Combatting Misleading Online Content

Syllabus

You can download a copy of the syllabus from CANVAS.

Evaluation Criteria

The following assignments will be due throughout the quarter:

• Reading responses (20%)

• Discussion lead (35 %)

• Class project (40 %)

• Attendance and Participation (5%)

All assignments are due at 5pm CDT on the due date and must be submitted via CANVAS. If you have any problems with submission, please email the instructor.

Reading Responses (20 %)

We will read ~18 research papers over the course of this seminar. You must complete the assigned reading prior to class so that you can participate fully in class discussions. To facilitate productive class discussions, you must submit a reading response for the assigned paper to CANVAS by 5pm CDT on the day before each class. Before each class, all the reviews will be made visible to other students in the course. You are encouraged to read and discuss each others’ reviews on the reading response Slack channel. As you read each paper, keep the following questions in mind:

• What was the goal of this research paper?

• What research question did they attempt to answer?

• Is this an important question? Why / why not?

• What are the main ideas and technical contributions of the paper?

• How does this approach compare to prior research?

• How is the proposed solution evaluated?

Once you have read the paper, you should write up a short reading response. Your reading response should be ~500 words or half a page in prose at most. Please use your response to answer the following questions in your own words using approximately the structure listed below:

Paragraph 1 (+/-) Review:

• What are the paper’s key strengths?

• What are the paper’s key weaknesses?

• What are the paper’s limitations?

Paragraph 2 (Reaction):

• What parts of the paper did you find most interesting/thought-provoking?

• What future work might you consider in this line of research?

Each reading response will be graded as 0/1.

Discussion Lead (35 %)

Each student will lead at least 2-3 class discussions through the quarter. When you are leading the discussion, you are expected to create a 5-7 minute slide show summarizing the paper, your reading response, and any additional information you think is pertinent for the week’s topic (e.g. latest news articles related to the topic or paper). Please include the paper authors, title, publication, and publication venue as well as your own name and date on the title slide. You should have at minimum 4 slides in total – title slide, slide summarizing the paper’s main goals and contributions, slide summarizing the paper’s strengths and weaknesses, and a slide that lists out at least 3-5 discussion questions. Prior to the beginning of class, please upload your slides as a PDF to the Slack channel for #lecture. Slides are due at 9am CDT on the day that you are the discussion leader. Each time you do the discussant role, you will be graded out of 10 points.

Class Project (40 %)

The pandemic affects each one of us differently and each day life is changing. The class project has been designed for flexibility in accommodating students varying situations. Choose one of the following projects to complete during the quarter. Final projects are due by Dec 8. Each project requires a different amount of work – please choose based on your resources and capacities to complete the project at this time. You may work alone or in groups but please let the professor if you are planning on doing a group project. Each person in the group will receive the same grade for the project. The class project is graded out of 40 points.

· Project A: Pick a class of dark patterns of design to study.

o Either do project A1:

§ Collect data using manual or automated web scraping to characterize what manifestations of this class of dark patterns exist

· E.g. What dark patterns exist around: Unsubscribe from mailing lists? Or in Privacy Settings?

· Be sure to document what data you collected (e.g. screenshots, themes, etc)

· Write up a basic taxonomy of the dark patterns you’ve found in this domain, why they may be problematic, and suggest improvements to fix these issues

o Or project A2:

§ Formulate and design a short user study to interview at least 3-5 users remotely or in-person about the topic. Develop your user guide, collect, and analyze your data, and synthesize your main findings on the topic area. For instance, how do users feel about unsubscribe options on different kinds of websites? What interface design choices would they prefer to have to make the unsubscribe experience better? Have they had any particularly good or bad unsubscribe experiences and if so, what were they and why? How would you improve the situation?

o Or do both A1 and A2

· Project B – General user study on the topic of misleading online information:

o Write a 3-5 page research proposal for conducting research related to misinformation/disinformation/dark patterns. Ensure that your proposed data collection methods are appropriate for the current pandemic conditions. Format your research proposal to include the following sections: Introduction, Background/Related work, Research Questions and Expected Outcomes, Proposed Methods, Evaluation Metrics, and Plan of Execution, and Conclusion.

· Project C – Project of your choice:

o If you have another project idea you would like to explore or one related to an existing research project you are working on, please discuss it with the professor in the first week of class.

· As part of the project, you will turn in the following:

o ( 1 pts) Project Topic – 3-5 paragraphs specifying what the basic research questions are and why it is important to answer them, how you plan to conduct research to answer the questions, and what the goals of the research are.

o (5 pts) Project Proposal – 3-5 page document with the following sections: Introduction, Background/Related work, Research Questions, Proposed Methods, and Expected Outcomes, Timeline with milestones, and Conclusion.

o (2 pts) Project Progress Report 1 – 1 page report that specifies what you have accomplished so far on the project, what you still plan to accomplish, and any roadblocks or challenges you have encountered

o (2 pts) Project Progress Report 2 – 1 page report that specifies what you have accomplished so far on the project, what you still plan to accomplish, and any roadblocks or challenges you have encountered

o (25 pts) Project Final Report – this document should summarize have the following sections: Introduction + Motivation, Background/Related work, Research Questions and Goals, Methods, Findings, Discussion (Implication of the Results + Future Work), and Conclusion. You should use a conference paper format for this report such as https://www.acm.org/publications/taps/word-template-workflow. Note, if you are planning to use any data you gather for a research paper and you are involving users, you should include time to prepare and submit an Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol for your study and use standard consenting procedures. This also means you should complete IRB training. Please speak to the professor if this is of interest. Typically, projects will require additional work beyond the quarter if they are to be at the level of rigor for a publishable paper.

o (5 pts) Project Final Presentation – this slide presentation should summarize the project motivation and research questions, methods, findings, and implications/future work. The length of the presentation will be a minimum of 5 minutes but will be adjusted based on the number of project groups.

Class Participation (5 %)

Students are expected to fully participate in all class activities to gain the most benefits from the class. You should come to class prepared to discuss any assigned readings as well as to provide your perspectives on these readings. You will also be expected to participate in group discussions and other classroom activities. The effectiveness of the course depends on the quality of your participation and willingness to internalize the skills and concepts covered in the course and efforts to apply them to real-world settings. However, I am also mindful that the pandemic creates many different situations for each student and that situations beyond your control may prevent you from participating in class. If you are having any difficulties, please feel free to discuss alternatives to participation with the instructor.

Books and Web Resources

The required readings will be posted on CANVAS as PDF documents.

Policies on Academic Honesty, Plagiarism, and Conduct

The University of Chicago has formal policies related to academic honesty and plagiarism. We abide by these standards in this course. Depending on the severity of the offense, you risk being dismissed altogether from the course. All cases will be referred to the Dean of Students office, which may impose further penalties, including suspension and expulsion.

You are permitted to talk to the professor and to your fellow students about any of reading responses. Any assistance, though, must be limited to discussion of the reading. Each student must write out his or her own solutions to the problem sets. Consulting another student's solution is prohibited, and submitted solutions may not be copied from any source. These and any other form of collaboration on assignments constitute cheating.

No collaboration is permitted on reading responses. All work submitted for the project must properly cite ideas and work that are not those of the students in the group.

If you have any question about whether some activity would constitute cheating, please feel free to ask. Simply stated, feel free to discuss problems with each other, but do not cheat. It is not worth it, and you will get caught.

In addition, we expect all students to treat everyone else in the course with respect, following the norms of proper behavior by members of the University of Chicago community.

Wellness

If a personal emergency comes up that might impact your work in the class, please let the professor know so that she make appropriate arrangements to accommodate your situation.

University environments can sometimes be very overwhelming, and all of us benefit from support during times of struggle. This is especially the case under COVID-19. You are not alone. There are many helpful resources available from the University and an important part of the college experience is learning how to ask for help. Asking for support sooner rather than later is often helpful. If you or anyone you know experiences any academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to seek support. The University of Chicago's counseling services are here to support you. Consider also reaching out to a friend, faculty, or family member you trust for help getting connected to the support that can help.

If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal or in danger of self-harm, call someone immediately, day or night:

• Student Counseling Urgent Care: (773)702-9800

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Late Policy

We understand that sometimes life events occur and that it is not always possible to meet every deadline. This is particularly the case during the global pandemic. Reading responses will not be accepted late. However, for all other assignments, we are willing to accept late assignments according to the following policy:

· You start the term with a grace period “balance” of 72 hours.

· Each assignment will be due at 9 a.m. (Chicago Local Time) on the due date.

· For each assignment, every hour late (or fraction thereof) that you turn in the assignment will subtract one hour from your grace-period balance. For example, if you turn in your assignment at 12:32 p.m. on the due date, we will count this as four hours against your grace period.

· As long as your grace period balance is positive, you can turn in any assignment late without penalty.

· Once your grace period balance reaches zero, you will receive half credit for any assignment that you turn in if you turn it in within one week of the due date. If your grace period balance is zero and you turn in an assignment more than one week late, you will receive no credit for the assignment.

· Excuses with medical documentation are a legitimate exception and will not count against your late period.

· Any other reasons for lateness and including but not limited to interviews, conferences are not considered legitimate excuses and any resulting lateness will count against your grace period.

Important Note: You must still turn in all assignments to pass the course, even if you receive zero points on an assignment. Turning in all assignments is a necessary condition for passing.

Acknowledgements

This course has been created using recent research papers published in the domains of interest. You are welcome to reuse, remix, and revise this course but credit for the creator is appreciated