Prof. Rukzio has invited Ass. Prof. Dr. Julian Frommel, Interaction/Multimedia Group, Utrecht University, to present research results in a lecture with the title Toxicity, Hate, and Harassment in Digital Spaces.
Location: 47.2.505 (Uni West)
Abstract: Toxicity, hate, and harassment are increasingly problematic and widespread in digital spaces, such as social media, social VR, and online games. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports high numbers for the prevalence of harassment, including 40% to 83% of Americans experiencing harassment on social media or in games. These behaviours have a multitude of adverse effects on platform providers (e.g., increased churn) and users (e.g., causing distress). In this talk, I will outline four challenges (i.e., normalization of toxicity, shortcomings of existing automated detection tools, the subjectivity of what is acceptable, and lack of support for targets) that we need to overcome to combat toxicity, hate, and harassment in online games and other spaces. Then, I provide an overview of existing and our work aiming to overcome the challenges and contribute to safe and healthy digital spaces.
About Ass. Prof. Dr Frommel: He is an assistant professor in Interaction/Multimedia at Utrecht University. He holds a doctorate degree (Dr. rer. nat.) in computer science from Ulm University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. His overall research goal to contribute to the theoretical understanding, design, and implementation of interactive digital systems that provide safe, healthy, meaningful, and enjoyable experiences for users. Specifically, his research also investigates how interactive systems can help mitigate the negative outcomes of interacting with systems, such as being targeted or exposed to toxicity and harassment in digital spaces.
