Researching how to detect media bias with machines, how to show it to readers, and how to educate folks.
Hi, I’m Smi (they/them)! I’m currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the HCI Group of the University of Würzburg in cooperation with the Media Bias Research Group and working as a guest researcher at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo. My main interest is in how the way information is shared impacts and influences us, with a big focus on Media Bias.
With a background in Interactive Media Design, I blend Human-Computer Interaction, UX, psychology, and computer science to find out how we can navigate the digital news landscape responsibly. I also like to sprinkle in some gamification from time to time. I enjoy working on applied projects and try to keep my research as real-world focused as possible.
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Projects & publications
NewsUnfold [published]
A news reading website that highlights biased sentences and shows a news nutrition label. Readers can give feedback on the bias highlights which we can use to make our machines better at detecting bias!
News Ninja [published]
A web game that teaches players how to spot linguistic bias. Can also be used to teach our machines to spot bias.
Neowzuu~ [under development]
Combining what we’ve learned from NewsUnfold and News Ninja into new applications where you can put your own articles and texts in.
Bias Indication […nearly published…]
The machines can detect bias, great, but how do we show bias to readers in ways they understand and helps them to learn to spot bias? We’ve tested some ideas and some even worked!
Who’s better at explaining bias, human or machine? [study running!]
ChatGPT delved into our study material and generated explanations on why a news article is biased. Our researcher did that, too. But what do readers think? Which explanation fine-tunes their bias awareness into the right direction?
The Media Bias Taxonomy! The theoretical work. [published]
Media bias is a complex concept, which is why it’s especially important to lay out the groundwork first. This is what we have done in this paper!
Interview about my PhD with the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation
The magazine of my scholarship foundation published a written interview with me where I touch on my Ph.D experience (german).