Anke Stoll gewinnt Dissertationspreis

Dissertationspreis der ICA Computational Methods Division 2025 für Dr. Anke Stoll

Wir freuen uns, Dr. Anke Stoll zu gratulieren, die den alle zwei Jahre vergebenen Dissertationspreis der ICA Computational Methods Division gewonnen hat. Ihre kumulative Dissertation „Machine Learning for the Automated Content Analysis of Incivility in Online Discussions“ umfasst 7 veröffentlichte Arbeiten. Anke Stoll schloss ihre Promotion an der Philosophischen Fakultät der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf ab und verteidigte ihre Dissertation mit dem Titel „Machine Learning for the Automated Content Analysis of Incivility in Online Discussions“ erfolgreich am 1. Dezember 2023. Nachfolgend finden Sie die Laudatio, die sie von den Gutachtern der ICA computational methods division erhalten hat:

Her dissertation centerson the methodological challenges of measuring incivility through machine learning methods, a timely and complex issue across many digital publics. These challenges are addressed through the development of high-quality computational text analysis tools, firmlygrounded in theoretical definitions and supported by a rigorous validation framework. A key strength of the dissertation is the effort to capture the elusive nature of incivility and incorporate it into language models. Her very successful participation inshared tasks and the development of benchmark datasets are highly notable strengths, the fine-grained distinctions drawn, for example between incivility and impoliteness, are another one. Incivility is undoubtedly a serious concern and its detection bearsfar-reaching consequences, be it in case of adequate classification or when falsely attributed. Hence, the task of finding valid measurements, and thereby contributing to tools that support better moderation of digital spaces, is a crucial one. Thankfully,there are scholars who consider this, from a methodological perspective, an “enjoyable” challenge, as this scholar, herself humorously notes. Point taken—and well proven: the dissertation consists of seven research articles, including publications in leadingmethodological journals such as Communication Methods and Measures or Computational Communication Research, as well as in interdisciplinary outlets like Computational Linguistics, demonstrating both scholarly excellence and cross-field recognition. Oh, anddid we mention that the created and openly shared approaches and methods also addressed a non-English context, namely German, thereby and en passant promoting research inclusivity and enabling further work in diverse linguistic environments? Taken together,this level of productivity, rigor, joy, and impact makes the dissertation a clear and very strong winner for this year’s ICA Computational Methods Dissertation Award. Congratulations!

Wir denken, das sagt alles. Hier ist die Dissertation nachzulesen: https://docserv.uni-duesseldorf.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-70121/Stoll_MachineLearning_Incivility_Dissertation_2024%20.pdf

Herzlichen Glückwunsch Anke!