Current Projects

This is a non-comprehensive list of current major research projects in our lab! Last updated summer 2024.

Ethics Education. We are working to understand best practices for ethics education for technologists, by analyzing current practices and piloting interventions in university courses. We are also interested in public education and science communication around AI ethics. [For more information see: Responsible Computing]

Ethical Speculation. Funded by Dr. Fiesler’s NSF CAREER grant, we are working on strategies for ethical speculation in technology design and in educational contexts (e.g., the Black Mirror Writers Room). Recent work in this space led by Shamika Klassen examined how Black women imagine the future of technology, and current projects focus on chatbots and health information (led by Faye Kollig).

AI Fairness and Ethics. In collaboration with Robin Burke’s That Recommender Systems Lab and led by PhD student Jessie Smith, we are examining perceptions of and strategies towards fairness in recommender systems and machine learning. We are also exploring how how industry teams are responding to emerging AI issues, led by PhD student Amber Turner.

Online Communities and Marginalized Groups. Following up on previous research on LGBTQ communities in fandom, as well as Black Twitter, current projects in the lab include explorations of people who create online content about chronic health conditions (led by Faye Kollig) and online experiences of fat people, as well as fat activism (led by Blakeley Hoffman Payne).

Social Media Migration. Following up on previous research on online community migration in fandom, we are exploring the outcomes of users leaving Twitter, with a focus on Mastodon. This is a collaboration with Dr. Brian Keegan, and has involved student researchers Matt Nicholson, Joanna Mendy, and Blakeley Hoffman Payne

Research Ethics for Pervasive Public Data. Followng up on the NSF-funded PERVADE project, we are still conducting research on understanding the impact of research on the people whose data we are collecting (e.g., Twitter users) and on current researcher practices.

Ethics Controversies. In addition to past work on understanding public reactions to data privacy and research ethics controversies, we continue work on understanding media coverage of emerging technology ethics.

In addition to these current projects, Dr. Fiesler is also interested in online governance, including internet law (e.g., copyright) and content moderation. For more, see Dr. Fiesler’s previous research.

Recent & Representative Publications

Smith, J., Satwani, A., Burke, R. and Fiesler, C. Recommend Me? Designing Fairness Metrics with Providers. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability & Transparency, 2024.

Fiesler, C. et al. Remember the Human: A Systematic Review of Ethical Considerations in Reddit Research. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, GROUP, 2024.

Smith, J. et al. Incorporating Ethics in Computing Courses: Barriers, Support, and Perspectives from Educators. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCSE Conference on Computer Science Education, 2023.

Fiesler, C., Paup, J., and Zacher, C. “Chilling Tales: Understanding the Impact of Copyright Takedowns on Transformative Content Creators. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW, 2023.

Klassen, S. and Fiesler, C. “Run Wild a Little With Your Imagination”: Ethical Speculation in Computing Education with Black Mirror. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCSE Conference on Computer Science Education, 2022.

Klassen, S. et al. More than a Modern Day Green Book: Exploring the Online Community of Black Twitter. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW, 2021.

Dym, B. and Fiesler, C. Social Norm Vulnerability and Its Consequences for Privacy and Safety in an Online Community. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW, 2020.

Fiesler, C. and Dym, B. Moving Across Lands: Online Platform Migration in Fandom Communities. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW, 2020.

Fiesler, C., Garrett, N., and Beard, N. What Do We Teach When We Teach Tech Ethics? A Syllabi Analysis. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCSE Conference on Computer Science Education, 2020.

Hallinan, B., Brubaker, J.R., and Fiesler, C. Unexpected Expectations: Public Reactions to the Facebook Emotional Contagion Study. New Media & Society,  2019. [OA link]

Jiang, J.A., Kiene, C., Middler, S., Brubaker, J.R., and Fiesler, C. Moderation Challenges in Voice-based Online Communities on Discord. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW.  2019.