Computing platforms mediate our interactions with each other: how we work, how we socialize, and even how we govern. By changing these computing platforms, we change human social behavior: as per Winston Churchill, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” How do we design these social computing systems to mitigate their harms and amplify their benefits? My research in human-computer interaction advances systems, designs, and models for social computing systems. In doing so, I aim to shed light on long-standing research questions: How do we cross the gap between social scientific knowledge and concrete system designs that manifest this knowledge to facilitate pro-social interactions and collaborations? How can we model human attitudes and behavior to help us craft these designs and social policy? How should we design our computational tools if we want them to be successfully embedded into society?
Bio: Michael Bernstein is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he is a Bass University Fellow. His research focuses on human-computer interaction and social computing systems. This research has been reported in venues such as The New York Times, Wired, Science, and Nature, and Michael has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, UIST Lasting Impact Award, and the Computer History Museum's Patrick J. McGovern Tech for Humanity Prize. He holds a bachelor's degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, as well as a master's degree and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT.
Publications