analysis of How U.S. National News Covers Crime, with Baird Howland, Billy Pierce, Duncan Watts @duncanjwatts.bsky.social, and David Rothschild @davmicrot.bsky.social.

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

At #AOM2026, Bethany Hsiao presented Fairness Preferences in Algorithmic Decision-Making as part of the symposium AI in Organizations: Challenges to Face and Opportunities to Embrace. @aomconnect.bsky.social

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Where could you find the most CSS Lab folks in one place at #IC2S2? The poster session! Here are a few of the projects our lab members presented today.

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

At today's #IC2S2 Methods and Measurement session, Linnea Gandhi @linneagandhi.bsky.social presented her study with Elizabeth Tipton and Duncan Watts, which tests whether research syntheses can predict the results of new studies and highlights the challenges of producing generalizable knowledge.

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Do falsehoods persuade more than selective facts? Jenny Allen presented Falsehoods Offer No Persuasive Advantage Over Selective Facts: Evidence from Real-World Political Misinformation at today's #IC2S2 Plenary Lightning Talks with David Rothschild, Duncan Watts, Amir Tohidi, and Samar Haider!

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Baird and Grace presented their work at #IC2S2, introducing a systematic framework for comparing official White House communications across administrations through the lens of authoritarian-populism! www.linkedin.com/posts/ic2s2_...

linkedin.com

Afternoon parallel: Baird Howland explores shifts in White House media in the Political Polarization and Discourse session: | IC2S2

Afternoon parallel: Baird Howland explores shifts in White House media in the Political Polarization and Discourse session:

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Gayoung (@gayoung-jeon.bsky.social) led a hands-on tutorial on comprehensive TikTok data collection for computational social science at #IC2S2'26 Participants learned practical methods for collecting and analyzing TikTok data. Great work on a successful tutorial!

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

CSS Lab at #IC2S2 2026 The 12th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2'26) is taking place in Burlington, Vermont, from July 28–31, 2026

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Josh Nguyen @joshnguyen.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Benchmarks of LLM common sense overwhelmingly rely on correct labels to report an accuracy score. But what if your "ground truth" genuinely differs from mine? In a new @pnasnexus.org paper, @duncanjwatts.bsky.social, @whiting.me and I explore the implications of this intriguing question. 🧵⤵️

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

#CSSLab at Penn attended #NetSci2026 in Boston! A highlight was the keynote by Dr. Watts and Dr. Strogatz, who shared the stories and questions behind their work on small-world networks and its lasting impact on network science. We also enjoyed catching up with Dr. Barabási and Dr. Albert!

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SICSS-Penn @sicsspenn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

The first day of SICSS-Penn 2026 just recently concluded! We were honored to have @dhopkins1776.bsky.social deliver the opening remarks, and @dalbarra.bsky.social give the first lecture on AI and the psychology of persuasion.

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Last week, a powerful coalition—Meta’s #AIforGood, #DirectRelief, #CrisisReady & the #CSSLab at Penn—gathered to explore how AI, open data & mobility insights can support emergency preparedness ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 🧵 #DisasterResponse #FIFA #WorldCup2026

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Emilien Schultz @emilienschultz.eurosky.social · 04/08/2025

Belle interface & pipeline pour le Media Bias Detector mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu de @csspenn.bsky.social avec un rappel que l'IA ça marche surtout quand il y a des humains dans la boucle (merci l'armée de Research Assistants)

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SICSS-Penn @sicsspenn.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Welcome to SICSS-Penn 2025! We are excited to have our faculty organizers, @xisong.bsky.social and @dhopkins1776.bsky.social, deliver opening remarks this morning.

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

New Media Bias Detector 🔎 Blog Post 📝: Parades and Protests in the Midst of Crises mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu/blog/parades...

mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu

Parades and Protests in the Midst of Crises

A blog from the Media Bias Detector.

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Alex Engler @alexengler.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

We are hiring an Engagement & Policy Manager at the Penn Center for Media, Technology & Democracy! Apply+Share! They will lead an event series, run an annual conference, manage research grants and write on the information ecosystem and its impact on society! wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recrui...

wd1.myworkdaysite.com

Engagement and Policy Manager - Penn Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy

University Overview The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school co...

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

🚀 Draft schedule for #IC2S2 2025 (July 21–24) is here. Explore four days packed with inspiration. Review your slot, plan travel, and flag any conflicts—minor tweaks are still possible. See the program here: www.ic2s2-2025.org/program/. The poster scheduling will follow next week!

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Annenberg School at Penn @asc.upenn.edu · 12/06/2025

A team of researchers from @csspenn.bsky.social have found that cable news has increasingly diverged from broadcast news in the topics covered and language used:

asc.upenn.edu

How Cable News Has Diverged From Broadcast News

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Annenberg School at Penn @asc.upenn.edu · 20/05/2025

🎓 🎉 Congratulations to our 2025 Ph.D. and M.A. graduates!! www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

asc.upenn.edu

Congratulations to Annenberg’s 2025 Ph.D. and M.A. Graduates

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Penn Engineering @pennengineering.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Research at @csspenn.bsky.social reveals that climate change articles are more persuasive than previously thought, especially among skeptics. Effective communication can help bridge partisan divides in climate discourse. css.seas.upenn.edu/news-on-clim...

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Dean Eckles, the William F. Pounds Associate Professor of Management and an Associate Professor of Marketing at MIT Sloan, will be a keynote speaker for #IC2S2 2025 in Norrköping, Sweden. 🎙Effect sizes and decisions. Learn more: ic2s2-2025.org/keynotes/

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Penn Engineering @pennengineering.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Timothy Dorr & Duncan Watts of @csspenn.bsky.social are uncovering what drives prosocial behavior in online communities—helping platforms go beyond harm reduction to fostering social good. css.seas.upenn.edu/from-cracks-...

css.seas.upenn.edu

From Cracks to Gardens: Creating a Thriving Social Media Through Research | Computational Social Science Lab

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The Warren Center for Network & Data Sciences @warrencenter.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

On 4/15, as part of Penn Engineering's AI Month 2025, Warren Center faculty affiliate Chris Callison-Burch will speak on a panel on how #AI is reshaping our understanding of intelligence and what it means to be human. Join us! pennengdean.wufoo.co...

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Sandra González-Bailón @sgonzalezbailon.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Looking forward to this, next week! 'The Impact of AI on (Mis)Information' asc.upenn.edu/cind2025, w/ @ndiakopoulos.bsky.social @hwaight.bsky.social @jolukito.bsky.social @lexipalmer.bsky.social Kaicheng Yang @ekvraga.bsky.social Kiran Garimella & Jennifer Allen + @ylelkes.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu

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Annenberg School at Penn @asc.upenn.edu · 01/04/2025

Prosocial social media. Gun safety. Dynamic discussions and flattering feedback. These were some of the topics covered last month at Annenberg. Learn more on our website: www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

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Annenberg School at Penn @asc.upenn.edu · 31/03/2025

A new study from @atohidi.bsky.social (of @csspenn.bsky.social) and colleagues shows exposure to articles about climate change significantly increases climate change concerns among skeptics:

asc.upenn.edu

News on Climate Change Is More Persuasive Than Expected, Study Finds

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Annenberg School at Penn @asc.upenn.edu · 28/03/2025

Social media has the power to bring people together. In a new paper, doctoral student Timothy Dörr and Professor Duncan Watts present a plan to uncover what encourages prosocial behavior — acts of kindness, support, and cooperation — on social media. Learn more:

asc.upenn.edu

Can Social Media Be Less Toxic?

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Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · 21/03/2025

🌍 Do climate sceptics change their minds? Climate advocates underestimate how much sceptics shift after reading climate news - while sceptics expect to resist more. In reality, concern increases, showing need for sustained climate communication. 🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad... #SciComm 🧪

academic.oup.com

Divergence between predicted and actual perception of climate information

Abstract. Despite strong scientific consensus on the severe risks posed by climate change, a substantial segment of the population remains unconvinced, lim

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Brandon Stewart, Associate Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, will be a keynote speaker for #IC2S2 2025 in Norrköping, Sweden. 🎙Design-Based Supervised Learning: A General Framework for Using LLM Annotations and Other Predicted Variables in Downstream Analyses.

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Penn Engineering @pennengineering.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Penn’s @csspenn.bsky.social found that media coverage distorts public perception of chronic disease risks, overemphasizing rare cases while downplaying systemic factors. Calvin Isch & Duncan Watts analyzed 200K+ articles, revealing these biases. @asc.upenn.edu css.seas.upenn.edu/how-the-medi...

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

🚀Here comes the official IC2S2 2025 tutorial session lineup. From LLMs and AI to urban analytics, these sessions will dive into the latest in computational social science. Explore the schedule and start planning your learning journey today: www.ic2s2-2025.org/tutorials/

ic2s2-2025.org

IC2S2'25 Norrköping

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SICSS-Penn @sicsspenn.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

The application deadline for SICSS-Penn is extended for one week. Submit your application by March 14 to attend our amazing program!

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Annenberg School at Penn @asc.upenn.edu · 04/03/2025

Zelensky's public persona. Distortion of deaths. And #ChristianTikTok. These were some of the topics covered last month at Annenberg. Learn more on our website: www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

Research Roundup. Story one: Western Journalism and Zelensky's Public Persona. Story two: Exploring #ChristianTikTok. Story three: News Coverage Distorts America's Leading Causes of Death. Story four: Communications Law and the President.

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SICSS-Penn @sicsspenn.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

One more week until applications are due. Don't miss your chance to attend SICSS-Penn this summer!

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

🎉Now the IC2S2 2025 abstract submission has officially closed—with over 1,000 submissions received! Thank you for your incredible interest. Next up: the reviewer bidding process. Stay tuned for more updates!

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Our submission portal is back up and running. The new deadline for abstracts is February 26 at 23:59 (AoE). Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to receiving your submissions!

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Chris Bail @chrisbail.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Want to learn about computational social science *for free* and launch interdisciplinary research projects? We are so excited to announce there will be *26* Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science this year! Apply to one of them here: sicss.io/locations

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Our open review portal is down, but our team is working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. In light of this, the submission deadline has been extended to Feb 26, 23:59 AoE. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience caused.

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International Conference on Computational Social Science @ic2s2.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

The #IC2S2 2025 abstract submission closes next Monday, Feb 24, at 23:59 (AoE). Don’t miss out—submit your abstract now!

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CSSLab at Penn @csspenn.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

New Media Bias Detector 🔎 Blog Post 📝: Urban Disasters Through the Lens of the Mainstream Media mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu/blog/urban-d... @duncanjwatts.bsky.social

mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu

Urban Disasters Through the Lens of the Mainstream Media

A blog from the Media Bias Detector.

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