🎓 Upcoming talk: half-time seminar
Wikipedia: Ångström LaboratoryOn January 2026 I will be presenting my half-time seminar as part of my PhD program, where I will discuss my research progress and ongoing work. Detailed information follows:
Half-time seminar - Diletta Goglia
- Date: Friday January 30th, 10:15 - 12:00
- Location: Ångström Laboratory, room 101127 (📍Map)
- Remote attendance: Zoom link
- Organizer: Department of Information Technology, Division of Computing Science
- Chair: Davide Vega
- Contact person: Diletta Goglia (diletta.goglia@it.uu.se)
Title
Computational methods for studying persuasion in online social communication.
Abstract
Nowadays, a substantial amount of social communication takes place online, where individuals are exposed to attempts of influencing their thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Understanding how persuasion operates online constitutes a central scientific challenge, aimed at mitigating risks and threats, as well as promoting safe and inclusive digital environments. Achieving this goal requires both new theoretical and methodological advances.
In this seminar, we discuss how persuasion operates online at three fundamental levels (platform, individual, and group), drawing on social psychology theories and integrating computational approaches from Social Network Analysis and Language Technologies. First, we illustrate a framework for studying social communication with network models, emphasizing the importance of conversational context. Second, we show how platform rules and community guidelines shape user participation, with measurable consequences for the structural properties of the resulting social networks. Then, we measure the presence of persuasive language in online discussions, as well as its variation as a function of whether individual opinions align with or oppose a group. Finally, we introduce a novel language model for the identification of a specific form of persuasion, i.e., emotional manipulation, providing a new tool for the empirical study of potentially harmful influence in online discourse.
See this and other seminars in the IT department official calendar
The half-time or mid-way seminar (Halvtidsseminarium) is a midpoint review for doctoral students, where they publicly present their research, discuss findings and methodologies, and get constructive feedback from faculty on plans for the dissertation’s completion, ensuring quality and timely progression. The purpose is to assess progress in the Doctoral Education and to give advice for future directions. It’s a crucial milestone to confirm the student’s development as a researcher, and it is mandatory for all PhD students working in a Swedish institution. It usually occurs after about two and a half years (for full-time students) or when roughly half the thesis work is done.
