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Sarah Grevy Got­fred­sen

Ph.d. Fellow

Emner
Organisation Big data Digitalisering Teknologi Demokrati Misinformation

Primary research areas

Di­git­al tech­no­lo­gies and demo­cracy
Di­git­al tech­no­lo­gies are of­ten pro­moted as en­a­blers of par­ti­cip­at­ory gov­ernance, but their ac­tu­al im­pact on or­gan­iz­a­tion­al demo­cracy - and the down­stream ef­fects on so­ci­et­al demo­crat­ic norms - is un­clear.
Crowd­sourced fact-check­ing sys­tems
Plat­forms are in­creas­ingly pivot­ing from tra­di­tion­al fact-check­ers to crowd­sourced fact-check­ing sys­tems. How has this im­pacted the pub­lic’s ac­cess to ac­cur­ate in­form­a­tion?

I ex­plore where tech­no­logy and demo­cracy col­lide

A New Approach to Fact-Checking  

With a background in journalism and social psychology, my research investigates how large platforms approach content moderation. Big Tech platforms like X and Meta have shifted from top-down, traditional fact-checking systems to crowdsourced ones which rely on the users themselves to pinpoint misleading information. These systems are promoted as a more democratic approach to fact-checking, aiming to increase transparency and minimize bias. But emerging research shows that they often fall short when it comes to misinformation on polarizing issues. My research examines how crowdsourced fact-checking systems operate during democratic processes—such as elections—when polarizing issues often take center stage.   

 

How Can Digital Technologies Make Organizations More Democratic? 

The global state of democracy is under strain, and organizations are not immune to this erosion. Digital technologies (e.g., blockchain, online deliberation tools, smart contracts) have been promised as enablers of participatory governance, but their actual impact on organizational democracy — and the downstream effects on societal democratic norms — are still unclear. In addition to the above, my research seeks to investigate how digital technologies can sustain (or undermine) democratic practices within organizations, and whether democratic workplaces foster stronger democratic values at the national level.