Theory, Methods, and Empirical Analysis of Internet Bots

我们今天面临的最紧迫的挑战之一是包括外国对手在内的对手对通信的在线黑客攻击。社交媒体平台上的非人类行为者，即由计算机算法控制的账户，俗称互联网机器人，也在这一过程中发挥着重要作用。该项目将对互联网机器人在公共通信和政治讨论中的作用进行重大调查。该项目将有助于理解机器人如何在舆论和公共政策中发挥作用。因此，该提案的目标是支持开发一个理论框架，以了解国内外非人类行为者在在线通信和对话中的作用，识别机器人并跟踪其活动的方法工具，以及实证分析，使用独特的历史数据收集来测试研究人员理论框架中的假设。从理论上讲，该项目将开发一个由两部分组成的框架，可适用于国内外对手。从方法上讲，研究人员将建立在他们以前开发的用于在特定时间和地点识别机器人的方法的基础上，以产生用于在不同时间和地点识别机器人的通用方法;我们还将开发和验证新的（并测试现有的）跟踪机器人活动的方法，他们的理论预测，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估来支持。影响审查标准。

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.