Social Media and the Spread of Hate (SMASH): Examining Youth and College Student Exposure and Impact of Hate Speech Online Year 2
Abstract
Under the aegis of the Initiative to Study Hate, the SMASH project was established in 2022 to gain meaningful, human understanding of the experience of hate speech in social media on young people. A collaboration of UCLA researchers and the independent nonprofit Organization for Safety in Social Media, SMASH has amassed data from over 7,700 individuals and more than 30 schools nationally, and our data set continues to grow. SMASH has been at the forefront among researchers at R1 institutions in focusing specifically on hate speech in social media as it affects young people. Recently, we added a new partner, the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center, the associate vice provost of which will be a co-PI in future work. This new alliance will allow us to explore questions of youth psychological well-being.
In Year 2, SMASH will continue current work while widening our demographic sample to include four lower- resourced schools, a pilot study of UCLA undergraduates, and deeper dive into qualitative data collection. We anticipate that this work will be of significant interest and benefit to an array of people and organizations, including educators, researchers, regulatory agencies, policymakers, media executives, parents, and youth.
Field
School of Education and Information Studies, the Organization for Social Media Safety, UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative Center
Team
Dean Christina (Tina) Christie, Dr. Arif Amlani, Professor Anne Gilliland, Associate Adjunct Professor Mark Hansen, Professor Tyrone, Howard, Seul Lee (Graduate Student Researcher), Dr. Christine Ong
Our partners: Mark Berkman, Dr.Sarah Krongard, Dr. Wendy Slusser.
Dean Christina (Tina) Christie
Professor and Dean Christina (Tina) Christie (PI), SEIS: Dean Christie brings extensive skill and expertise in the area of program development and evaluation, focusing her research on understanding evaluation as a method for facilitating social change. She has served as a lead investigator on more than 30 grants and contracts totaling approximately $33 million to study education, child maltreatment, and health behavior programs.
Professor Anne Gilliland
Professor Anne Gilliland (co-PI), SEIS, Department of Information Studies: Professor Gilliland has extensive expertise in archival studies, digital media and working with K-12 students and teachers on the use of primary sources in the classroom. She has conducted and published several studies on digital archiving and analysis of Anti-Asian hate speech on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic and is the lead faculty member for the Ed&IS Minor in Information and Media Literacy.
Professor Mark Hansen
Associate Adjunct Professor Mark Hansen (co-PI and in-kind contribution), SEIS, Department of Education: Dr. Hansen will provide methodological expertise and will supervise graduate researchers carrying out the quantitative data analyses.
Dr. Arif Amlani
Dr. Arif Amlani (co-PI), Director of New Initiatives, SEIS: Dr. Amlani is responsible for conceptualizing and launching programs such as SMASH. He has a background in philosophy of education and curriculum development and brings with him program development expertise.
Marc Berkman
Marc Berkman (content advisor), Organization for Social Media Safety (OFSMS): Mr. Berkman is CEO of OFSMS, a recognized global leader on social media safety issues, and also has significant experience on hate speech concerns from his prior work as a senior Congressional policy advisor.
Professor Tyrone Howard
Professor Tyrone Howard (advisor), SEIS, Department of Education: Professor Howards’ research centers on race, culture, access, and opportunity for minoritized student populations. He is the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in the School of Education and Information Studies and director of the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families.
Seul Lee: Graduate Student Researcher, Department of Information Studies
Ms. Lee is a doctoral candidate in Information Studies at UCLA. Her research focuses on developing thorough designs of interfaces and metadata with digital literacy education to help users comprehend the complex dynamics and elements that can cause biases, mis-/disinformation on social media platforms and search engines and be able to evaluate information sources to make informed decisions.
Dr. Christine Ong
Dr. Christine Ong, Research Scientist, UCLA Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing (project director, CRESST): Dr. Ong has extensive experience working as a project director and researcher on a range of federal, state as well as community-based research efforts and evaluation studies exploring STEM education, early childhood education, teacher preparation and anti-bullying curricula.