Jul 30 2021
Moderating Social Media Democratically, with Kai Fucile Ladouceur and Russell Frost
Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with a team of researchers with whom I've worked closely over the past few months. Together as a group of first- and second-year students, we participated in the 2021 Undergraduate Big Data Challenge hosted by the STEM Fellowship, where we won the first place honour, being awarded the JMIR Infodemic Innovation Award. We wrote a paper titled "The Plebeian Algorithm: A Democratic Approach to Censorship and Moderation" which is currently being published. We have also done some research into carbon pricing models and human trafficking, placing second in the #Challenge4ClimateAction by Convergence.Tech. The team consists of three of my close friends, two of whom could be here today:Russell Frost completed his second year of software engineering at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, ON. In all of our many conversations, he consistently brings up deep questions, and is able to get to the abstract core of our brainstorm sessions.Kai Fucile Ladouceur is a close personal friend of mine. I met Kai in our first year of high school, where he became strongly involved in the Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute Robotics Club, taking a leadership involvement in his final year of high school at Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute. Kai took this passion and ran with it. He is currently entering his first year of mechanical engineering at Confederation College, also in Thunder Bay, ON.Together, we have been able to function extremely well as a team, going by the pseudonym "Aurora Borealis". We met one another through the International Baccalaureate programme in Thunder Bay, through our high school. I know that I've personally learnt a lot from these friends, and hope everyone listening feels the same.Below is a link to the pre-print of "The Plebeian Algorithm: A Democratic Approach to Censorship and Moderation". https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/3...The following are contact information for both of our guests:Kai Fucile Ladouceur's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-fucil...Kai Fucile Ladouceur's Email: kladouceur06@gmail.comRussell Frost's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-f...Russell Frost's Email: russaz09@hotmail.comAs always, here is my contact information. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, or would like to be a guest on the show.Email: ben@benfedoruk.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminf...