Ph.D. student Kiran Kumar Bandeli has been invited to speak about “Computational Narrative Analysis on Blogs/Social Media.” The colloquium will be held in the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT) Building, Room 217 at 3:00pm CST. You can attend in person or utilize the link below to view the presentation from any device with online access: https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/72ac95525d524120812cd25254122fbb Abstract of Talk: Social media is widely used to express views and share opinions with others. With the availability of inexpensive and ubiquitous mass communication tools like social media, creating narratives, false information and propaganda is both convenient and effective. Social media users leverage this platformRead More →

On Friday, August 30th, doctoral student Zachary Stine presented research from an ongoing comparative study regarding online religious communities.  Stine and fellow researchers Dr. Nitin Agarwal and Dr. James Deitrick, used Reddit to try to understand the differences and similarities between the religious cultures Buddhism and Christianity by analyzing their discussion text for specific lexicons on a more structural level.   Stine described using topic modeling  in order to look at how both communities discuss certain topics. Buddhist and Christian communities were chosen simply because they had the largest amount of discussion text available. The researchers anticipated possible problems with this study, particularly the issue ofRead More →

As a graduate researcher, there is no shortage of unexpected experiences. Shishila Awung Shimray, Anol Kanti Roy, Abdullah Al Faysal and Richard Young along with the help of other Cosmographers recently had the opportunity to participate in this year’s EIT High School Summer Research Program. As the name suggests, this program is targeted towards highly motivated group of high school students that all are willing to “sacrifice” three weeks of their summer vacation in exchange for graduate-level experience. Our participation in this program took form by providing both skill-based mentorship and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it takes to be a member of COSMOS. Unfortunately, theRead More →

COSMOS is pleased to announce that its director Dr. Nitin Agarwal has been awarded a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for the development of novel socio-computational methodologies to model emerging cyber-social threats and strengthen social cybersecurity research infrastructure. The funding will support the development of social media cells that assist with information environment assessment in real time and the rapid and appropriate response to the growing weaponization of social media in influencing peace keeping, tactical, operational, and strategic operations. Military units at all levels will benefit from the identification of threats and opportunities within the information environment (IE). Creating well-trained socialRead More →

On Thursday, April 18, students showcased their work at the Student Research and Creative Works Expo and EIT Open House. Guests viewed displays of capstone projects, theses, dissertations, and other research. COSMOS was well-presented by Kiran Kumar Bandeli, Nihal Hussain, Thomas Marcoux, Billy Spann, Richard Young, Michael DiCicco, Tuja Khaund, Karen Watts, Zachary Stine, and Adewale Obadimu who showcased their work. Our team members were presented with numerous awards at the 2019 Student Research and Creative Works Expo Awards Ceremony and the EIT Open House Awards Ceremony: Student Research and Creative Works Expo – First Place: Zachary Stine Student Research and Creative Works Expo – SecondRead More →

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 →