Speaker:
Cuihua (Cindy) Shen
UC Davis

Abstract: Visual misinformation, including fake, manipulated or out-of-context images and videos, is increasingly common on the Internet and social media platforms. Because of visuals’ superior impression, retention, virality and persuasiveness, visual misinformation poses a significant threat to national security, social cohesion, and public health. Yet, we know very little about how users process and judge the authenticity of visuals, and the ways in which platforms and fact-checking agencies could effectively detect and fight against visual misinformation. In this talk, I will report findings from several recent experiments that reveal the characteristics of users most susceptible to visual misinformation, and a few effective technical and social interventions to counter visual misinformation.

About: Cuihua (Cindy) Shen is a professor ofcommunication at UC Davis and the co-director of the ComputationalCommunication Research lab. Her research focuses on understanding visualmisinformation and designing effective interventions. From 2017 to 2022, she servedas the chair of the Computational Methods Division of the InternationalCommunication Association. She is also the founding associate editor of thejournal Computational Communication Research, as well as the associate editorof Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

The weekly security seminar has been held every semester since spring of 1992. We invite personnel at Purdue and visitors from outside to present on topics of particular interest to them in the areas of computer and network security, computer crime investigation, information warfare, information ethics, public policy for computing and security, the computing "underground," and other related topics. More info