Last week, The New York Times published a story on conspiracy theorists’ embrace of DuckDuckGo as a preferred search engine in light of perceived censorship within Google’s results. A direct comparison of conspiracy-related search returns on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo showed some variation in results among the platforms, with lower-quality information sneaking into the top 10 results more frequently on Bing and DuckDuckGo.
The piece draws on research by Alice Marwick and Will Partin on how QAnon researchers construct ‘proofs’ in support of their beliefs, and the understanding that what terms we use to search shapes the results we receive is core to Francesca Tripodi’s work on “scriptural inference” practices in conservative Christian communities. Of course, if you’re a Does Not Compute listener, you’ve already heard all of this. Content moderation questions on data voids and how to balance relevance and information quality aren’t new, and they aren’t going away.
Publications and appearances
“Most people don’t want a version of the internet where anything goes.” Shannon McGregor spoke with the New York Times about Truth Social and the market for alternative social media.
"In previous wars, we'd have people help with giving supplies or letters. Now you have a video post." Affiliate Daniel Johnson spoke with ABC News about the role of memes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Johnson’s writing about the volume of citizen documentation in Ukraine also made an appearance in Tom Friedman’s column.
The Social Science Research Council launched Just Tech, a digital collection of research and resources on technology, inequity, and social justice. The initial field reviews include “Who’s in Charge? Information Technology and Disability Justice in the U.S.” by affiliate Amelia Gibson and Rua Williams and “Impact Assessment of Human-Algorithm Feedback Loops,” by affiliate Lucas Wright and Nathan Matias.
Coming soon
March 10, 3:30pm: The CITAP spring speaker series continues with Jessa Lingel, associate professor at the Penn Annenberg School and author of An Internet for the People: The Politics and Promise of craigslist. In-person and livestream attendees are welcome! RSVP requested.
March 16, 12pm: The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy will host a virtual panel on “Fresh Thinking on Government Transparency”.
April 7, 3:30pm:
April 15: deadline to apply for the Cleary Prize for student research on media law and policy.
Rest of Web
Our friends at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public are recruiting postdoctoral fellows: CIP Fellows will join a growing team of faculty, students, community partners, and staff all actively involved in addressing the challenges of today’s complex and dynamic information environment. Read their job announcement.
The Media Manipulation Casebook is tracking social media takedowns and platform moderation decisions taken in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Have additions? Reach out.
Attending ICA? In addition to the pre-conference we’re co-organizing on Beyond Disinformation Studies, we’re looking forward to the Opening Computational Communication hackathon and the Scholars in Exile/Scholarship on the Edges pre-conference events as well. Let us know where you’ll be!