# CAREER: Models and Methods to Help Online Communities Support Behaviors Aligned with Community Norms

> **NSF 01002829DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (IL) · $700,000

## Abstract

This project aims to develop new methods to support community-determined behavior norms in online communities consistent with the goal of helping communities reward behaviors that serve the community's goals. Current approaches to online community management typically focus on detecting and discouraging undesirable behavior with sanctions like bans, quarantines, and content removals. These punitive approaches do not directly foster an environment for community members to engage in positive ways around the group's norms. This project will look at ways to use positive reinforcement to proactively incentivize community-determined behavior. The work will advance knowledge about how communities recognize and encourage behavior while developing novel technologies to promote community norms in online spaces. The education and outreach plan is deeply tied to the research activities, focusing on scaling up the broader impacts of the research. A public application programming interface will enable developers and moderators around the world to integrate the computational approaches developed by this research into their own communities.

The project will be carried out in three phases. Phase 1 will involve the development of new computational models to detect community-determined  behavior across different types of online communities. This phase will uncover the structure of encouraged behavior within online conversations and develop community- and context-sensitive computational mod

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2439433
- **Awardee organization:** University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (IL)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** Y8CWNJRCNN91
- **PI:** Eshwar Chandrasekharan
- **Primary program:** 01002829DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** CAREER-Faculty Erly Career Dev, Cyber-Human Systems
- **Estimated total:** $700,000
- **Funds obligated:** $444,823
- **Transaction type:** Continuing Grant
- **Period:** 06/15/2025 → 05/31/2030

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2439433

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2439433, CAREER: Models and Methods to Help Online Communities Support Behaviors Aligned with Community Norms. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-07 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2439433. Licensed CC0.

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