Doctoral student Zachary Stine presented research about machine learning and the legislative evolution of Ukraine during the EIT Colloquium on March 1.  Stine and co-author Dr. Nitin Agarwal explored methods on how to quantify change in Ukrainian legislation over time in order to provide a complementary view into the larger political dynamics of the country. In order for the audience to understand the legislative evolution of Ukraine, Stine provided an overview of the recent political events. Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has gone through several political challenges.  The ongoing conflict with Russia became a global focal point when Russia annexedRead More →

Don’t miss Friday’s Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology Colloquium. Adewale Obadimu and Thomas Marcoux will be discussing ‘Social Media Analysis for Defeating Disinformation’. Wale is a doctoral candidate currently exploring machine learning and deep learning techniques that can be used to understand an influence campaign. He does not only play a crucial role in the development of various COSMOS social media analytics tools but is also sharing his knowledge with other students here at COSMOS and in the classroom. Thomas is the lead developer for the YouTubeTracker tool. He is pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science at University of Arkansas at LittleRead More →

Dr. Nitin Agarwal was invited to conduct a panel on Emerging Digital Services in Cyber Environments during the IARIA Eighth International Conference on Social Media Technologies, Communication, and Informatics (SOTICS 2018) in Nice, France. On Tuesday, October 16, Dr. Agarwal moderated the panel that featured subject matter experts from the Institute of Information Systems at Hof University (GER), Paraíba State University (BRA), Politehnica University of Bucharest (ROU), and University of Gloucestershire (UK).Read More →

COSMOS director Dr. Nitin Agarwal in collaboration with Kiran Kumar Bandeli has shown how blogs act as virtual spaces where malicious narratives are framed and then further disseminated through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.  The paper titled “Examining Strategic Integration of Social Media Platforms in Disinformation Campaign Coordination“ published in NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence‘s Defence Strategic Communication Journal describes the in-depth examination of information networks, using social network analysis and cyber forensics, to identify prominent information actors and the leading coordinators of several disinformation campaigns.Read More →

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor has co-authored a book with a UA Little Rock graduate analyzing how online communities and social media can provide stress relief for families and individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science and director of COSMOS (Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies), co-authored the book with Dr. Amit Saha, assistant professor of anesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. IGI Global, a leading international academic publisher, will launch the book, “Assessing Social Support and Stress in Autism-Focused Virtual Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities,”Read More →