Sylvia Jaki
TROLL-BUSTER
Media linguist, University of Hildesheim
Hildesheim
A caustic media environment and hate speech all around: what if there were a way to cure these symptoms without compromising freedom of speech? With this question in mind, media linguist Sylvia Jaki (who teaches at the University of Hildesheim in Germany) is developing an algorithm to detect politically-motivated hate speech online. Currently reading its way through the worst of the worst, her algorithm shows promise in making the internet a safer, happier place. Amidst all these rather serious affairs, it is comforting to know that Sylvia is also interested in the wordplay of the press and verbal humor, and their effects on us as human beings.