Hi! My name is Marijn
I’m a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole, in France (IAST).
My main research interests are in computational social science and complexity science. Specifically, theoretical and empirical modeling of online behavior and digital trace data. In my PhD research I focused on the impact of communicating via online social media platforms on processes of opinion formation and the diffusion of culture. Currently, I am working on the effects of network embeddedness, environmental bias and politicization of decision making on the emergence of polarization.
I got my PhD in Sociology from the University of Groningen where I was a member of the Norms and Networks Cluster and the ICS. Before joining the IAST, I was a Postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Sociology and Computational Social Science in the Karslruhe Institute of Technology.
Updates
March 2022 \\ Do filter bubbles cause polarization? In our new paper in the next issue of Data Science Michael Mäs and I argue that the answer to this question depends on a multitude of factors on the global, local and individual level of online social media as complex systems. We provide an extensive review of theoretical and emprical work and show with toy models how counter-intuitive effects emerge from of seemingly straightforward mechanisms. We argue for the use of digital ‘crash-test dummies’ to optimize technological innovations for information systems pre-implementation.
October 2021 \\ I have joined the Institute for Advance Study in Toulouse, part of the University of Toulouse 1 Capitole for a three-year research fellowship. The IAST is an interdisciplinary institute whose members get a lot of freedom to shape their own research agenda. I’m excited about this opportunity and look forward to many cool collaborations and cross-disciplinary inspiration in the coming years.
Website was last updated on March 09, 2022