Canfer Alisa Akbulut

I am interested in exploring self-expressive and relationship-building communication on the internet. I use methods from data mining, machine learning, and natural language processing on data from social media to explore the evolution of people's beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. In previous research, I have investigated the influence of expressing shared opinions on the spread of extreme sentiment on online forums. 

I graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University with a degree in Psychology and a specialization in Statistics. As an undergraduate, I was involved in researching: shared reality at the Higgins Lab at Columbia; dyadic synchrony using EEG methods at the Behavioral Research Laboratory at Columbia Business School; markers of suicidality in adolescent language at the Laboratory of Clinical and Developmental Studies, Teacher's College, Columbia University; and acquisition of numerical knowledge in toddlers at Harvard.

At Oxford, I am applying topic modeling and semantic similarity measures to explore whether self-expressions of autistic people on social media are better represented by communication from autistic self-advocacy groups or registered autism charities.