Carolina Science Cafe | Filter Bubbles and Data Voids

Join us for the next installment of Carolina Science Cafe, our current science awareness program! Co-hosted by Morehead, UNC School of Data Science and Society, and UNC School of Information and Library Science, we will welcome Dr. Francesca Tripodi of UNC-Chapel Hill and the Data & Society Research Institute.

These days, searching for information online is something we all do—whether we’re planning a trip, checking a news story, or trying to settle a debate at the dinner table. But the way we search, and what we find, is changing fast. In this talk, we’ll take a closer look at how search works beneath the surface—and why that matters. We’ll explore how the words we choose when we search reflect our own viewpoints, and how those words shape the answers we get back. We’ll also look at how websites like Wikipedia, search engines, and AI tools like ChatGPT are all connected—and how missing information in one place can ripple across the internet. One key idea we’ll dive into is “data voids”—gaps where little reliable information exists, leaving room for people to spread misleading or manipulative content. By understanding these gaps and how they’re filled, we can start to see how search shapes what we know, what we miss, and what we believe.

Designed for adults, Carolina Science Cafe explores science topics making national and international headlines and offers the chance to meet the experts behind the work. This special program is hosted at Haw River Tab & Table in Carrboro on the first Tuesday of every month. Light appetizers are available for all attendees.

About the Speaker

Dr. Francesca Tripodi (she/her) is a sociologist and information scholar whose research examines the relationship between technology and society. She is an Associate Professor at the School of Information and Library Science and a Principal Investigator at the Center for Information Technology and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill, and an affiliate researcher (former postdoctoral scholar) at Data & Society Research Institute. She has twice testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (April 10, 2019, and July 16, 2019) to explain how relevance is gamed to drive ideologically based queries and spread conspiratorial logic.

In addition to her research on search engines, Dr. Tripodi’s work documents how race and gender impact perceived notability, highlighting that cisgender women are nearly twice as likely to be considered non-notable subjects as their cis-male peers. Along with her Co-PIs at MIT and Stanford, Dr. Tripodi received a National Science Foundation Accelerator Award in 2021 to study how people find information and build tools to enhance and enable search literacy.

In December 2023, Dr. Tripodi was a featured guest on an episode of Meet the Press to discuss the dangers of online education tools like PragerU. Her work has also been highlighted on All Things Considered (NPR), the Financial Times, and the Associated Press. She has also written about her work in Wired, Slate, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. In addition to these featured segments, Dr. Tripodi’s research is regularly cited by esteemed publications like The Washington Post, The New York Times, TIME, and The Guardian. In recognition of her impact, Dr. Tripodi received the Award for Impact and Excellence in 2023 from the Center for the Informed Public at the University of Washington.