Violence-Inducing Behaviour Prevention in Social-Cyber Space of Local Communities
Researcher Project for Technological Convergence Related to Enabling Technologies
The project will create the foundation of a transformative new technology for combating radicalization and hate speech in online social spaces
The Project
Hate speech, radicalization and polarization in online social environments is one of the leading global societal challenges today. How to respond to online hate speech is a question troubling many democracies – including Norway. Such malicious online behaviours not only impede the universal right to a free and peaceful existence, they also negatively affect response efforts of both public and official agencies during disasters, and thus, local community services require tools to timely monitor risks to community resilience from the social environment.
In this project our primary objectives are to: (a) ASSESS key behaviours and risks to local communities and (b) MITIGATE the identified risks by developing advanced and real-time methods for monitoring and preventing such malicious behaviour on the Internet. This will be achieved through utilizing algorithms of artificial intelligence or big data technologies in innovative and new ways. The project will analyse social media data, taking into account ethical, social, and legal challenges in line with computational social science approaches.
Methodology
Studies, Strategies and Software will be different phases of the SOCYTI project and are transferred into different Work Packages that orchestrate the realization of the SOCYTI objectives together. A novel aspect of technology innovation in SOCYTI includes our research methodology of a hybrid multi-task learning framework for multilingual violence-inducing behaviour detection tasks demonstrated, using knowledge graphs, text classification and sentiment analysis, and deep neural networks.
SOCYTI will embrace transformative innovation by adapting the correct mindset for technology enabling community resilience, significant advances in state-of-the-art and top-notch research contribution within and across disciplines.
The project flyers
Team
Carol Azungi Dralega, NLA University College
Dante Della Vella, Western Norway Research Institute
Ehtesham Hashmi, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Hemant Purohit, George Mason University
Mohamed Abomhara, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Rajendra Akerkar, Western Norway Research Institute
Sarang Shaikh, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Sule Yildirim Yayilgan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
This video content and design by Torborg Igland & Carol Azungi Dralega in cooperation with Terje Sunnarvik Tveit.
Project Manager: Rajendra Akerkar
Project Owner: Western Norway Research Institute
Duration: May 2022– September 2026
Partners
SOCYTI researchers with Prof. Kathleen Carley (CMU) at SAIDD 2023 symposium (Photo credit: Torborg Lgland)
SOCYTI workshop at Kristiansand in October 2022 (Photo: R. Akerkar)
Pål Tore Haga (Vest politidistrikt) presenting at SOCYTI project workshop at Kritiansand.
Carol Azungi Dralega and Torborg Igland of NLA University at SAIDD 2023 in Sogndal. (Photo: Torborg Igland)
Yasas Senarath, George Mason University, presented a guest seminar at Vestlandsforsking in October 2022.
SOCYTI team at Kristiansand workshop
Members of the SOCYTI project at workshop at NLA University in October 2022.
The project team at the Kick-Off meeting in Sogndal.
Social event of the SOCYTI at Urnes.
Social dinner during the SOCYTI kick-off meeting in June 2022.
Professor Sule Yildirim Yayilgan of NTNU Gjøvik presenting at the project board meeting in October 2022.
Presentation by the Reference Group member at the SOCYTI workshop at Kritiansand.
SOCYTI 2nd Stakeholder Workshop in Oslo on 13 March 2024.
SOCYTI 2nd Stakeholder Workshop in Oslo on 13 March 2024.
SOCYTI 2nd Stakeholder Workshop in Oslo on 13 March 2024.
SOCYTI 2nd Stakeholder Workshop in Oslo on 13 March 2024.
Dante Della Vella gave a presentation on "Reflections on incorporating RRI goals into online violence prevention research" at the AFINO International Conference: Transformative Research and Innovation, Oslo. (30 August 2024)
At the AFINO International Conference: SOCYTI Project Manager Professor Akerkar with Helge Rynning of the Research Council of Norway (30 August 2024)
SOCYTI project took part at the Forskningsdagene (Open Science Exhibition) in Kristiansand on 14th September 2024. Our project partner NLA University College represented by Carol Azungi Dralega and Torborg Igland were engaging members of the public - young and old and from all walks of life, through interactive activities, prizes and discussions. The aim of their participation in this event was not only to bridge the gap between science (academic research) and society by raising awareness but to also promote bottom-up knowledge exchange on such a critical societal challenge. The NLA team was joined by Turid Terje Sunnarvik (IT), Turid Vevatne (Information) and two BA students interested in the topic.
SOCYTI project took part at the Forskningsdagene (Open Science Exhibition) in Kristiansand on 14th September 2024. Our project partner NLA University College represented by Carol Azungi Dralega and Torborg Igland were engaging members of the public - young and old and from all walks of life, through interactive activities, prizes and discussions. The aim of their participation in this event was not only to bridge the gap between science (academic research) and society by raising awareness but to also promote bottom-up knowledge exchange on such a critical societal challenge.
SOCYTI project took part at the Forskningsdagene (Open Science Exhibition) in Kristiansand on 14th September 2024.
SOCYTI project took part at the Forskningsdagene (Open Science Exhibition) in Kristiansand on 14th September 2024. Our project partner NLA University College represented by Carol Azungi Dralega and Torborg Igland were engaging members of the public - young and old and from all walks of life, through interactive activities, prizes and discussions.
SOCYTI project took part at the Forskningsdagene (Open Science Exhibition) in Kristiansand on 14th September 2024.
SOCYTI project took part at the Forskningsdagene (Open Science Exhibition) in Kristiansand on 14th September 2024.
Dissemination (For SOCYTI publications in Cristin)
Publications
Ehtesham Hashmi, Sule Yildirim Yayilgan, Muhammad Mudassar Yamin, Mohamed Abomhara, Mohib Ullah. Self-supervised hate speech detection in Norwegian texts with lexical and semantic augmentations, Expert Systems with Applications, Volume 264, 2025, 125843, ISSN 0957-4174, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2024.125843.
E. Hashmi, S. Yildirim Yayilgan, I. A. Hameed, M. Mudassar Yamin, M. Ullah and M. Abomhara, "Enhancing Multilingual Hate Speech Detection: From Language-Specific Insights to Cross-Linguistic Integration," in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 121507-121537, 2024, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3452987.
Dralega, C.A., Igland, T., Seddighi, G. (2024). Challenges in Regulating Online Hate-Speech Within the Norwegian Context. In: Akerkar, R. (eds) AI, Data, and Digitalization. SAIDD 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1810. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53770-7_12.
Senarath, Y., Purohit, H., Akerkar, R. (2024). Violence-Inducing Behavior Prevention in Social-Cyber Space. In: Akerkar, R. (eds) AI, Data, and Digitalization. SAIDD 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1810. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53770-7_10.
Hashmi, Ehtesham; Yildirim-Yayilgan, Sule; Shaikh, Sarang. (2024) Augmenting sentiment prediction capabilities for code-mixed tweets with multilingual transformers. Social Network Analysis and Mining.
Ali, Hashir; Hashmi, Ehtesham; Yildirim-Yayilgan, Sule; Shaikh, Sarang. (2024) Analyzing Amazon Products Sentiment: A Comparative Study of Machine and Deep Learning, and Transformer-Based Techniques. Electronics (Basel).
Hashmi, Ehtesham; Yildirim-Yayilgan, Sule. (2024) A robust hybrid approach with product context-aware learning and explainable AI for sentiment analysis in Amazon user reviews. Electronic Commerce Research.
Hashmi, E., Yayilgan, S.Y. Multi-class hate speech detection in the Norwegian language using FAST-RNN and multilingual fine-tuned transformers. Complex Intell. Syst. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40747-024-01392-5.
E. Hashmi, S. Y. Yayilgan, M. M. Yamin, S. Ali and M. Abomhara, "Advancing Fake News Detection: Hybrid Deep Learning with FastText and Explainable AI," in IEEE Access, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3381038.
D. Della Vella, H. Nguyen, and R. Akerkar, “The Utility of Community Resilience Models for the Prevention of Online Violence”, ISCRAM, vol. 21, May 2024, Accessed: May 22, 2024.
Presentations
Y. Senarath and H. Purohit, "Lifelong Learning Framework for Multilingual Hate Speech Detection in Social Media Streams" in Proc. 17th Int. Conf. Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, & Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (Working Papers), Sep. 2024.
Dralega Carol Azungi and Igland Torborg. Building resilience against online hate-speech – perspectives and synergies from stakeholders within Norwegian contexts. Session Digital Culture at Norsk Mediekonferanse 2024, Ålesund, 17-18 October. (Accepted 2024)
Dralega Carol Azungi and Igland Torborg (2024) Sammen mot Hatprat (Together against Hate Speech). 14th September, 2024, Kristiansand. National Open Science Day (Forskningsdagene) 2024 Theme: Health. 18 – 29 September 2024. (OPEN SCIENCE DAY - FORSKNINGSDAGENE)
Dante Della Vella, Carol Azungi Dralega, Torborg Igland and Rajendra Akerkar. Reflections on Incorporating RRI Goals into Online Violence Prevention Research, at the AFINO International Conference, Oslo, 30th August 2024.
Dralega Carol Azungi and Torborg Igland (2024) A victims’ lens into the dark side of online hate speech, at UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day 2024 Academic Conference, Chile. Session: Safeguarding Press Freedom amindst Journalist unsafety. 1-4th May, 2024. University of Chile.
Igland Torborg and Dralega Carol Azungi (2023) The Battle over rights, balance and entitled racism – a discourse analysis of media coverage of Sumaya Jirde Ali-Atle Antonsen Case, session on News Content. At NORDMEDIA2023 - Technological Takeover? Social and Cultural implication - Promises and Pitfall, August, 16 – 18 Bergen.
Torborg Igland, Carol Azungi Dralega and Gilda Seddighi. Unpacking the tensions in the Legal Regulation of Online Hate-Speech within the Norwegian Context. In Proceedings of Symposium on AI, Data and Digitalization (SAIDD 2023), ISBN: 978-82-428-0457-0, 2023.
Yasas Senarath, Hemant Purohit and Rajendra Akerkar. Violence-inducing Behaviour Prevention in Social-Cyber Space. In Proceedings of Symposium on AI, Data and Digitalization SAIDD 2023, Sogndal, Norway. ISBN 978-82-428-0457-0, May 2023.
Hemant Purohit. Leveraging Open Knowledge Networks to Enhance Data Analytics for Social Good. Open Knowledge Networks (OKN) Workshop, ACM SIGKDD Conference, Washington DC, 2022.
Gilda Seddighi. Temasamling om netthets og hatefulle ytringer. Empo - flerkulturelt ressurssenter, Bergen, 2022.
In Media
En dugnad mot hatprat. Carol Azungi Dralega og Torborg Igland. Dagsavisen, 25.06.2024.
Vil bruke KI for å bekjempe hatprat på nett. 22 March 2024
Responsible Research and Innovation for Preventing Online Violence – News from AFINO (ntnu.no), 24 January 2023.
Skal hindre netthets og hatprat. 03 January 2023.
Hvordan kan vi stoppe hatprat på nett? December 2022.
Hvordan forebygge og stoppe hatprat på nett? 05 December 2022.
Combating online hate speech with new methods. 16 Jun 2022.
Master Thesis on the SOCYTI related topics
Andreas Aarrestad and Santhosh Shanmugam, An Applied Approach to Machine Learning for Hate Speech Management on Social Media Platforms. Department of Information Security and Communication Technology, NTNU.
Submission date: November 2023, Main supervisor: Sule Yildirim Yayilgan, Co-supervisor: Sarang Shaikh, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).