CSSLab at Penn

@pennengineering.bsky.social @thewhartonschool.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu @upenn.edu @fifaworldclub.bsky.social @fifaworldcup2026.bsky.social @cityofphiladelphia.bsky.social

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will draw millions. It’s a global moment of celebration—but also a stress test for emergency systems.

Let’s use this opportunity to get disaster response right—for this event and every crisis to come.

#AIforGood #DisasterResponse #WorldCup2026 #FIFA

🧠 The session included live demos of real-world tools:
• Robotic triage systems
• Human mobility data visualizations
• Infrastructure risk mapping tools
All focused on making crisis response more anticipatory—not just reactive.

We were joined by emergency response leaders from PA, NJ, MD, and NC, along with elected officials, researchers, and private sector teams.

Together, we asked: How can AI help us act faster, smarter, and more equitably in times of crisis?

Last week, a powerful coalition—Meta’s #AIforGood, #DirectRelief, #CrisisReady & the #CSSLab at Penn—gathered to explore how AI, open data & mobility insights can support emergency preparedness ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 🧵

#DisasterResponse #FIFA #WorldCup2026

Belle interface & pipeline pour le Media Bias Detector mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu de @csspenn.bsky.social avec un rappel que l'IA ça marche surtout quand il y a des humains dans la boucle (merci l'armée de Research Assistants)

Welcome to SICSS-Penn 2025! We are excited to have our faculty organizers, @xisong.bsky.social and @dhopkins1776.bsky.social, deliver opening remarks this morning.

Parades and Protests in the Midst of Crises A blog from the Media Bias Detector.

New Media Bias Detector 🔎 Blog Post 📝: Parades and Protests in the Midst of Crises

mediabiasdetector.seas.upenn.edu/blog/parades...

Engagement and Policy Manager - Penn Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy University Overview The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school co...

We are hiring an Engagement & Policy Manager at the Penn Center for Media, Technology & Democracy! Apply+Share!

They will lead an event series, run an annual conference, manage research grants and write on the information ecosystem and its impact on society!

wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recrui...

🚀 Draft schedule for #IC2S2 2025 (July 21–24) is here. Explore four days packed with inspiration. Review your slot, plan travel, and flag any conflicts—minor tweaks are still possible. See the program here: www.ic2s2-2025.org/program/. The poster scheduling will follow next week!

How Cable News Has Diverged From Broadcast News

A team of researchers from @csspenn.bsky.social have found that cable news has increasingly diverged from broadcast news in the topics covered and language used:

Congratulations to Annenberg’s 2025 Ph.D. and M.A. Graduates

🎓 🎉 Congratulations to our 2025 Ph.D. and M.A. graduates!! www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

Alex will be starting on May 19th, and we look forward to introducing him to the Penn community as the Center launches and makes a meaningful impact across the University of Pennsylvania and beyond.

The center will work closely with the CSSLab, leveraging our PennMAP research infrastructure and supporting our work on media bias and accountability.

The goal of the center is to position Penn as a leader in the area Media, Technology, and Democracy through a combination of connecting existing efforts at Penn and creating new programming.

Alex is bringing his deep expertise in public policy, data science, and higher education, with previous experience at the White House, the Brookings Institution, and in academia at Georgetown and the University of Chicago.

University of Pennsylvania launches Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy | Penn Today The Center will bring together six Schools at Penn with $10 million in support from Knight Foundation and the University.

We are excited to welcome @alexengler.bsky.social as the inaugural Executive Director of the Penn Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy!

penntoday.upenn.edu/news/univers...

Research at @csspenn.bsky.social reveals that climate change articles are more persuasive than previously thought, especially among skeptics. Effective communication can help bridge partisan divides in climate discourse.

css.seas.upenn.edu/news-on-clim...

Dean Eckles, the William F. Pounds Associate Professor of Management and an Associate Professor of Marketing at MIT Sloan, will be a keynote speaker for #IC2S2 2025 in Norrköping, Sweden.
🎙Effect sizes and decisions.
Learn more: ic2s2-2025.org/keynotes/

Timothy Dorr & Duncan Watts of @csspenn.bsky.social are uncovering what drives prosocial behavior in online communities—helping platforms go beyond harm reduction to fostering social good.
css.seas.upenn.edu/from-cracks-...

On 4/15, as part of Penn Engineering's AI Month 2025, Warren Center faculty affiliate Chris Callison-Burch will speak on a panel on how #AI is reshaping our understanding of intelligence and what it means to be human. Join us! pennengdean.wufoo.co...

Looking forward to this, next week! 'The Impact of AI on (Mis)Information' asc.upenn.edu/cind2025, w/ @ndiakopoulos.bsky.social @hwaight.bsky.social @jolukito.bsky.social @lexipalmer.bsky.social Kaicheng Yang @ekvraga.bsky.social Kiran Garimella & Jennifer Allen + @ylelkes.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu

Prosocial social media. Gun safety. Dynamic discussions and flattering feedback. These were some of the topics covered last month at Annenberg. Learn more on our website: www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

News on Climate Change Is More Persuasive Than Expected, Study Finds

A new study from @atohidi.bsky.social (of @csspenn.bsky.social) and colleagues shows exposure to articles about climate change significantly increases climate change concerns among skeptics:

Can Social Media Be Less Toxic?

Social media has the power to bring people together. In a new paper, doctoral student Timothy Dörr and Professor Duncan Watts present a plan to uncover what encourages prosocial behavior — acts of kindness, support, and cooperation — on social media. Learn more:

Divergence between predicted and actual perception of climate information Abstract. Despite strong scientific consensus on the severe risks posed by climate change, a substantial segment of the population remains unconvinced, lim

🌍 Do climate sceptics change their minds?

Climate advocates underestimate how much sceptics shift after reading climate news - while sceptics expect to resist more.

In reality, concern increases, showing need for sustained climate communication.

🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...

#SciComm 🧪

Brandon Stewart, Associate Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, will be a keynote speaker for #IC2S2 2025 in Norrköping, Sweden.
🎙Design-Based Supervised Learning: A General Framework for Using LLM Annotations and Other Predicted Variables in Downstream Analyses.

YouTube video by Annenberg School for Communication The Computational Social Science Lab (CSSLab) | Who We Are

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY6E...

Penn’s @csspenn.bsky.social found that media coverage distorts public perception of chronic disease risks, overemphasizing rare cases while downplaying systemic factors. Calvin Isch & Duncan Watts analyzed 200K+ articles, revealing these biases. @asc.upenn.edu

css.seas.upenn.edu/how-the-medi...

🚀Here comes the official IC2S2 2025 tutorial session lineup. From LLMs and AI to urban analytics, these sessions will dive into the latest in computational social science. Explore the schedule and start planning your learning journey today: www.ic2s2-2025.org/tutorials/