First, a big thank you for your interest in the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life and our work! Every project needs its early adopters, its friends and family. We're grateful that you're one of ours.
CITAP is just about one year old, and any update will necessarily jump in mid-stream — every week brings new work, new people, and new publications. This week has been especially packed, so let’s dive in:
Hustle Economy and a MacArthur Fellowship!
ICYMI, we're celebrating Tressie McMillan Cottom's MacArthur Fellowship! Dr. McMillan Cottom joined the faculty at the School of Information and Library Science in July and is a Senior Faculty Researcher with CITAP. Her current work focuses on the "hustle economy," and offers insight into the predatory model of inclusion that platforms like TaskRabbit and CashApp offer black women entrepreneurs.
Promoting groups and banning ads; making sense of Facebook's latest changes
Last week, Facebook rolled out “new ways for people to discover conversations in public groups on and off Facebook.” Or as Zeynep Tufekci put it:
Her previous work on the radicalizing tendencies of algorithmic recommendations, the degree to which these recommendations are vulnerable to gaming, and Facebook's own internal research into platform divisiveness suggest plenty of reason to be wary of this new feature.
Then on Wednesday, Facebook announced a ban on political advertising, beginning as the polls close on November 3 and running indefinitely. Daniel Kreiss explained:
Facebook's latest election policies also include a pledge to "remove calls for people to engage in poll watching when those calls use militarized language or suggest that the goal is to intimidate, exert control, or display power over election officials or voters." However, existing posts that violate this latest ban are still up. Given gaps in social media platforms' written policies and day-to-day enforcement, Shannon McGregor pushed to see the new policy put into action: “If we are to believe that Facebook will faithfully enforce its own new policies, then they should take down the posts of the powerful users — including the president’s son — who have already called for violent intimidation around voting and on Election Day.” (Policy enforcement also featured as one of four recommendations made by a joint CITAP - Cornell Digital Life Initiative working group on how platforms can protect the vote.)
The best question for all these policy discussions may be "Should big tech be setting the terms of political speech?" Like it or not, Daniel Kreiss argues that it's necessary in this moment:
"Technology companies must set the terms of political speech to protect the integrity of the US elections. The US president is engaging in unprecedented efforts to interfere in the election, from systematic attempts to undermine public confidence in its legitimacy and dissuade people from voting to thinly veiled attempts to encourage vigilantism among his supporters at polling locations."
Recent publications and appearances
Alice Marwick and Will Partin explore QAnon research practices and why “the age of alternate facts will not end with Trump” in the Columbia Journalism Review.
Deen Freelon offered tips on how to navigate your newsfeed and sort out disinformation with Blue Ridge Public Radio and the Daily Tar Heel, and featured in a Vox explainer on suppressing Black votes.
Zeynep Tufekci explained K, ameasure of contagion dispersion, and what it means for public health responses to Covid-19.
Three CITAP faculty and affiliates were featured in the Columbia Journalism Review’s series on disinformation and the election:
Keeping in touch
For more information about CITAP's first year, you can catch up with our 2019-20 annual report (PDF).
Going forward, we'll be sending regular updates to this list. If you don't remember signing up, or your inbox needs a break, feel free to unsubscribe below. And if you know a policy maker, technologist, journalist, or neighbor who's also thinking about the intersection of technology and democracy, please share!