[Colloquium] Feb 16th: Andrea G. Parker (Georgia Tech) - "Trends & Implications of COVID-19 Information Exposure Amongst Vulnerable Populations"

[Rob Mitchum]

*Andrea G. Parker*
*Associate Professor*
*Georgia Tech*

*Tuesday, February 16th*
*11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.*
*Zoom (RSVP for login
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cdac-distinguished-speaker-series-andrea-g-parker-georgia-tech-tickets-131984781033>)
or YouTube <https://youtu.be/qvLFM_jj5g4> (no registration required)*

*Trends & Implications of COVID-19 Information Exposure Amongst Vulnerable
Populations*
<https://cdac.uchicago.edu/events/cdac-distinguished-speaker-series-andrea-g-parker-georgia-tech/>

*Abstract*: Information-seeking online has become a crucial lifeline for
many individuals as they search for knowledge and resources to counteract a
myriad of social, health, safety, and financial COVID-19 challenges.
However, research has shown that online information is less accessible to
populations such as low-income adults. Furthermore, exposure to
pandemic-related information may actually have negative impacts on
vulnerable populations’ wellbeing, for example, through access to
misinformation and content that increases anxiety amidst existing stressors
and inhibits behaviors that can prevent the spread of COVID-19. As
low-income, Black, and Hispanic adults are experiencing disproportionately
high rates of COVID-19-related death, severe sickness and life disruptions,
our research investigates to what extent COVID-19 information is supporting
or inhibiting the wellbeing of these populations.

In this talk, I will discuss results from a 9-wave longitudinal survey we
conducted from July 2020-January 2021 with a focus on Black, Hispanic, and
low-income adults. Our findings characterize respondents’ attitudes towards
COVID-19 information, levels of exposure to various kinds of COVID-19
information, and associations between information exposure and
psychological wellbeing. In addition, our results characterize the
evolution of these trends over several months of the pandemic. These
insights serve to inform human-centered computing, data science, and public
health research and practice focused on the wellbeing of vulnerable groups
during public health crises.

*Bio*: I am an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Computing
at Georgia Tech, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of
Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, within the Rollins School of
Public Health at Emory University.

I am the founder and director of the Wellness Technology Research Lab.

Previously, I was an Assistant Professor in the Khoury College of Computer
Sciences and the Bouve College of Health Sciences at Northeastern
University.

In 2012, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Everyday Computing
Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where I worked with Dr.
Elizabeth Mynatt and collaborated with Dr. Veda Johnson at Emory University
School of Medicine. I hold a Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from the
Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Computer Science from
Northeastern University.

My research contributes to the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI),
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and Health Informatics. I
design and evaluate the impact of software tools that help people manage
their health and wellness. My research specifically focuses on health
equity. I study racial, ethnic and economic health disparities and the
social context of health management. I take an ecological approach to
technology design, whereby I conduct in-depth fieldwork to examine the
intrapersonal, social, cultural, and environmental factors that influence a
person’s ability and desire to make healthy decisions–and how technology
can support wellness in this context.


*Part of the CDAC Winter 2021 Distinguished Speaker Series:*

*Bias Correction: Solutions for Socially Responsible Data Science*
Security, privacy and bias in the context of machine learning are often
treated as binary issues, where an algorithm is either biased or fair,
ethical or unjust. In reality, there is a tradeoff between using technology
and opening up new privacy and security risks. Researchers are developing
innovative tools that navigate these tradeoffs by applying advances in
machine learning to societal issues without exacerbating bias or
endangering privacy and security. The CDAC Winter 2021 Distinguished
Speaker Series will host interdisciplinary researchers and thinkers
exploring methods and applications that protect user privacy, prevent
malicious use, and avoid deepening societal inequities — while diving into
the human values and decisions that underpin these approaches.

-- 
*Rob Mitchum*

*Associate Director of Communications for Data Science and Computing*
*University of Chicago*
*rmitchum at uchicago.edu <rmitchum at ci.uchicago.edu>*
*773-484-9890*
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