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 //9MH7YS
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UID:pretalx-athens-2026-9MH7YS@conference-hub.linguistic-society.com
DTSTART:20260422T081500Z
DTEND:20260422T083000Z
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\nContemporary curricula in humanities in general and l
 inguistics in particular make a special focus on the\ndevelopment of stude
 nt skills in using language technology (LT). Nowadays\, LT is used not onl
 y for\ncollecting\, processing\, analyzing\, presenting\, and visualizing 
 humanities data but also for monitoring\nsentiment\, detecting fake news\,
  combatting propaganda\, and maintaining integrity and validity of news\nc
 ommunication in the age of post-truth and ongoing information war. Simulta
 neously giving rise to the\nquestion who actually benefits from this syner
 gy and if technology is always the best source of unbiased\nopinion. This 
 accentuates the idea that apart from advanced IT skills necessary to use L
 T to solve various\nlanguage data-related tasks\, students need to be made
  aware of the role of humanities in shaping the value\nsystem of contempor
 ary society\, catering to the need to develop\, sustain\, and maintain hum
 anistic values\,\ndevelop civic society\, and change the world through edu
 cation.\nThe current research aims to analyze and assess the most efficien
 t pedagogical practices implemented\nin both undergraduate and postgraduat
 e education to develop advanced student skills in using LT alongside\nthe 
 development of their high-order cognitive skills necessary to assess valid
 ity\, reliability and integrity of\ninformation they are exposed to. The a
 uthors hypothesize that understanding of the nature of\nmanipulative commu
 nication\, awareness of the differences between ideology and propaganda\, 
 and critical\ndiscourse analysis skills are the necessary preconditions fo
 r the masterful use of LT in the efficient\nprocessing of language data.\n
 The authors reflect on student performance metrics they demonstrate in lea
 rning LT applications\nwithin the study courses “Machine Learning for Te
 xtual Data Processing” and “Digital Sentiment\nAnalysis” developed w
 ithin the framework of the project “Language Technology Initiative”\n(
 2.3.1.1.i./0/1/22/I/CFLA/002 LU Reg.No ESS2023/453) implemented in English
  in MOOC format at\nRiga Technical University. Students learn to detect ma
 nifestations of soft power and recognize attempts\nfor agenda setting in n
 ews communications\, develop understanding of the nature and traits of hat
 e speech\nand cyberbullying and learn how to avoid and battle them\, demon
 strating compassion\, empathy and\ncritical thinking. Both qualitative and
  quantitative methods are used to assess student achievements in\nusing IT
 -driven Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) tools in detecting and flagshipp
 ing fake news\, battling\nhate speech\, conducting transparency and fact c
 hecks and critically assessing validity and integrity of news\ncommunicati
 on.\nIt is important to note that reliable mechanisms for detecting and el
 iminating hate speech and fake\nnews are yet to be developed\, since the e
 xisting technology still often fails to address all emerging issues.\nInte
 rim research results allow observing that LT\, including automated content
  analysis for battling\npropaganda\, yields the best results when used alo
 ngside human oversight and conscious involvement to\navoid algorithmic bia
 s\, misinterpretation\, and possible technology hallucinations. Irrespecti
 ve of the\nfuture human and IT interaction scenarios\, critical thinking a
 nd analytic approach to information\nprocessing shall remain the values re
 quired to reduce the risk of being manipulated by disinformation\,\nwhich 
 calls for conscious and continuous development of versatile linguistic com
 petence\, including\npragmatic\, register and cultural awareness.
DTSTAMP:20260419T081609Z
LOCATION:Main Auditorium
SUMMARY:Language Technology in Combatting Propaganda: Master or Servant - T
 atjana Smirnova | Marina Platonova
URL:https://conference-hub.linguistic-society.com/athens-2026/talk/9MH7YS/
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