Student Spotlight: Afrouz Hojati

Entering her final year of study, Ph.D., candidate Afrouz Hojati has already been published in the journal Decision Support Systems^[1] co-authoring research about online website ecosystems, using analytics and machine learning to create a framework for identifying fraudulent websites. As well she has presented research at three major international Information Systems conferences. This impressive trajectory began with an interest in IT and a professional background in business management.

Prior to deciding to begin graduate studies a UCalgary, Hojati completed a Bachelor of IT Engineering and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). She began her professional career as a systems analyst for a software development company, as well as worked as a business analyst and a marketing manager for private industry. 

Hojati’s progress in the Haskayne graduate program grew from an interest in finding nuances to solving complex problems in IT,

“I find studying the economics of IT intriguing because it allows you to analyze a problem from a holistic/comprehensive perspective. Before pursuing my Ph.D., I was analyzing problems and finding a solution from a single perspective. But economics of IT allows me to analyze the dynamics of issues, considering the actions and consequences of all involved parties”, says Hojati. 

This scope of interest has evolved into Hojati’s current research direction on content moderation in social media. From freedom of speech, censorship, and protecting minors to profit motives and platform security, Hojati states, 

“I'm digging into how those decisions impact everyone involved – the users, the platforms themselves, and society as a whole.”

“I analyze how content moderation may change user behavior on social media, or what is the incentive for social media to conduct content moderation in the first place and how social media strategies for content moderation affect the platform profit, consumer surplus, and social welfare.”

Hojati presented this area of research at the 2023 Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE) in Hyderabad, India^[2] as well as at the 2022 Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems (WITS) in Copenhagen, Denmark^[3]. She also has two working papers in progress for journal submissions. 

Hojati comments about her experience at conferences so far, 

“Being able to critically evaluate the quality of others' work and differentiate between research, was a rewarding moment. It feels good to realize that you are on the right path, you also know that this is just the very beginning.”

Afrouz Hojati is scheduled to complete her dissertation program this summer.

 

^{[1] Gopal, R. D., Hojati, A., & Patterson, R. A. (2022). Analysis of third-party request structures to detect fraudulent websites. Decision Support Systems, 154, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2021.113698.}

^{[2]  “Platform Incentives for Content Moderation Strategies” Hojati, A., and Barrie R. Nault. Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE), 2023 (Presenter).}

^{[3] “A Little Bit Goes a Long Way: Content Moderation and Social Contagion”, Gopal, R. D., Hojati, A., & Patterson, R. A., Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems (WITS), 2022 (Presenter).}