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Professor Taha Yasseri
Workday Chair of Technology and Society, Sociology

Biography

Prof Taha Yasseri is Workday Chair and Professor Of Technology and Society at Trinity College Dublin and the Technological University of Dublin, where he directs the Joint Centre for Sociology of Humans and Machines (SOHAM). He is also an adjunct Full Professor at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at University College Dublin. He formerly was a Professor at the School of Sociology and a Geary Fellow at the Geary Institute for Public Policy at University College Dublin, Ireland. Formerly, he was a Senior Research Fellow in Computational Social Science at the University of Oxford, a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and a Research Fellow in Humanities and Social Sciences at Wolfson College. Taha Yasseri has a PhD in Complex Systems Physics from the University of Göttingen, Germany. He has interests in analysis of large-scale transactional data and conducting behavioural experiments to understand human dynamics, machines" social behaviour, government-society interactions, online political behaviour, mass collaboration and collective intelligence, information and opinion dynamics, hate speech and content moderation, collective behaviour, and online dating.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications

M Zhu, Taha Yasseri, J Kertész, Individual differences in knowledge network navigation, Scientific Reports, 14, (1), 2024 Journal Article, 2024 DOI

H Worrall-Carter, Taha Yasseri, From Black squares to White guilt: The influence of Black Lives Matter on non-Indigenous views of the Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia, Journal of Sociology, 2024 Journal Article, 2024 DOI

Milena Tsvetkova, Taha Yasseri, Niccolo Pescetelli, Tobias Werner, Human-machine social systems, 2024 Journal Article, 2024 DOI

Hao Cui, Taha Yasseri, AI-enhanced Collective Intelligence, 2024 Journal Article, 2024 DOI

Jason W Burton, Ezequiel Lopez-Lopez, Shahar Hechtlinger, Zoe Rahwan, Samuel Aeschbach, Michiel A Bakker, Joshua A Becker, Aleks Berditchevskaia, Julian Berger, Levin Brinkmann, Lucie Flek, Stefan M Herzog, Saffron Huang, Sayash Kapoor, Arvind Narayanan, Anne-Marie Nussberger, Taha Yasseri, Pietro Nickl, Abdullah Almaatouq, Ulrike Hahn, Ralf H J M Kurvers, Susan Leavy, Iyad Rahwan, Divya Siddarth, Alice Siu, Anita W Woolley, Dirk U Wulff, Ralph Hertwig, How large language models can reshape collective intelligence., Nature Human Behaviour, 2024 Journal Article, 2024 DOI

Melody Sepahpour-Fard, Michael Quayle, Maria Schuld, Taha Yasseri, Using word embeddings to analyse audience effects and individual differences in parenting Subreddits, 2023 Journal Article, 2023

Viktoria Spaiser, Sirkku Juhola, Sara M Constantino, Weisi Guo, Tabitha Watson, Jana Sillmann, Alessandro Craparo, Ashleigh Basel, John T Bruun, Krishna Krishnamurthy, Jürgen Scheffran, Patricia Pinho, Uche T Okpara, Jonathan F Donges, Avit Bhowmik, Taha Yasseri, Ricardo Safra de Campos, Graeme S Cumming, Hugues Chenet, Florian Krampe, Jesse F Abrams, Negative Social Tipping Dynamics Resulting from and Reinforcing Earth System Destabilisation, 2023 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Manran Zhu, Taha Yasseri, János Kertész, Individual differences in knowledge network navigation, 2023 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Taha Yasseri, 2022 wasn"t the year of Cleopatra " so why was she the most viewed page on Wikipedia?, 2023 Journal Article, 2023

Milan Jovi", Lovro Šubelj, Tea Golob, Matej Makarovi", Taha Yasseri, Danijela Boberi" Krsti"ev, Srdjan Škrbi", Zoran Levnaji", Terrorist attacks sharpen the binary perception of "Us" vs. "Them"., Scientific Reports, 13, (1), 2023, p12451 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

G Bianconi, A Arenas, J Biamonte, L D Carr, B Kahng, J Kertesz, J Kurths, L Lü, C Masoller, A E Motter, M Perc, F Radicchi, R Ramaswamy, F A Rodrigues, M Sales-Pardo, M San Miguel, S Thurner, Taha Yasseri, Complex systems in the spotlight: next steps after the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, Journal of Physics: Complexity, 4, (1), 2023 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Taha Yasseri, F Menczer, Can Crowdsourcing Rescue the Social Marketplace of Ideas?, Communications of the ACM, 66, (9), 2023, p42--45 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Taha Yasseri, From Print to Pixels: The Changing Landscape of the Public Sphere in the Digital Age, 2023 Journal Article, 2023

Melody Sepahpour-Fard, Michael Quayle, Maria Schuld, Taha Yasseri, Using word embeddings to analyse audience effects and individual differences in parenting Subreddits, 2023 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

A Breu, Taha Yasseri, What drives passion? An empirical examination on the impact of personality trait interactions and job environments on work passion, Current Psychology, 42, (17), 2023, p14350--14367 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Bertie Vidgen, Taha Yasseri, Helen Margetts, Islamophobes are not all the same! A study of far right actors on Twitter, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 17, (1), 2022, p1--23 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

C Blex, Taha Yasseri, Positive algorithmic bias cannot stop fragmentation in homophilic networks, Journal of Mathematical Sociology, The, 46, (1), 2022, p80--97 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

Taha Yasseri, The cognitive bias that tripped us up during the pandemic, 2022 Journal Article, 2022

Rachel Dinh, Patrick Gildersleve, Chris Blex, Taha Yasseri, Computational courtship understanding the evolution of online dating through large-scale data analysis, Journal of Computational Social Science, 5, (1), 2022, p401--426 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Patrick Gildersleve, Lea David, Shane M O'Mara, Collective memory in the digital age, 2022 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Passionate about your job? Here"s why that might not be good for you, 2022 Journal Article, 2022

Taha Yasseri, J Reher, Fooled by facts: quantifying anchoring bias through a large-scale experiment, Journal of Computational Social Science, 5, (1), 2022, p1001--1021 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

Patrick Gildersleve, Renaud Lambiotte, Taha Yasseri, Between News and History: Identifying Networked Topics of Collective Attention on Wikipedia, Journal of Computational Social Science, 2022 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Facebook Dating was set to take over the market " instead it was dead in the water, 2022 Journal Article, 2022

Alicia Mergenthaler, Taha Yasseri, Selling sex: what determines rates and popularity? An analysis of 11,500 online profiles, Culture, Health & Sexuality, 24, (7), 2022, p935--952 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

Mary Sanford, Taha Yasseri, The Kaleidoscope of Privacy: Differences across French, German, UK, and US GDPR Media Discourse, 2021 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Khairunnisa Ibrahim, Samuel Khodursky, Taha Yasseri, Gender Imbalance and Spatiotemporal Patterns of Contributions to Citizen Science Projects: The Case of Zooniverse, Frontiers in Physics, 9, 2021 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Victor Martins Maimone, Taha Yasseri, Football is becoming more predictable; network analysis of 88 thousand matches in 11 major leagues 11 major leagues, Royal Society Open Science, 8, 2021 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Taha Yasseri, How sex work has been affected by the pandemic, 2021 Journal Article, 2021

M Sanford, J Painter, Taha Yasseri, J Lorimer, Controversy around climate change reports: a case study of Twitter responses to the 2019 IPCC report on land, Climatic Change, 167, (3-4), 2021 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Fatema Akbar, Taha Yasseri, Engagement and Progression in Open Online 'Micro Lessons': An Analysis of Learners" Log Data from an Online Learning Platform, Proceedings of AUBH E-Learning Conference 2021: Innovative Learning & Teaching - Lessons from COVID-19, 2021 Journal Article, 2021

Carla Intal, Taha Yasseri, Using network analysis to understand and predict the Parliament"s Brexit Shenanigans, 2021 Journal Article, 2021

Taha Yasseri, Mary Sanford, Social media is reducing climate change debates to your views on veganism, 2021 Journal Article, 2021

Carla Intal, Taha Yasseri, Dissent and rebellion in the House of Commons: a social network analysis of Brexit-related divisions in the 57th Parliament, Applied Network Science, 2021 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Taha Yasseri, The results of European football matches are becoming more predictable, 2021 Journal Article, 2021

Taha Yasseri, Mining public opinion: why unsuccessful online petitions should not be ignored, 2020 Journal Article, 2020

Bertie Vidgen, Taha Yasseri, What, when and where of petitions submitted to the UK government during a time of chaos, Policy Sciences, 53, (3), 2020, p535--557 Journal Article, 2020 DOI

J Ternovski, Taha Yasseri, Social complex contagion in music listenership: A natural experiment with 1.3 million participants, Social Networks, 61, 2020, p144--152 Journal Article, 2020 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Dominic Cummings: how the internet knows when you"ve updated your blog, 2020 Journal Article, 2020

Taha Yasseri, A more guided visit " how to reopen museums and galleries safely, 2020 Journal Article, 2020

B Vidgen, Taha Yasseri, Detecting weak and strong Islamophobic hate speech on social media, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 17, (1), 2020, p66--78 Journal Article, 2020 DOI

Johannes Wachs, Taha Yasseri, Balázs Lengyel, János Kertész, Social capital predicts corruption risk in towns, Royal Society Open Science, 6, (4), 2019, p182103 Journal Article, 2019 DOI

M Saeedian, T Jamali, M Z Kamali, H Bayani, Taha Yasseri, G R Jafari, Emergence of world-stock-market network, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 526, 2019 Journal Article, 2019 DOI

Taha Yasseri, How we built a tool that detects the strength of Islamophobic hate speech on Twitter, 2019 Journal Article, 2019

Menno H Schellekens, Floris Holstege, Taha Yasseri, Female scholars need to achieve more for equal public recognition, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019 Journal Article, 2019 DOI

Sophie Melville, Kathryn Eccles, Taha Yasseri, Topic Modeling of Everyday Sexism Project Entries, Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 5, 2019 Journal Article, 2019 DOI

P Gildersleve, Taha Yasseri, Inspiration, captivation, and misdirection: Emergent properties in networks of online navigation, Springer Proceedings in Complexity, 0, 2018, p271--282 Journal Article, 2018 DOI

Dong Nguyen, Barbara McGillivray, Taha Yasseri, Emo, love and god: making sense of Urban Dictionary, a crowd-sourced online dictionary, Royal Society Open Science, 5, (5), 2018, p172320 Journal Article, 2018 DOI

S A Hale, P John, H Margetts, Taha Yasseri, How digital design shapes political participation: A natural experiment with social information, PLoS ONE, 13, (4), 2018 Journal Article, 2018 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Never mind killer robots " even the good ones are scarily unpredictable, 2017 Journal Article, 2017

Taha Yasseri, S A Hale, H Z Margetts, Rapid rise and decay in petition signing, EPJ Data Science, 6, (1), 2017 Journal Article, 2017 DOI

M Kaminska, J Gallacher, B Kollanyi, Taha Yasseri, P N Howard, Social Media and News Sources during the 2017 UK General Election, 2017 Journal Article, 2017

Taha Yasseri, The internet is enabling scientists to understand how `collective memory" works, 2017 Journal Article, 2017

Pu Yan, Taha Yasseri, Two Diverging Roads: A Semantic Network Analysis of Chinese Social Connection ("Guanxi") on Twitter, Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 4, 2017 Journal Article, 2017 DOI

Lily McElwee, Taha Yasseri, Social Media, Money, and Politics: Campaign Finance in the 2016 US Congressional Cycle, 2017 Journal Article, 2017 DOI

M Tsvetkova, Taha Yasseri, E T Meyer, J B Pickering, V Engen, P Walland, M Lüders, A Følstad, G Bravos, Understanding human-machine networks: A cross-disciplinary survey, ACM Computing Surveys, 50, (1), 2017 Journal Article, 2017 DOI

Eric Meyer, Taha Yasseri, Scott Hale, Josh Cowls, Ralph Schroeder, Helen Margetts, Niels Brügger, Ralph Schroeder, Analysing the UK web domain and exploring 15 years of UK universities on the web, 2017 Journal Article, 2017 DOI

M Ghasemi Nezhadhaghighi, S M S Movahed, Taha Yasseri, S M Vaez Allaei, Characterization of the anisotropy of rough surfaces: Crossing statistics, Journal of Applied Physics, 122, (8), 2017 Journal Article, 2017 DOI

J Borge-Holthoefer, Y Moreno, Taha Yasseri, Editorial: At the crossroads: Lessons and challenges in computational social science, Frontiers in Physics, 4, (AUG), 2016 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Bertie Vidgen, Taha Yasseri, P-Values: Misunderstood and Misused, Front. Phys., 4, 2016 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

R Eynon, I Hjorth, Taha Yasseri, N Gillani, Samira ElAtia, Donald Ipperciel, Osmar Zaïane, Understanding communication patterns in MOOCs: Combining data mining and qualitative methods, 2016, p207--221 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Peter Cihon, Taha Yasseri, Scott Hale, Helen Margetts, Tweeting for the cause: Network analysis of UK petition sharing, Proceedings of The Internet, Policy & Politics Conference 2016, 2016 Journal Article, 2016

Jennie Zhang, Taha Yasseri, What Happens After You Both Swipe Right: A Statistical Description of Mobile Dating Communications, 2016 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Ruth García-Gavilanes, Milena Tsvetkova, Taha Yasseri, Dynamics and biases of online attention: the case of aircraft crashes, Royal Society Open Science, 3, (10), 2016, p160460 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Javier Borge-Holthoefer, Yamir Moreno, Taha Yasseri, At the Crossroads: Lessons and Challenges in Computational Social Science, 2016 Journal Article, 2016

Taha Yasseri, J Bright, Wikipedia traffic data and electoral prediction: towards theoretically informed models, EPJ Data Science, 5, (1), 2016 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

A W Eide, J B Pickering, Taha Yasseri, G Bravos, A Følstad, V Engen, M Tsvetkova, E T Meyer, P Walland, M Lüders, Human-machine networks: Towards a typology and profiling framework, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 9731, 2016, p11--22 Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Using Wikipedia as PR is a problem, but our lack of a critical eye is worse, 2015 Journal Article, 2015

Taha Yasseri, Wikipedia sockpuppetry: linking accounts to real people is pure speculation, 2015 Journal Article, 2015

Jonathan Bright, Helen Margetts, Scott Hale, Taha Yasseri, The Use of Social Media for Research and Analysis: a Feasibility Study, 2014 Journal Article, 2014

Anna Samoilenko, Taha Yasseri, The distorted mirror of Wikipedia: a quantitative analysis of Wikipedia coverage of academics, EPJ Data Sci., 3, (1), 2014 Journal Article, 2014 DOI

Helen Margetts, Scott A. Hale, Taha Yasseri, Big Data and Collective Action, Society and the Internet, 2014, p223--237 Journal Article, 2014 DOI

Scott Hale, Peter John, Helen Margetts, Taha Yasseri, Investigating Political Participation and Social Information Using Big Data and a Natural Experiment, APSA Annual Meeting, 2014 Journal Article, 2014

Taha Yasseri, Jonathan Bright, Can electoral popularity be predicted using socially generated big data?, it - Information Technology, 56, (5), 2014 Journal Article, 2014 DOI

Iñiguez, G., Török, J., Yasseri, T., Kaski, K., Kertész, J., Modeling social dynamics in a collaborative environment, EPJ Data Science, 3, (1), 2014, p1-20 Journal Article, 2014 DOI

Nabeel Gillani, Taha Yasseri, Rebecca Eynon, Isis Hjorth, Structural limitations of learning in a crowd: communication vulnerability and information diffusion in MOOCs, Sci. Rep., 4, 2014, p6447 Journal Article, 2014 DOI

Rebecca Eynon, Nabeel Gillani, Isis Hjorth, Taha Yasseri, Conceptualising Interaction and Learning in MOOCs, 2014 Journal Article, 2014

Scott A. Hale, Taha Yasseri, Josh Cowls, Eric T. Meyer, Ralph Schroeder, Helen Margetts, Mapping the UK webspace, Proceedings of the 2014 ACM conference on Web science - WebSci '14, 2014 Journal Article, 2014 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Giovanni Quattrone, Afra Mashhadi, Temporal analysis of activity patterns of editors in collaborative mapping project of OpenStreetMap, Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Open Collaboration - WikiSym '13, 2013 Journal Article, 2013 DOI

Taha Yasseri, János Kertész, Value Production in a Collaborative Environment, J Stat Phys, 151, (3-4), 2013, p414--439 Journal Article, 2013 DOI

Scott A. Hale, Helen Margetts, Taha Yasseri, Petition growth and success rates on the UK No. 10 Downing Street website, Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference on - WebSci '13, 2013 Journal Article, 2013 DOI

Márton Mestyán, Taha Yasseri, János Kertész, Attila Szolnoki, Early Prediction of Movie Box Office Success Based on Wikipedia Activity Big Data, PLoS ONE, 8, (8), 2013, pe71226 Journal Article, 2013 DOI

János Török, Gerardo Iñiguez, Taha Yasseri, Maxi San Miguel, Kimmo Kaski, János Kertész, Opinions, Conflicts, and Consensus: Modeling Social Dynamics in a Collaborative Environment, Phys. Rev. Lett., 110, (8), 2013 Journal Article, 2013 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Robert Sumi, János Kertész, Attila Szolnoki, Circadian Patterns of Wikipedia Editorial Activity: A Demographic Analysis, PLoS ONE, 7, (1), 2012, pe30091 Journal Article, 2012 DOI

Reiner Kree, Taha Yasseri, From Cascades to Patterns, Nanofabrication by Ion-Beam Sputtering, 2012, p225--257 Journal Article, 2012 DOI

Taha Yasseri, András Kornai, János Kertész, Eduardo G. Altmann, A Practical Approach to Language Complexity: A Wikipedia Case Study, PLoS ONE, 7, (11), 2012, pe48386 Journal Article, 2012 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Robert Sumi, András Rung, András Kornai, János Kertész, Attila Szolnoki, Dynamics of Conflicts in Wikipedia, PLoS ONE, 7, (6), 2012, pe38869 Journal Article, 2012 DOI

Kree, R., Yasseri, T., From cascades to patterns: A Monte Carlo approach, Nanofabrication by Ion-Beam Sputtering: Fundamentals and Applications, 2012, p225-257 Journal Article, 2012 DOI

Robert Sumi, Taha Yasseri, Andr"s Rung, Andr"s Kornai, J"nos Kertesz, Edit Wars in Wikipedia, 2011 IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust and 2011 IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Social Computing, 2011 Journal Article, 2011 DOI

Taha Yasseri, Reiner Kree, Alexander K Hartmann, Nanoscale pattern formation on ion-sputtered surfaces, 2010 Journal Article, 2010

Taha Yasseri, Reiner Kree, A Monte Carlo study of surface sputtering by dual and rotated ion beams, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 268, (16), 2010, p2496--2503 Journal Article, 2010 DOI

Taha Yasseri, How to make nano-waves on solid surfaces:How to make nano-waves on solid surfaces: A theoretical study on surface nano-fabrication by ion-beam sputtering, based on Monte Carlo computer simulations, 2010 Journal Article, 2010

Kree, R., Yasseri, T., Hartmann, A.K., The influence of beam divergence on ion-beam induced surface patterns, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 267, (8-9), 2009, p1407-1411 Journal Article, 2009 DOI

Alexander K Hartmann, Reiner Kree, Taha Yasseri, Simulating discrete models of pattern formation by ion beam sputtering, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 21, (22), 2009, p224015 Journal Article, 2009 DOI

Kree, R., Yasseri, T., Hartmann, A.K., Surfactant Sputtering: Theory of a new method of surface nanostructuring by ion beams, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 267, (8-9), 2009, p1403-1406 Journal Article, 2009 DOI

Rebecca Eynon, Isis Hjorth, Nabeel Gillani, Taha Yasseri, Vote Me Up If You Like My Ideas!! Experiences of Learning in a MOOC, SSRN Journal Journal Article, DOI

Taha Yasseri, Anselm Spoerri, Mark Graham, Janos Kertesz, The Most Controversial Topics in Wikipedia: A Multilingual and Geographical Analysis, SSRN Journal Journal Article, DOI

Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

Kelly, B.D., Political asylums, History Today, 66, (2), 2016, - 66 Miscellaneous, 2016

Research Expertise

Description

Prof Yasseri has interest in analysis of large-scale transactional data and conducting behavioural experiments to understand human dynamics, mass collaboration and collective intelligence, conflict and collaboration, machines social behaviour, government-society interactions, online political behaviour, information and opinion dynamics, hate speech and content moderation, collective behaviour, and online dating.

Projects

  • Title
    • AI-Enhanced Collective Intelligence
  • Summary
    • ANNETTE examines the opportunities for enhancing collective intelligence through deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) as a "team manager" and as a "team-mate" in crowd-based collaborative projects. Collective Intelligence refers to the emergent outcome of the collective efforts of many individuals and is superior to the individual intelligence of those who contributed to it. Internet-based technologies have boosted collective intelligence to an unprecedented level. Large scale collaborations among many individuals across geographical boundaries in Wikipedia or Citizen Science platforms are only a few realized possibilities. However, there are unresolved challenges in collective intelligence knowledge and practice, particularly when it comes to collaboration in a political context such as content moderation tasks on social media to battle misinformation and hate speech. The first issue I tackle is the paradox of "conflict and collaboration": the more diverse the pool of contributors to collective intelligence is, the more intelligent the group becomes, however, political diversity often leads to conflict. How to build teams that are diverse yet avoid opinion clashes and minimize conflict? I will propose and test a multidimensional matching system using AI "as a manager" to achieve this goal. A tightly related problem in deploying AI alongside humans in large-scale collaborative projects is "volunteer demotivation" resulting in a paradoxical decline in performance. To address this, I will study the use of AI "as a teammate", and seek team parameters and designs that maximize the retention and performance of hybrid AI-human teams. I will use behavioural experiments and agent-based simulation, combined with machine learning to examine how collective intelligence can be enhanced by AI, particularly in two cases of collaborative content moderation on social media platforms and volunteer-based citizen science projects. ANNETTE will advance the state-of-the-art in crowd-based teamwork and group organization through bridging to the fastdeveloping field of AI technologies.
  • Funding Agency
    • IRC
  • Date From
    • Sep 2022
  • Date To
    • Aug 2026