iTrust: Building Trustworthy Social Media for Healthy Public Discourse

From 24 to 26 June, Room 250 in the Main Building on the West Campus Lugano will host the international workshop "iTrust: Building Trustworthy Social Media for Healthy Public Discourse", organised by the Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics. The initiative will bring together researchers, civil society representatives, media professionals, and digital governance experts to share insights and research findings at the intersection of computational argumentation, digital communication, and democracy.

Over the three days, the workshop will explore topics such as argumentative strategies on social media, the use of ethos and emotional appeals in online communication, framing processes, and the role of AI-driven tools in analysing problematic discourse in digital environments. The programme also features a series of public keynote lectures focusing on the challenges that digital technologies pose to contemporary communication and democratic governance.

On Wednesday, 24 June, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm, Professor Marie-Francine Moens from KU Leuven will deliver a lecture titled "Machines that Read Between the Lines", focusing on natural language understanding systems and neural network methodologies used to identify implicit meanings in text.

On Thursday, 25 June, from 9:00 to 10:00 am, Luca Tagliaretti, Executive Director of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre, will speak on "Cybersecurity, Democracy and Public Institutions in the Digital Age". This will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Professor Antonio Carzaniga, Pro-Rector for Innovation and Corporate Relations at USI.

On Friday, 26 June, from noon to 1:00 pm, Professor Mark Aakhus from Rutgers University will present the keynote lecture "Arguing Technology: AI as a Puzzle of Communication for Argumentation", exploring the growing role of artificial intelligence as an active participant in communication and argumentative processes.

The encounter will thus provide a valuable platform for interdisciplinary dialogue on the transformations of public debate in the digital era, as well as prospects for developing more trustworthy, transparent, and inclusive communication ecosystems.

Registration for the keynote sessions or the entire event is available at the following link.