aytalina
@aytalina.bsky.social
She/her, Postdoctoral Researcher Computational Communication Science @compcommlab.bsky.social @univie.ac.at @what-if-horizon.bsky.social
🎉 New publication in Digital Journalism! The latest study by Paul Balluff, @hajoboo.bsky.social, and @anniewald.bsky.social compares how German alternative and legacy media reported on Nord Stream 2 and reveals both distinctive reporting patterns and substantial overlap. Read more👇
compcommlab.univie.ac.at
🤖 🔥 New preprint is out The paper, co-authored by Taehee Kim and @dgarcia.eu, demonstrates that AI-generated conversations can be remarkably convincing. 💡 For more insights check out the preprint: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The collective turing test: large language models can generate realistic multi-user discussions - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - The collective turing test: large language models can generate realistic multi-user discussions
nature.com
🎉 happy this one is finally out! new paper w/ @giadam.bsky.social and @fabiogiglietto.bsky.social in @icsjournal.bsky.social, part of the @aoir.bsky.social special issue:
Information, Communication & Society@icsjournal.bsky.social · 3w ago#OutNow Digital Collection in #iCS This study examines how major political events shape affective engagement patterns in a hyperpartisan pro-Bolsonaro network of Facebook accounts. Authors analyzed over 12 million posts across 2021–2023. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
We're launching a funding drive on Bellingcat today. It's a tough funding environment at the moment with global funder cuts & the fear of Trump scaring off donors, so support us here www.bellingcat.com/donate/?utm_... A short video about what your donations will fund www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vzb...
What Happens When You Fund Bellingcat ...
YouTube video by Bellingcat
youtube.com
The #WHATIF 2nd General Assembly meeting in Bucharest came to an end Many thanks to Facultatea de Comunicare si Relatii Publice for the excellent organisation and hospitality, and to the city of Bucharest for the welcoming atmosphere. Stay tuned for upcoming project updates!
Rudolphina, the Science Magazine of @univie.ac.at is featuring our @what-if-horizon.bsky.social, where we use #ABM and #LLM -powered simulations to explore civic engagement in digital information environments: rudolphina.univie.ac.at/en/computer-... @aytalina.bsky.social @compcommlab.bsky.social
Computer models explore digital information environments to safeguard democracy
How do social media, algorithms and AI influence democratic discourse? Researchers at the University of Vienna are simulating digital information spaces to investigate ways of safeguarding democracy.
rudolphina.univie.ac.at
🔥 Happening now: The 2nd General Assembly Meeting of the WHAT-IF project is currently taking place in 📍 Bucharest, Romania. Over the coming days, partners from across the consortium will come together to share progress, discuss preliminary findings and explore new research ideas. Stay tuned!
Thrilled and grateful that SYNAPS has been selected for ERC Advanced Grant funding. @erc.europe.eu SYNAPS looks at how 14- to 16-year-olds develop political interest, knowledge and engagement in a networked world shaped by peers, social media, influencers and algorithms. @compcommlab.bsky.social
A few days after the 76th ICA Conference is over and we’re still smiling when looking back at #hackICA26. What a great way to kick off the conference week — and what a week it has been overall. Marvin wants to say a big thank you to everyone who helped make it such a special experience 🐧
🌍 CCL is heading to #ICA26 with a broad set of contributions across panels and preconferences spanning multiple areas of communication research! 👋 Find us in Cape Town and explore the full overview here: compcommlab.univie.ac.at/news-detaila...
CCL at #ICA26 in Cape Town
The CCL is thrilled to share our latest research at the 76th Annual ICA Conference across several divisions!
compcommlab.univie.ac.at
It was a pleasure to talk about ABM and the progress we made in @what-if-horizon.bsky.social with passionate researchers from around the world 🤩 Many thanks to @hackingcommsci.bsky.social for a fantastic first day at #ICA26 🙌
WHAT-IF@what-if-horizon.bsky.social · 2mo agoThrilled to sponsor this wonderful event! If you're at the #hackica26, come by @aytalina.bsky.social's workshop on agent-based simulations and learn more about our project! ✨
Less than 1 week left to apply for this exciting postdoc opportunity ⬇️ @kathleenbeckers.bsky.social & I look forward to receiving applications 😀
Katjana Gattermann@kgattermann.bsky.social · 3mo ago🚨New PolCom Postdoc Vacancy🚨@kathleenbeckers.bsky.social & I are hiring on project "Media, Inequality, and Democratic Support" as part of the Horizon Europe project EDGE ⬇️ Start: 1 Oct 2026, length: 30 months, location: @ascor.bsky.social 🤩, DL: 7 June 2026! More info & apply: tinyurl.com/23zdmjhe
Thank you @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social for your guest talk today at @compcommlab.bsky.social 🙌 Very much appreciated the interdisciplinary discussions on content vs. source-level misinformation detection, LLM annotations and validation practices in the social sciences. Photo: @aytalina.bsky.social
🎯 New paper alert! It includes the main theoretical & empirical contribution of my dissertation: disentangling targeting and tailoring in political social media advertising. Really happy @meinungsfuehrer.bsky.social and I found such a great home for it 🏠 Open Access 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1369... 1/4
Targeting and/or tailoring?! A theoretical framework and its application to political social media advertising
Despite the widespread use of data-driven campaigning (DDC), there is limited conceptual clarity and empirical understanding of how political parties employ the advertising strategies of targeting ...
doi.org
NEW - Who Do Parties Speak To? Introducing the PSoGA: A New Comprehensive Database of Parties’ Social Group Appeals https://cup.org/43fmXFj - @alonadolinsky.com, @lenamariahuber.bsky.social & @rwillh11.bsky.social #FirstView
End your week by hitting "submit"! Today is the last day to submit your abstract to the @dgpuk-meth.bsky.social conference of the DGPuK at @gesis.org!
Christina Viehmann@christinaviehmann.bsky.social · 3mo ago📣 1 week left to apply! CFP – DGPuK Methods 2026 (Cologne, Sept 30–Oct 2, @gesis.org): How can we make sense of clicks, scrolls & streams – and what do they tell us about media effects? Join the conversation on computational methods, bias & ethics. 🗓️ May 15 t1p.de/q6ram
Huge congrats to Paul Balluff on successfully defending his dissertation “Applications of Transformer Models in Communication Research”! 🎉 compcommlab.univie.ac.at/news-detaila...
Successful CCL Thesis Defense!
We congratulate our lab member Paul Balluff! He has successfully defended his thesis.
compcommlab.univie.ac.at
50 years @oegk.bsky.social! At #KWT2026 @marvins.bsky.social & @janabernhard.bsky.social presented: “Paupers in the Papers” on how media reporting shapes perceptions of the welfare state recipients, a linkage-design study with @moritzsedlatschek.bsky.social.
🚨Deadline: Apply now for the POLNET School on Social Network Analysis @politicalnets.bsky.social 🗓️ 21–25 Sep, Universität Konstanz Curious about SNA and its applications in political network research? ✔️Gain skills in advanced methods, including Relational Event Models & Discourse Network Analysis
Apply by midnight, BST, TONIGHT!
POLNET School on Social Network Analysis, Universität Konstanz, 21 – 25 September 2026
buff.ly
A stunning visualization born from a collaboration with @manlius.bsky.social : 55,486 galaxies and 29,555 streamlines tracing how matter flows across our local universe, built on data from the CosmicFlows-4 project. Article in the first reply 👇
It was such a pleasure to host @dstoltenberg.bsky.social at CCL! She presented her newly founded Emmy Noether research group and the award-winning project “Place-Based Issue Publics: The Rearrangement of Local Public Spheres in a Digitalized and Globalized World” 🌍 🛜 Congratulations, Daniela! 🎉
Can TikTok be a space for constructive environmental journalism? 🌱 @veronikaebner.bsky.social shared her work on what drives engagement—a study together with Fabienne Lind & Hajo Boomgaarden at #COMPTEXT2026
From humor to hostility? 💬 At #COMPTEXT2026, @daisukenakamura.bsky.social explored how disparagement humor by influencers links to polarization in TikTok comments —a study together with Petro Tolochko & Desirée Schmuck
Yay infrastructure! 🧰 @marvins.bsky.social cial and @janabernhard.bsky.social present a first usecase between @medem.bsky.social l AmCAT instance and @iriscc.bsky.social sky.social climate reporting dataset. at #COMPTEXT2026
🧵 I’ve spent the last couple years studying authoritarianism around the world, and wrote a book about how to defeat it. Three things that happened in the U.S. THIS WEEK left me convinced things in here are going to get worse before they get better. But there are specific things we can do. 🧵🧵
