Online Disinformation & Civil Society Workshop: London

With the continuing spread of disinformation, junk news, and propaganda, civil society groups must navigate challenging online environments and difficult public opinion dynamics. As the bedrock of democratic society, it's crucial that civil society organisations are well-supported in navigating these challenges.

The Oxford Internet Institute's Computational Propaganda Team is inviting civil society practitioners across issue areas to come together, build understanding around the ways that computational propaganda affects civil society groups, and explore current issues in preparation and response.

We define computational propaganda as the use of automation, algorithms and big-data analytics to manipulate public life. Our research has shown that computational propaganda seeks to influence not only perceptions of political candidates, but also public opinion on issues including democratic process, climate change, public health, immigration, racial justice, gender equity, religious freedom, and more.

On Thursday, October 24th in London, we invite you to join our interactive workshop on civil society and online disinformation. Designed for civil society leaders working on issues affected by disinformation, the aims of this half-day participatory workshop are to: equip participants with working understanding of the operation of bots, junk news, and targeted online disinformation campaigns; collaboratively outline ways civil society might encounter these issues; and explore the key issues in preparation and response. We’ll accomplish this through facilitated discussion, participant-led analysis, lightening briefings from our researchers, and group reflection. A concise resource guide will be shared with all participants following the workshop.

Participant Information:

When: Thursday October 24th, 2019, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Where: Hosted at Asia House with the generous support of MisinfoCon 2019. Asia House is a wheelchair accessible venue.

Language: The workshop will be primarily in English.

Details: Nourishing lunch and refreshments will be provided, as will a pleasant, intentional space in which practitioners can comfortably engage, share, and learn. The organizers are sensitive to accessibility and privacy needs, and encourage participants with specific requests to get in touch via this registration form or via email to events@oii.ox.ac.uk

RSVP: Please RSVP and register. This event is by invitation only, and space is limited to accommodate meaningful conversation. We welcome suggestions of collaborators who may be interested, and ask that you email your suggestions in advance.

The Computational Propaganda Research Project (COMPROP) team has investigated the interaction of algorithms, automation and politics since 2014 in more than 30 countries. Based at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, we use perspectives from organisational sociology, human computer interaction, communication, information science, and political science.

More about our research may be found at http://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/

Should you wish to register for the event, but do not wish to do so via Eventbrite, please email us at events@oii.ox.ac.uk. Our privacy policy can be found here and Eventbrite's privacy policy can be found here.

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