This week the CITAP team attended Knight Foundation’s Informed: Conversations on Democracy in the Digital Age. The event brought together researchers, journalists, technologists, and policymakers to discuss the present and future of our public life as it plays out on the internet.
Deen Freelon and Alice Marwick participated in panel discussions on the role of popular culture and research provocations.
“Being more honest about the flaws of this country and the flaws of American History might provide people with that same sense of hidden insight or knowledge that they’re getting from conspiracy theories,” Marwick suggested in the How Culture Wars Became Content Wars panel.
She also noted “the biggest thing we need to do is stop amplifying conspiracy theories, and this is not just algorithmic amplification. This is about the amplification of conspiracy by politicians, political elites, pundits, and influencers.”
Watch the full discussion:
Deen Freelon called for social science researchers to imagine a post-Twitter research agenda, saying “we need to be prepared for Twitter’s imminent collapse,” in one of several potential forms:
The platform could disappear from the net
It could transform into something completely different (the way MySpace did)
Twitter could decide to turn off its external APIs
He recommended prioritizing the study of YouTube, Reddit, and TikTok as other platforms that provide social relevance and data availability. “What comes next will depend on where the celebrities, journalists, politicians, and influencers go.”
Watch the full panel discussion:
In summarizing the three-day event, Daniel Kreiss expressed his excitement at the sheer number of stakeholders who came together to imagine and build this future. “The stakes are high,” he reminded fellow attendees, no less than the health and equity of our democracy.
You can watch the full discussions on the Informed event page.
Publications and appearances
“For the last half a decade at least, most celebrities have been using Twitter as this pretty boring broadcast platform…What will have an effect is whether the advertisers leave.” Alice Marwick spoke to the Wall Street Journal about celebrities rethinking their Twitter accounts.
“It is not too late to become the people who caretake foodways that help local food cultures thrive, equitably and without shame.” Tressie McMillan Cottom talks about supporting Black farmers and the deeper meaning of food in her latest piece.
“Twitter and every other platform have always struggled to effectively enforce content moderation guidelines and other policies outside of the U.S. and especially in nonwestern countries.” Shannon McGregor spoke to NPR about how this Twitter era threatens to make political violence worse around the world.
Affiliate Matt Perault appeared on The Politics Podcast to discuss policy inconsistencies and the digital civil war.
Affiliate Paul Elliott Johnson has a new piece on how the Right developed its victim complex.
Coming soon
December 1-5: Conference on Supremacism and Authoritarianism. Event information and registration.
Rest of Web
The Institute for Rebooting Social Media (RSM) has issued its annual call for applications.