UNC's 14th Annual First Amendment Day
What makes banned books so objectionable? Will generative AI have an impact on the 2024 U.S. Presidential election? We addressed these questions & more during UNC's First Amendment Day.
Before our regularly scheduled programming…
CITAP is excited to announce 2 editions of our newsletter:
CITAP Round Up
CITAP Sounds Off
Our weekly newsletter, the one you are reading now, is the CITAP Round Up (rounding up publications, mentions, events, and more).
We are also launching CITAP Sounds Off, a newsletter that will come out less frequently (but when they do, they will be 🔥🔥🔥). You can expect op-eds, essays, rants, and more to be featured in these publications. Keep an eye out for the first CITAP Sounds Off" this Thursday!
Now, onto this week’s round up…
First Amendment Day
October 4th was UNC’s 14th annual “First Amendment Day”, a daylong series of events that is designed to both celebrate the First Amendment and explore its role in the lives of Carolina students. First Amendment Day was organized by the Center for Media Law & Policy.
The day started with a Banned Books Reading on the steps of Manning Hall. Francesca Tripodi, CITAP principal investigator and SILS Assistant Professor, opened the event asking those in attendance that as they hear excerpts from challenged books to reflect on a poignant question:
“What is it that makes these books so objectionable? As we look at the history of challenged books, the target moves over time… Fighting for power is always going to be something that make those who have it feel uneasy.”
Some of the banned books read included:
A Wrinkle in Time
Where the Sidewalk Ends
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The Hate U Give
I Am Jazz
Later that afternoon, CITAP participated in a panel discussion, “Elections, Expressions, and Platforms: The 2023 U.S. Presidential Race.” The panelists included Daniel Kreiss and Shannon McGregor, as well as Deen Freelon, Professor of Communication at University of Pennsylvania and Founding PI & Senior Researcher at CITAP, all moderated by Alice Marwick.
Alice asked the panelists about generative AI, asking “Do you think this is going to have any impact on the 2024 election? Because there are think pieces and hot takes galore right now, but I haven't seen any evidence that anything is actually happening.”
Shannon discussed how the pattern of moral panic around new media and technology has occurred before, with varying outcomes, depending on usage. While there's no widespread evidence that AI-generated political content will significantly affect elections, the concern itself erodes trust. The most significant impact of generative AI on the 2024 election appears to be its influence on people's perceptions.
Daniel added that rather than focusing on sensational aspects, understanding the role of generative AI in politics should consider mundane tasks. It can help political campaigns create content efficiently, enhance research, provide ideas, and assist with images. Concerns about disinformation or dark arts of campaigning may be overblown, similar to the exaggerated fears around deep fakes. AI's potential impact might be seen on the edges in areas like accurate search results or spam. Outdated information generated by AI tools could affect political campaigns. In the realm of spam, AI could enable political spammers to produce content at scale, potentially suppressing legitimate voices. Nevertheless, over time, systems and institutions may evolve to address these issues.
CFP: The future of conspiracy scholarship: New epistemologies and imaginaries
Alice Marwick and affiliate Zelly Martin are editors for a special issue of Journal of Information Technology & Politics (JITP) on new epistemologies and imaginaries in conspiracy theory scholarship:
“This special issue aims to push the boundaries of conspiracy studies beyond extant work, which primarily focuses on the alt-right, health, and Western understandings of conspiracy (Halafoff et al., 2022; Mahl et al., 2022, 2022; Marwick et al., 2022). We answer calls to expand understandings of conspiracy beyond Western epistemology (Mahl et al., 2022) to contribute to a fuller conceptualization of “conspiracy-believing” (Parmigiani, 2021). We examine the troubling content and implications of conspiracies in a manifold manner while acknowledging their potentially harmful impact.
We invite those interested in conspiracy as it applies to epistemology, knowledge production, technological artifacts, gender/race/class, and reception, inter alia. Importantly, papers must engage with technology and political communication scholarship in some form.”
Publications & Appearances
Tressie McMillan Cottom appeared on the October 6th episode of “Lovett or Leave It” live from Asheville, along with North Carolina’s Governor, Roy Cooper, and drag performer, LaLa Ri. Tressie discussed her piece, “The Enduring, Invisible Power of Blond”, the status of state and/or public employees, how power and status are impacting school curricula, and more.
“You're going to increasingly see inaccuracies, but these inaccuracies can also be wielded and without that much computer savvy,” Francesca Tripodi discussed how we may see people use AI-generated content to intentionally manipulate search results in a Wired piece about generative AI & the reliability of search results.
We are hiring!
🚨New position: We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join us and work with CITAP & CMLP. This postdoc will serve as a communicator between academic researchers and policymakers (both in government and within technology platforms). Read the full description here and share the posting!
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join us and work with Dr. Francesca Tripodi and the Search Prompt Integrity & Learning Lab (SPILL). Read the full description here and share the posting!
Coming Soon
October
🚨October 16 at CITAP: Misinformation and Marginalization Symposium.
Free registration required to join in virtually! Get your tickets to stream the symposium by this Friday, October 13th.
How does misinformation circulate in marginalized communities, and what misinformation narratives are shared about marginalized groups?
Featuring a keynote from Dr. Sarah Banet-Weiser and panels on misinformation and gender & sexuality; diasporic communities; and algorithmic amplification, race, and religion.
October 18 at AoIR: Alice Marwick, Yvonne Eadon, and Rachel Kuo are among the co-organizers of an AoIR preconference on future of conspiracy.
October 20 at AoIR: CITAP, CDCS, and IDDP are co-hosting a networking Happy Hour on Friday at 6pm. RSVP for the event here!
October 22 at the Annenberg Public Policy Center: The Post-API Conference.
November
November 1 at CITAP: CITAP is hosting a book club! We will be reading “White Evangelical Racism” by Anthea Butler. Email citap@unc.edu for more information.
November 10 at CITAP: Symposium on Religion, Media, and Public Life.
Confirmed panelists include Whitney Phillips, Samuel Perry, Eden Consenstein, Xavier Pickett, Erika Gault, LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant, and Heidi Campbell, with additional participants to be named in the weeks to come. Register to join in person or virtually!