In April, several Unconventional Weapons and Technology (UWT) researchers participated in the 79th Midwest Political Science Association Conference in Chicago, Ill.
UWT Director Steve Sin, START Junior Researcher Megan Rutter, and START Cyber Intelligence Researcher Rhyner Washburn presented on a panel about the political consequences of social media, offering findings from their paper titled “Influence-to-Action Model: Toward Measuring Relative Impact of Foreign Influence Campaigns.”
In the panel, the team discussed the social science-based Influence-to Action Model they had developed, which measures the relative impact of foreign influence campaigns against the U.S. population. The model they developed seeks to assess the component of the influence campaign narratives that leads to behavior changes in the audiences such campaigns target.
Sin also chaired and served as discussant for the panel on “Platform Governance and Cyber Strategy,” and a Junior Scholar Symposium session on “Innovation and Industrialization.”
In addition, Washburn chaired and served as the discussant for the panel on “The Politics of Internet Infrastructure,” and Rutter attended sessions on political control of information and political psychology, among others.
The team will present a START webinar on Tuesday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET, on the findings from their project on “Developing Impact and Effectiveness Assessment Tool for Influence Operations.” Those interested can sign up for the webinar at this link.