We are very proud to announce that more than 30 current and past Social Media Collective researchers will be presenting their work at this year’s Association of Internet Researchers conference in Philadelphia. The SMC and AoIR go way back—the SMC’s Senior Principal Research Manager Nancy Baym led organizing efforts for the first AoIR conference in 2000 and served as the Association’s second President. Microsoft Research, homebase for several AoIR regulars, has sponsored AoIR’s annual meetings for several years, including this year’s conference. We typically see a strong turnout of SMC-connected researchers pushing the edges of the field, and this year is no different. To celebrate the excellent work of our current members and alumni, we’ve created a list of the workshops, panels, and presentations where you can connect with SMC researchers and alumni at the conference.
Among the presenters are some of the SMC’s newest members. Zoë Glatt, who joined as a post-doctoral fellow this summer, will be presenting her latest paper published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, The intimacy triple bind: Structural inequalities and relational labour in the influencer industry. Sarah Edwards, a PhD candidate at University of Wisconsin Madison and recent SMC PhD intern alum, will present Platformization in Nation Branding Processes. Another recent PhD intern alum, CJ Reynolds, a PhD candidate at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will present “YouTube Doesn’t Care About Creators”: How YouTubes use the Platform to Promote Accountability” alongside Blake Hallinan, a senior lecturer at the same university. And don’t miss the SMC’s new STS pre-doctoral researcher, Ryland Shaw, presenting work from his MA thesis Understanding the Ecology of Climate Protest, Policy and Disaster on TikTok.
We would also like to congratulate Kevin Driscoll, a faculty member in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and past SMC post-doctoral fellow, for winning this year’s Nancy Baym Book Award for his monograph The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media.
We’re proud of the work of our SMC researchers and alumni, and we are excited to see you in Philadelphia next week!
Please use the AoIR Conference Agenda for up-to-date meeting locations and times.
| Presenter (bolded are SMC-connected) | Title | Day | Time |
| Jessa Lingel, Robert Gehl, Ashwin Negappa | BUILDING AN ALTERNATIVE SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK (Workshop) | Wed | 8:30a-12:00p |
| Jean Burgess, Natali Helberger, Julian Thomas, Sanne Vrijenhoek, Patrik Wikström, Stanislaw Piasecki, Nick Seaver, Ariadna Matamoros-Fernandez, Jeffrey Chan | WORKSHOP ON RESPONSIBLE RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS | Wed | 8:30a-4:30p |
| Zelly C Martin, Alice E Marwick, Yvonne M Eadon, Steph C Finley, Brooklyne Gipson, Rachel Kuo, Inga K Trauthig, Samuel C Woolley, Kamile Grusauskaite | THE FUTURE OF CONSPIRACY: NEW EPISTEMOLOGIES AND IMAGINARIES IN SCHOLARSHIP (Workshop) | Wed | 1:00p-4:30p |
| Gabriel Pereira, Abel Guerra, Annette Markham, Aleesha Rodriguez, Riccardo Pronzato, Ane Kathrine Gammelby | 20 YEARS OF SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS: WORKSHOPPING METHODS FOR MAPPING COMPLEX INFORMATION SYSTEMS (Workshop) | Wed | 1:00p-4:30p |
| Shawn Walker, Michael Simeone, Ben Gan | COMPARING THE ROLE OF PARLER AND TWITTER IN THE BUILD-UP TO THE JANUARY 6TH INSURRECTION ON THE U.S. CAPITOL | Thu | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Youngrim Kim, Megan Finn | MESSY AND USELESS COVID DATA: COVID DASHBOARD BUILDERS AND THE MAINTENANCE OF UNDERREPRESENTED COVID DATASETS | Thu | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Megan A. Brown, Libby Hemphill, Cameron Hickey, J. Nathan Matias, Kaiya Soorholtz, Josephine Lukito | REVOLUTIONARY MODELS FOR COLLABORATIVE DATA ARCHIVES | Thu | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Lukas Hess, Eszter Hargittai | A LIFESTYLE OF SECRECY: THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF POLITICAL ACTIVISTS’ PRIVACY PROTECTION | Thu | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Michael Zimmer, Ylva Hård af Segerstad, David Myles, Martin Blais, Sarah Ann Gilbert, Kate Miltner, Tim Highfield, Huichuan Xia | AOIR ETHICS 1: EMERGENT CHALLENGES | Thu | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Robyn Caplan | THE TRUST PROJECT: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR ALGORITHM | Thu | 1:30p-3:00p |
| David Myles, Alex Chartrand, Stefanie Duguay | IF WE LOOK AT IT FROM AN LGBT POINT OF VIEW…’ MOBILIZING LGBTQ+ STAKEHOLDERS TO QUEER ALGORITHMIC IMAGINARIES | Thu | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Zoë Glatt | THE INTIMACY TRIPLE BIND: STRUCTURAL INEQUALITIES AND RELATIONAL LABOUR IN THE INFLUENCER INDUSTRY | Thu | 3:30p-5:00p |
| Daniel Green, Moira Weigel, Lin Zhang, Elena Maris | HISTORIES.BIZ: REASSESSING INTERNET ECONOMIES | Thu | 3:30p-5:00p |
| Tero Karppi, Britt Paris, Robert W. Gehl, Corinne Cath, Sarah Myers West | IF NOT, ELSE: STANDARDS, PROTOCOLS, NETWORKS AND HOW THEY MAKE A DIFFERENCE | Fri | 8:30a-10:00a |
| André Brock, Kevin Winstead, Ruth Tsuria, Rianna Walcott, Sananda Sahoo, Raila Melo, Jingyi Gu, Sacha Nicole Sharp, Melanie Vidakis, Jessica Rauchberg | TEN YEARS OF CRITICAL TECHNOCULTURAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (Roundtable) | Fri | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Blayne Haggart, Alice Marwick, Aram Sinnreich, Natasha Tusikov | DATA, PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE: BOOK SESSION (Book session) | Fri | 10:30a-12:00p |
| Kate Miltner, Gitit Sadar-Katat, Emily Ashton | “I WORKED SO HARD, AND I STILL DIDN’T SUCCEED”: CODING BOOTCAMP EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES | Fri | 10:30a-12:00p |
| Graham Meikle, Sam Gregory, Anthony McCosker, Katrin Tildenberg | DEEPFAKES, GENERATIVE MEDIA, AND CONSENT (Workshop) | Fri | 10:30a-12:00p |
| Sarah Elizabeth Edwards | PLATFORMIZATION IN NATION BRANDING PROCESSES | Fri | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Stephen Yang | THE PLATFORMIZED RHYTHMS OF URBAN NIGHTSCAPE: COORDINATING IN UNDERGROUND ELECTRONIC/DANCE MUSIC SCENES | Fri | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Jabari Miles Evans | THESE GIRLS (STRIP) FOR THE CLOUT: EXPLORING ASPIRATIONAL, EMOTIONAL AND EROTIC LABOR OF BLACK WOMEN HIP-HOP ARTISTS ON ONLYFANS | Fri | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Ysabel Gerrard | ‘IT MADE ME FEEL LIKE AN OBJECT’: GENDER AND/ON ANONYMOUS APPS. | Fri | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Mahli-Ann Butt, Chris Muller, Benjamin Nickl, Susanna Paasonen, Jenny Sundén | THE TROUBLE WITH ONLINE HUMOR (Fishbowl) | Fri | 1:30p-3:00p |
| Robyn Caplan, Sophie Bishop, Elena Maris, Ysabel Gerrard, Zoe Glatt | WHEN NEW TECHNOLOGIES BECOME OLDER: LESSONS FOR STUDYING SILICON VALLEY FROM THE PAST (Roundtable) | Fri | 3:30-5:00p |
| CJ Reynolds, Blake Hallinan | “YOUTUBE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT CREATORS”: HOW YOUTUBERS USE THE PLATFORM TO PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY | Fri | 3:30p-5:00p |
| Zachary McDowell, Katrin Tildenberg | INTERNET GOVERNANCE AND MORAL ENTREPRENEURS | Fri | 3:30p-5:00p |
| Ryland Shaw | AUTHENTIC OVER ACCURATE: UNDERSTANDING THE ECOLOGY OF CLIMATE PROTEST, POLICY, AND DISASTER ON TIKTOK, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NEWS AND EDUCATION ORGANIZATIONS | Sat | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Jonathan Zong, J. Nathan Matias | DATA REFUSAL FROM BELOW: A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING, EVALUATING, AND ENVISIONING REFUSAL STRATEGIES | Sat | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Susanna Paasonen, Jenny Sundén, Katrin Tiidenberg, Maria Vihlman | RETHINKING THE SOCIAL IN SOCIAL MEDIA | Sat | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Daniel Angus, Jean Burgess, Nicholas Carah, Lauren Hayden, Abdul Obeid | EXPLORING FACEBOOK’S “WHY AM I SEEING THIS AD” FEATURE: MEANINGFUL TRANSPARENCY OR FURTHER OBFUSCATION? | Sat | 8:30a-10:00a |
| Stefanie Duguay, Ozgem Elif Acar, Hannah Jamet-Lange | DEAR BABY GAYS: INVESTIGATING THE SOCIOTECHNICAL PRACTICES OF OLDER LGBTQ+ TIKTOK USERS | Sat | 10:30a-12:00p |
| Jessie Daniels, André Brock, Sarah Florini, Nikki Stevens | WHITENESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Fishbowl) | Sat | 10:30a-12:00p |
Social Media Collective 