Research

Investigating pressing social challenges, we uncover insights and generate evidence to inform meaningful, scalable solutions for more constructive communication. These projects integrate lived experiences with academic methods to shape future prototypes and programs, advancing innovative, empathetic ways to bridge divides.

Computational Social Science
Generative AI
Social Media Analytics
LLM Bias and Equity
Civic Engagement
Listening
Human-Computer Interaction
Affective Polarization
Conversation Health
Responsible AI

Research

1 Research

Exploring social challenges to generate insights and evidence that shape future solutions for communication across divides.

2 Prototypes

Translating research into early-stage tools and methods tested in real-world contexts.

3 Pilots & Programs

Partnering with communities to adapt and scale research-backed tools into real-world programs.

All Research

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Dialogue to Decision

An LLM-Powered Framework for Analyzing Collective Idea Evolution and Voting Dynamics in Deliberative Assemblies

Research

Large Language Model, Generative AI, Civic Engagement, Deliberative Assembly, Deliberation

Voice to Vision

Supporting decision makers in effective and efficient constituency-informed, AI-supported decision-making. Communicating how constituen...

Research

Communication, Sensemaking, Civic Engagement, Participatory Research, Deliberation

DisCourse

A curated social experience that transforms dinner between strangers into an opportunity to reimagine how we listen, speak, and share

Research

Conversation Facilitation, Civic Engagement, Listening, Design, Art

Crossroads

An exploration of playful listening through a co-creative AI game

Research

Communication, Generative AI, Conversation Facilitation, Listening, Design, Art, Game Design, Playful Interaction

Person Over Position

Unpacking the Impacts of Experience-Sharing on Social Evaluations, Emotions, and Engagement in Opinionated Discourse

Research

Bridging, Listening, Deliberation, Narrative, Conflict Resolution, Social Psychology

LLM Targeted Underperformance

Archived

Reduced LLM Reliability for Global, Less-Educated, and ESL Users

Research

LLM Bias and Equity, Large Language Model, Artificial Intelligence

Analogia

A story-telling card game connecting community values with lived experiences

Research

Generative AI, Conversation Design, Listening, Design, Narrative, Game Design

On the Relationship between Truth and Political Bias in Language Models

Even when language reward models are trained only on true versus false data, they can still display a political bias.

Research

LLM Bias and Equity, Political Bias, AI Alignment

Closer Worlds

Archived

A 2-person digital experience which supports intimate conversation by visualizing shared values using a text-to-image model.

Research

Generative AI, Conversation Facilitation, Listening, Design, Human-Computer Interaction

Data Provenance for AI

A massive audit of 1800+ AI text datasets, tracing their provenance and composition from origin to creation.

Research

Data Provenance, LLM Bias and Equity, Responsible AI, AI Transparency

Sage

Hybrid Chatbot for Strategic Story Coaching

Research

Speech Processing, Generative AI, Conversation Design, Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, Narrative, Conflict Resolution

Lost in Translation

Archived

Investigating Systematic Discrepancies between Parallel English and Chinese Names of American Chinese Restaurants

Research

Computational Social Science, Large Language Model, Bridging, Communication, Identity Representation, Translation

Conversation Health & Dynamics

Exploring conversation health and dynamics using natural language processing and data visualization

Research

NLP, Communication, Conversation Visualization, Conversation Health, Data Visualization

Voice Anonymization

Archived

Producing speech that de-identifies the speaker's voice characteristics while preserving naturalness, intelligibility, and paralinguistic features like emotion + prosody.

Research

Communication, Speech Processing

Measuring Affective Polarization in Online Spaces with Language Models

Archived

Outgroup Animosity Has Risen for Politicians, Journalists, and a Sample of Partisan Users on Twitter and Reddit

Research

Affective Polarization, Computational Social Science, LLM Bias and Equity, Social Media Analytics

The speed of news in Twitter (X) versus radio

Archived

A Cross-Media Analysis of News Dynamics

Research

Computational Social Science, Media Analytics, Social Media Analytics

ConGraT

Archived

Joint text-graph modeling for improved predictions

Research

Computational Social Science, NLP, Social Media Analytics , Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Graph Modeling

Visualizing Dialogue

Archived

Visualizing conversations based on themes

Research

Conversation Visualization, Visualization

Assessing Affective Engagement with Narratives of Invisible Disability

Archived

Deconstructing and reducing situational stigma on the basis of visual and semantic assumption mechanisms.

Research

Affective Polarization, Conversation Health, Identity Representation, Narrative, Social Psychology

AI-Assisted Sensemaking

Archived

Human-in-the-loop tooling to surface insights across conversations

Research

Sensemaking, Generative AI

Project Odessa

Project Odessa builds on theoretical designs and provides a mobile app sandbox for such experimental implementations.

Research

Conversation Health, Participatory Research, Decentralized Systems, System Governance

Collective Echos

Archived

Through an embodied, spatial audio experience, Collective Echos makes tangible a living library of human experiences.

Research

NLP, Conversation Visualization, Visualization, Data Visualization, Artificial Intelligence, Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Art

Facilimate

Archived

A Tool for Supporting Small-Group Facilitation

Research

Conversation Design, Conversation Facilitation, Participatory Research, Design, Human-Computer Interaction

Divergences in Following Patters between Influential Twitter Users and their Audiences

Archived

Identity Divergence in Influencer Networks

Research

Social Media Analytics , Bridging, Identity Representation, Influencer Dynamics

School Diversity

Archived

Redrawing School Boundaries Equitably

Research

Communication, Civic Engagement, Artificial Intelligence, Responsible AI, Education

A Basis for Narrative Reframing Agents

Archived

Design of narrative agents to assist in reframing traumatic experiences

Research

Conversation Design, Conversation Facilitation, Human-Computer Interaction, Narrative, Social Psychology

MIT-Chile Research Workshops

Archived

Human Centered Artifical Intelligence and Data Visualization

Research

Data Visualization, Artificial Intelligence, Participatory Research, Human-Computer Interaction, Education

Beat The Virus

Archived

Public health messaging through social media

Research

Social Media Analytics , Communication, Social Media, Influencer Dynamics, Design, Public health