Is this thing on?
Does Not Compute is now available wherever you listen to podcasts!
You read it here first, now you can listen (and subscribe!):
Technology—even when “sufficiently advanced”—isn’t magic. Algorithms aren’t spells cast by programmers. When we imbue tech with mystical powers, we lose sight of the human factors, from economics to culture, and politics, that shape how it’s actually designed and used.
At CITAP, we study technology as it’s tangled up in our lives and societies, and Does Not Compute is a podcast about technology, people, and power. We’ll pry into the black boxes and get to know the people behind the code to understand technology platforms in context. Together, we’ll explore how old inequities get reinvented on new platforms, how unexpected communities unite for good (and harm), and how media manipulators play on our identities and emotions to spread lies. If we want to fix our relationship to technology, we have to understand what’s broken first.
For our first season, we’ll be talking about identity and disinformation. How do our communities shape what we search for, share about, and even believe? And how do malicious actors manipulate our identities to promote their ideologies? What role do big tech platforms play in spreading disinformation, and how can they help address the problem?
If you’re listening along, we’d love to hear what you think so far. Our comments are open!
Nikole Hannah-Jones
This week, Nikole Hannah-Jones announced that she would not join the UNC faculty without tenure. A vote is still not scheduled. In the Washington Post, Sid Benningfeld wrote about the irony of complaining about Hannah-Jones’s advocacy journalism, pointing out that “her agenda — to focus broad public attention on the enduring impact of slavery, Jim Crow and anti-Black racism — is merely a continuation of the long legacy of the Black press and its battle to save democracy in the United States.” Today the UNC Black Student Movement organized a protest attended by CITAP affiliates and friends alike.
Recent publications and appearances
🦠 It’s not much to do with platform governance or digital communities, but Zeynep Tufekci’s latest piece in the NYT is worth a read if you’ve been trying to make sense of what we know and what we don’t know about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
…government officials and scientists need to look at the big picture: Seek comity and truth instead of just avoiding embarrassment. Develop a framework that goes beyond blaming China, since the issues raised are truly global. And realize that the next big thing can simply mean taking great care with a lot of small details.
📺 “An intellectually impotent ideology and party—when it cannot win, it will cheat.” Tressie McMillan Cottom spoke on MSNBC about academic freedom and Ron DeSantis's vow to defund colleges for being too liberal.
📚 🎉 Dr. Cottom also announced two new forthcoming books with Random House.
Daniel Kreiss and Graduate Research Affiliate Bridget Barrett discuss what platforms can and should be responsible for in Tech Policy Press:
We do not believe that platforms can do much about things such as social sorting within parties, affective and ideological polarization, the decline of political parties’ ability to control their nominating processes, or the erosion of the administrative state and the rule of law. What they can do most clearly is work to protect free and fair elections, public discourse, and political institutions through strong policies and consistent enforcement, especially when disinformation and hate speech are concerned.