This post originally appeared on Cyborgology as part of its "Small Town Internet" issue. Since I was thinking about several SMC members' research while writing this, and worked on this post while co-writing with Jessa Lingel, I thought it apropos to post it here as well. There's a lot more to be said about rural …
Continue reading My First Year On The Rural Side of the Digital Divide
The Pacific Standard magazine has been running a series where academics, business leaders, technologists and labor leaders have contributed to the discussion on the most consequential changes in labor and the future of work. We invite you to read the contributions from members of our SMC family. "Caring for the Crowdworker going at it alone" …
Today in Science, members of the Facebook data science team released a provocative study about adult Facebook users in the US "who volunteer their ideological affiliation in their profile." The study "quantified the extent to which individuals encounter comparatively more or less diverse" hard news "while interacting via Facebook’s algorithmically ranked News Feed."* The research found that …
It's easy to forget the larger, community benefits of an Open Internet that doesn't discriminate based on the content flowing through the fiber (or however it gets to you). But let's get specific. How does this open network nurture and support underserved and marginalized LGBT communities and why does something like Net Neutrality matter to …
Continue reading Why LGBT Communities and Our Allies Should Care about Net Neutrality
(written up with Nikki Usher, GWU) Anyone tackling fieldwork these days can chose from a wide selection of digital tools to put in their methodological toolkit. Among the best of these tools are platforms that let you archive, analyze, and disseminate at the same time. It used to be that these were fairly distinct stages …
I'm intrigued by the reaction that has unfolded around the Facebook "emotion contagion" study. (If you aren't familiar with this, read this primer.) As others have pointed out, the practice of A/B testing content is quite common. And Facebook has a long history of experimenting on how it can influence people's attitudes and practices, even …
Continue reading What does the Facebook experiment teach us?
("And also Bud Light.") In my last two posts I've been writing about my attempt to convince a group of sophomores with no background in my field that there has been a shift to the algorithmic allocation of attention -- and that this is important. In this post I'll respond to a student question. My favorite: "Sandvig says that algorithms …
Most people who encounter a link to this post will never read beyond this paragraph. Heck, most people who encountered a link to this post didn't click on the link to begin with. They simply saw the headline, took note that someone over 30 thinks that maybe Snapchat is important, and moved onto the next …
Continue reading Why Snapchat is Valuable: It’s All About Attention
(or, Are We Social Insects?) I worried that my last blog post was too short and intellectually ineffectual. But given the positive feedback I've received, my true calling may be to write top ten lists of other people's ideas, based on conferences I attend. So here is another list like that. These are my notes …
Continue reading Reddit, Mathematically the Anti-Facebook (+ other thoughts on algorithmic culture)
Here's a quick post containing eight ideas that made it into my notes from today's "Feminism, Technology, and the Body" FemTechNet dialogue at the University of Michigan. It featured Alondra Nelson, Jessie Daniels, Lisa Nakamura, Sidonie Smith, Carrie Rentschler, Sharon Irish, and a bunch of other people I didn't write down. What a crew! Eight Ideas …
Continue reading Are there feminist data? (+ other questions)
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