Theory, Methods, and Empirical Analysis of Internet Bots

互联网机器人的理论、方法和实证分析

• 批准号: 1756657
• 负责人: Joshua Tucker
• 金额: $ 69.2万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1756657&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Theory; Methods; Empirical; Analysis; Internet

One of the most pressing challenges we face today is online hacking of communications by adversaries, including foreign adversaries. Non-human actors on social media platforms, that is accounts controlled by computer algorithms and colloquially known as Internet bots, are also playing an important part in this process. This project will conduct a major investigation of the role of Internet bots in public communications and political discussion. The project will have wide benefit for understanding how bots play a role in opinion and public policy.The goal of this proposal therefore is to support the development of a theoretical framework for understanding the role of domestic and foreign non-human actors in online communications and conversation, methodological tools for both identifying bots and tracking their activity, and empirical analyses that test hypotheses from the researchers' theoretical framework using a unique collection of historical data. Theoretically, the project will develop a two-part framework that can be applied to both domestic and foreign adversaries. Methodologically, the researchers will build off of previous methods they have developed for identifying bots in one particular time and place to produce general methods for identifying bots in different times and places; we will also develop and verify new (and test existing) methods for tracking bot activity of the type their theories predict, and attempting to influence search engines and social media communications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

我们今天面临的最紧迫的挑战之一是在线对手（包括外国对手）的通信。社交媒体平台上的非人类参与者是由计算机算法控制的帐户和俗称Internet机器人的帐户，在此过程中也起着重要的作用。该项目将对互联网机器人在公共传播和政治讨论中的作用进行重大调查。该项目将在理解机器人中如何在意见和公共政策中发挥作用。该提案的目的是支持建立一个理论框架，以理解国内和外国非人类参与者在在线沟通中的作用和对话的作用，用于识别机器人的方法学工具，识别他们的活动，并从研究者中浏览其框架的框架，并遵循研究者的经验分析。从理论上讲，该项目将开发一个分为两部分的框架，可以应用于国内外对手。从方法上讲，研究人员将建立他们开发的用于在一个特定时间和地点识别机器人的先前方法，以生成在不同时间和地点识别机器人的一般方法；我们还将开发和验证新的（并测试现有）方法，以跟踪其理论预测类型的机器人活动，并试图影响搜索引擎和社交媒体通信。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来通过评估来获得支持的。