Cornell University

Cornell University Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

https://communication.cals.cornell.edu/news-events
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Although bystander intervention can mitigate the negative effects of cyberbullying, few bystanders ever attempt to intervene. This talk discusses a study where we explored the effects of interface design on bystander intervention using a simulated custom-made social media platform. Participants took part in a three-day, in-situ experiment, in which they were exposed to several cyberbullying incidents. Depending on the experimental condition, they received different information about the audience size and viewing notifications intended to increase a sense of personal responsibility in bystanders. Results indicated that bystanders were more likely to intervene indirectly than directly, and information about the audience size and viewership increased the likelihood of flagging cyberbullying posts through serial mediation of public surveillance, accountability, and personal responsibility. This study has implications for understanding bystander effect in cyberbullying, and how to develop design solutions to encourage bystander intervention in social media.

 

Dominic DiFranzo is a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Social Media Lab at Cornell University where he works on new design interventions for cyberbullying and explores the effects of robotics on team collaboration. His research involves collaborating with colleagues across the social sciences and humanities to translate the tools and methods from data science, e-science and informatics to address their research needs and purposes. This includes working with a wide array of research groups and projects including large-scale social network analysis, experimental ethnography, open government data, and web design.  He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was a member of the Tetherless World Constellation.

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