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My intro course has been working all semester on the problem of disinformation in our media environments. Taking an ecological approach, we studied the business of media, platform histories, modes of information sharing (news, info, search, persuasion) and social networks (1/)
There were two deeper, more urgent guideposts driving the semester, ones I presented the first day of class:
1. How did Jan. 6 happen?
2. Why do we have a hard time getting people to accept the reality of COVID, wear a mask, or want a vaccine? (2/)
1. How did Jan. 6 happen?
2. Why do we have a hard time getting people to accept the reality of COVID, wear a mask, or want a vaccine? (2/)
These were larger structural and social problems, but I teach in comm, and I see these as partly communication problems. There are other ways of seeing, perhaps more useful ones, but when I look for complexity it comes back to how we talk to one another (3/)
More to the point, Jan. 6 and COVID denialism are related in ways that are subtle to new eyes (these are mostly freshmen whose vision of media largely is costrained by their own use case).
I want them to interrogate the news in the context of what media is coming at them. (4/)
I want them to interrogate the news in the context of what media is coming at them. (4/)
Media ecology asks us to examine our own information environment, but also to see our environment as interdependent on the environment others find themselves in. Pollution flows downstream. We are not isolated. (5/)
In these final weeks, I’m asking them to critique their own environment, but also ask how they contribute to pollution in others’ environment as well.
This is a difficult point to grasp, but our passive behaviors online create data that shape the experience others have. (6/)
This is a difficult point to grasp, but our passive behaviors online create data that shape the experience others have. (6/)
This is about data. What we read, what we like, what we share. Our sense of What Facebook Is, What Twitter Is, etc., is so determined by what we see, and it’s easy to get caught up in things being ok for others because our own online experience doesn’t surface junk. (7/)
Here’s a really messed-up example:
We know that you shouldn’t share without clicking on the headline, right? I hope we are clear on this.
But in the act of clicking to fact check, you’re feeding data to the system that can be interpreted as interest/engagement. (8/)
We know that you shouldn’t share without clicking on the headline, right? I hope we are clear on this.
But in the act of clicking to fact check, you’re feeding data to the system that can be interpreted as interest/engagement. (8/)
So you decide not to share, but if the system is designed badly, it might not matter. All that data that correlates your interests with others might still surface that bad news story even if you don't share it, depending on where it came from. (9/)
The content we see on social networks is visible, but the process by which we are fed it is largely opaque to the public.
This gets called literacy in public parlance, but I see it as a larger and fundamental problem of justice. Media products deployed badly can harm us. (10/)
This gets called literacy in public parlance, but I see it as a larger and fundamental problem of justice. Media products deployed badly can harm us. (10/)
I do not want them to be scared of media use. But I close the term imploring them to see their use as a type of power, and that they should exercise this power.
The media economy is built around attention. Deny companies your attention if they peddle junk. (11/)
The media economy is built around attention. Deny companies your attention if they peddle junk. (11/)
I see three areas we need to get a lot smarter about, and in a hurry: (12/)
1. We need a lot more awareness about how these networks operate, and to expose people to the limits of their own experience. We socially construct our vision of reality by media, and if our media environment is a polluted echo chamber, well, that’s how we get here. (13/)
I will never not see this as a problem of education. Not to descend into panic, but to help foster better digital citizens who are aware of the limits of their media environment and the techniques they need to use to interrogate and change it. (14/)
2. With the knowledge gained from #1, we need to act collectively as a user base to shape network decisions. Most policies have inertia because we don’t act on our disdain for them. Adtech platforms are just as sensitive to ad revenue drops as the newspaper industry is. (15/)
We have sold our power for free products, given it away too easily. Our data is being used to shape reality-altering experiences for the broader public. We need better tools to control what is collected and how it’s deployed. We need a seat at the table. (16/)
3. We need to understand how fragile self-governance is, how much media shapes the way we see ourselves and society. That Facebook, Twitter, etc. have gotten so big that vaccine conspiracy theories can swirl and alter the course of society is a heavy, heavy thing to ponder. (17/)
We are in the process of reconstructing what information authority looks like.
Journalism was shorthand. Trust us, we verified before publishing. It’s a message that works, for all its flaws, in a world of scarce choice. And it’s struggling in a time of abundance. (18/)
Journalism was shorthand. Trust us, we verified before publishing. It’s a message that works, for all its flaws, in a world of scarce choice. And it’s struggling in a time of abundance. (18/)
But free democracy relies on us being able to think, decide, and vote. I don’t think we need to go back to the good old days that never were when it comes to news, but what comes next needs to help us create a healthier information environment (and democracy, by extension). (19/)
We have an interlocking set of incentives that encourage pollution right now. It’s nobody’s fault in particular, and I don’t think the people deciding intended this. It’s possible to rationalize your own role in all this.
So we need to change the incentives. (20/)
So we need to change the incentives. (20/)
Some reading/viewing that they did this semester, if you want to know more and engage on this topic:
“You Are Here” by @wphillips49 and @rmmilner. https://bit.ly/3thwnw9
They read different parts; I’m using the whole book in my seminar this fall.
“You Are Here” by @wphillips49 and @rmmilner. https://bit.ly/3thwnw9
They read different parts; I’m using the whole book in my seminar this fall.
ONA keynote on amplifcation of conspiracy theory content by @zephoria a few years ago. https://bit.ly/2yFPjLg
“Elements Of Journalism” by Kovach & @TomRosenstiel.
http://amzn.to/3gRWlDs
The news system we rebuild should be steeped in the fundamentals. The platforms change, but quality and purpose are timeless things built on principle.
http://amzn.to/3gRWlDs
The news system we rebuild should be steeped in the fundamentals. The platforms change, but quality and purpose are timeless things built on principle.
“Conspiracy Land” piece that ran earlier this month in @PhillyInquirer. https://bit.ly/3xAu4qP
Lastly, I’ll promote the weekly Substack newsletter I wrote as a companion to the lecture and reading. It offers a current events application to larger conceptual ways of thinking about media. Link is in my bio.
Just to close, I’ve taught this class with a sense of urgency. I hate not being with them in person. That is the need of the moment, but it’s also partly a result of social failure, fueled by bad communication environments. (26/)
I cannot solve the virus itself. I can’t stop Capitol riots.
But how we weather it, how we learn from it, how we avoid the mistakes of the past is a communication problem. Education should empower us to help solve what is coming.
That, my friends, is a lifelong pursuit. (27/27)
But how we weather it, how we learn from it, how we avoid the mistakes of the past is a communication problem. Education should empower us to help solve what is coming.
That, my friends, is a lifelong pursuit. (27/27)
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