Aleksandra Urman
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aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman
@aurman21.bsky.social
1.3K followers 500 following 800 posts

Senior Research Associate, Social Computing Group, U of Zurich. Computational social/communication scientist

Videos
Political science 24%
Communication & Media Studies 24%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Gesis Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Aleksandra Urman

johannesbreuer.com
Johannes Breuer @johannesbreuer.com · 3h
New @gesis.org data set publication: "Social Media Accounts of German Candidates from the German Federal Election 2025"
doi.org/10.4232/1.14...
GESIS-Suche
doi.org

Reposted by Brian A. Nosek, Will Jennings, Alexander Wuttke , and 4 more

tsrauf.bsky.social
Tamkinat Rauf @tsrauf.bsky.social · 17h
This is a belated post about our paper in @poqjournal.bsky.social.

We analyzed 100 survey experiments fielded by TESS (tessexperiments.org), using only information from the proposals to identify intended hypotheses.

Here are some of the things we learned:
An Audit of Social Science Survey Experiments
Abstract. Survey experiments have become a popular methodology for causal inference across the social sciences. We study the efficacy of survey experiment
doi.org

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

icahdq.bsky.social
International Communication Association @icahdq.bsky.social · 19h
🎉 Today's the day! Notifications for #ICA26 are now being sent out via email! Please be patient & be sure to check your spam folder too. You can also check your results by logging into the ScholarOne website and clicking the Messages tab. buff.ly/Lm6odET

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

jasonkoebler.bsky.social
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 1d
New: Police have released info about millions of surveillance targets nationwide from thousands of different police departments because of a public records redaction error in Flock data. Reveals active police investigations, border patrol & ICE targets, lots more:

www.404media.co/police-unmas...
Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error
Flock is going after a website called HaveIBeenFlocked.com that has collated public records files released by police.
www.404media.co

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

mattknight.bsky.social
Matt Knight @mattknight.bsky.social · 1d
BBC: Prosecutors have asked for South Korea's former president Yoon Suk Yeol to be handed a death sentence if he is found guilty over his botched attempt to impose martial law.
Yoon Suk Yeol: S Korea prosecutors seek death penalty over failed insurrection attempt
Yoon is accused of leading an insurrection when he tried to impose martial law in 2024.
www.bbc.com

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

alessandronai.bsky.social
Alessandro Nai @alessandronai.bsky.social · 6d
🖋️ Algorithmic biases

Aleksandra Urman (@aurman21.bsky.social) & Mykola Makhortykh

“Algorithmic biases are particularly concerning [...] due to their implications for unequal access to politically relevant information and unfair outcomes for different providers of political information”
www.elgaronline.com

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

gildasahebi.bsky.social
Gilda Sahebi @gildasahebi.bsky.social · 11d
Na da kann sich Donald Trump mit Wladimir Putin zusammen tun. Der will nämlich die Ukraine selbst regieren.
Eilmeldung Tagesschau: Trump: USA wollen Venezuela vorerst selbst regieren.

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Reposted by Axel Bruns, Peter Holmes, Tom van der Meer , and 8 more

adamjschwarz.bsky.social
Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 12d
Maduro is a brutal and oppressive dictator of Venezuela.

Trump has no legitimate legal basis for military action against Venezuela under United States or international law.

Both of those facts are simultaneously true.

Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz, Steve Peers, Andreas Ortmann , and 3 more

carlbergstrom.com
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 12d
1. Headlines everywhere today read "Grok apologizes."

This is bullshit. A chatbot is not something that can apologize.

Pretending otherwise is simple laundering these companies' bullshit about what AI is, while diffusing blame away from the human beings that developed and released this system.
LA Times: Elon Musk company bot apologizes Newsweek: Elon Musk's Grok Apologizes International Business Times: Grok Issues Apologies The Hill: Musk's AI chatbot Grok apologizes

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

claesdevreese.bsky.social
Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 12d
Use official sources for health guidance!

AI summaries are not good enough.

And Google: providing AI overviews for health with “the vast majority provide accurate information” is a too low bar!

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Google AI Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice
Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

adfichter.bsky.social
Adrienne Fichter @adfichter.bsky.social · 13d
Finally finished today...Read it and you understand a lot about the AGI cult. And the psych of Samuel Altman (what a weirdo).
book cover of AG: inside the reckless race for total domination. karen hao

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 14d
And I owe this recognition to that one old-new-friend who texted me last year on the new year's eve and essentially started this "trying the reconnection" chain for me :)

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 14d
Ok so one personal learning of 2025 - it might be a good idea to try to reconnect with friends you lost in your twenties due to both parts being idiots in their 20s. With some the reconnection won't work, and that's fine. But those with who it will work are absolutely worth it.

Reposted by David Lazer, Steve Peers, Serge Egelman , and 6 more

jeffhorwitz.bsky.social
Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · 14d
We got Meta’s “general global playbook” for defeating advertiser verification regulations, which the company knows would reduce scams. It includes making scam ads “not findable” for regulators searching Meta’s ad library through targeted scrubbing.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta created ‘playbook’ to fend off pressure to crack down on scammers, documents show
As regulators pressure Meta to verify the identity of advertisers on Facebook and Instagram, the social media giant has drafted a “playbook” to stall them. A Reuters investigation examines its tactics...
www.reuters.com

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
The best fiction of the year for me was one I read in Russian, by Belarusian author Sasha Filipenko whose books I also never miss. The good thing is the German version - "Die Elefanten" - comes out in February, and can be pre-ordered www.diogenes.ch/leser/titel/...
Diogenes Verlag - Die Elefanten | Filipenko, Sasha
Eines Tages sind sie da. Wie aus dem Nichts leben sie plötzlich in der Stadt, stehen auf Straßen und Plätzen, leben mitten unter den Menschen und ziehen in die Häuser ein: die Elefanten. Doch niemand ...
www.diogenes.ch

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
In German, "ë" by Jehona Kicaj, "Im Herzen der Katze" by Jina Khayyer and "Lázár" by Nelio Biedermann stood out the most to me

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
I also enjoyed "Ripeness" by Sarah Moss, though can't quite even explain what I found so captivating about it

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
One of my favourite fiction reads this year were quite unexpectedly the first 3 parts of the "On the calculation of volume" by Solvej Balle, totally looking forward to the next ones

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
And my most uncharacteristic non-fiction rec this year was "The First Contact" by Becky Ferreira. In part because I love the newsletters of @404media.co written by the author, in part because one of my close friends is interested in the topic, and I knew nothing about it so thought why not read it.

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
For years I read every single book by Philippe Sands, great if you are interested in international criminal justice. "38 Londres Street" about Pinochet didn't disappoint either, though did make me even sadder about the prospects of international justice than I was before.

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
Ok that's it with the tech non-fiction actually. In the non-tech a somewhat niche recommendation for either those who love Budapest as much as I do or are into the WW2 history or Hungarian/Hungarian Jewish history - "The Last Days of Budapest" by Adam LeBor

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
For those interested specifically in Telegram and/or the persona of Pavel Durov, "The Populist" by Nikolay Kononov is a must read. It's short but you won't find some details anywhere else, at least not in English You can buy the ebook directly from the author here nikolaykononov.gumroad.com/l/vzgogg
The Populist. The Untold Story of Pavel Durov and Telegram
The book is the result of the author's 14-year investigation into Pavel Durov's strategy and mindset, and the epic of Telegram. It is based on multiple interviews with Durov and his rivals about clash...
nikolaykononov.gumroad.com

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
"The Thinking Machine" by Stephen Witt nicely tells the story of NVIDIA (though I did have some issues with the last chapters of the book, still recommend it), made me reflect on how recent this all is and how much has changed in the tech world in a decade (not necessarily for the better)

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
A comprehensive dive into OpenAI as an organisation but also the human labour powering GenAI was "Empire of AI" by @karenhao.bsky.social

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
A book that some of its parts goes a bit into a similar direction but is super different and focuses on the obsession of the tech bros with "longevity" and living forever and achieving all of that with technology was "The Immortalists" by Alex Krotoski

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
So one of the best tech-related books of the year was "More Everything Forever" by @adambecker.bsky.social a great read on the ideologies of the Silicon Valley, @davekarpf.bsky.social wrote the best review of it davekarpf.substack.com/p/book-revie...
Book Review: "More Everything Forever"
A book that takes Silicon Valley's unserious ideas seriously, and then delightfully tears them apart.
davekarpf.substack.com

aurman21.bsky.social
Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 15d
I guess it's time for my yearly books recommendations/recap of the books I read and actually liked thread. I will start with some tech non-fiction I liked, then add some other non-fic and a bunch of fiction I guess, otherwise in no particular order.

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

natematias.bsky.social
J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 16d
One lesson from the shocking story of this teenager's final AI interactions is how sensitive the data is. Journalists were not allowed to review the content itself.

Society shouldn't have to wait for deaths & lawsuits to pile up. We need faster science. (1/n)

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
74 suicide warnings and 243 mentions of hanging: What ChatGPT said to a suicidal teen
Analysis of high-schooler Adam Raine’s ChatGPT account by attorneys for his parents shows how the chatbot became a confidant as he planned to end his life.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Bessma Momani, Aleksandra Urman, Jason Williams

abeba.bsky.social
Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 18d
a neat (and scary) survey into AI "companions" and kids www.aura.com/reports/stat...

"nearly half of the time kids and teens use AI, it is
for companionship, and when they do, the themes of discussion are primarily sexual, romantic, and violent."
Title: Violence has entered the chat Devices show: * AI is the new imaginary friend: When kids use AI, 42% of the time it’s for companionship. * These chats regularly turn violent: Of these conversations 37% discuss violent topics. How are we defining violent content? This includes videos or interactions with themes of physical violence, aggression, harm, serious injury, death, or coercion (sexual or non-sexual). This includes descriptions of fighting, killing, torture, and non-consensual acts. *Sex and violence go hand in hand: In half of violent AI chatbot conversations, sexual roleplay appeared too. *It drives engagement: Users discussing violent topics with companion AI apps write 1,000+ words per day — more than any other theme.