The Internet can be a hotbed for some of the worst aspects of digital society, but there’s lessons to be learned from the data we create in these unsavoury interactions. Network Visualization is an advanced analytic technique that can be used to turn the vast, intimidating mountain of our social data into stunning pictures of online communities. This kind of analysis can help us do a better job of parsing out the truth from the rest of the background noise, and maybe even show us the tools we need to help make the Internet a more hopeful place again. 

Host Ed McNamara sits down with Alexandra Pavliuc, a doctoral researcher who’s using this kind of network visualization to make sense of the bigger picture. Examining everything from tweets by state-run political accounts to targeted sexism propagated by trolls, she says that this kind of analysis could be the first step in figuring out how to make the Internet a safer and more equitable place for all - and how to help both individual users and the leaders of these networks figure out what it means to do their part.   

Featuring guest Alexandra Pavliuc, Doctoral Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute.  

This episode of Innovation Heroes is brought to you by Women in SHI. Visit SHI.com/WiSH to learn more.