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Twitter Collection and Analysis Toolkit seeks caring new owner
by Jacob Groshek 31 May '20

31 May '20

Dear Colleagues and Friends, I hope this message finds everyone doing well and managing through this difficult time. I am posting to this list because, after about 7+ years, I am decommissioning a Digital Methods Initiative Twitter Collection and Analysis Toolkit (DMI-TCAT) installation that I oversee. More details on this system, developed by Erik Borra and Bernhard Rieder, are available on github here https://github.com/digitalmethodsinitiative/dmi-tcat While this is an open source platform that was generously made freely available by the developers (sincere and deep thanks to Erik and Bernhard), there can be costs involved with hosting and storage of the system and data. So while there are a variety of reasons for my decision, including a finite amount of research funds that I can dedicate each year, I am truly saddened to be pulling the plug especially because I am fully aware of the value this system carries and its important as a resource for academic research. To cut to the chase, it is roughly $370 per month to host and store this TCAT on Amazon Web Services (AWS), and right now, this TCAT install is at about 70% elastic capacity with more than *560 million tweets* collected over the last few years, on a wide variety of topics, many that relate to political and health communication. If anyone is interested to take over this system, or if there are questions out there, please reach out to me off list and I'm happy to discuss. If there are no takers, this data will no longer be maintained by me after June 30, and repositories of literally hundreds of millions of tweets on COVID-19 and other topics will be lost to the ether. Sorry for the long-ish message and thanks for your consideration. Best regards, Jacob -- Dr. Jacob Groshek Ross Beach Chair in Emerging Media Research and Associate Professor Kansas State University jacobgroshek.com | @jacobgroshek <https://twitter.com/jacobgroshek> | google scholar <https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=G1XXhccAAAAJ&hl=en> Honorary Associate Professor, Roskilde University <https://ruc.dk/en/department-communication-and-arts> Associate Director, CMCS @ <https://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/> Boston U <https://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/> | Founding Editor, *JoCTEC <http://www.joctec.org/>* Previously: Erasmus U <https://www.eur.nl/en/eshcc/research/ermecc/people/research-fellows> | NeSCoR <http://nescor.socsci.uva.nl/> | Boston Civic Media <http://bostoncivic.media/> | IAST <http://www.iast.fr/> +1-857-615-4709

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Facebook enabling violent extremists in the US: response?
by Mathieu.O'Neil 31 May '20

31 May '20

Dear friends and colleagues in the Internet Research community: As the United States is struggling with a terrible pandemic, an economic crisis, and protests against police brutality and racism, it is extremely concerning to come across reports from credible sources showing that Facebook, out of a desire to placate unfounded criticism that it has a "left-wing bias" is allowing armed groups to explicitly organize for a civil war (aka "boogaloo") on its platform. These groups are not uniformly racist, though many overlap with far-right extremists. The following article leaves no doubt that this activity is mere "shitposting": Robert Evans and Jason Wilson, The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think, Bellingcat, May 27, 2020. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/05/27/the-boogaloo-movement-is-not-wha… A recent report shows that Facebook knows exactly what it is doing: John Whitehouse, Bombshell report: Facebook has known that it is fomenting extremism for years -- and refuses to stop, MediaMatters, May 26, 2020. https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/bombshell-report-facebook-has-known-i… Clearly, what Facebook is doing is indefensible. It has to stop. What should be done? I know some people on this list work for Facebook. I know some people on this list are being funded, or applying to be funded by Facebook. I am sorry if this message places you in a difficult position. Everyone deals with things in their own way. For me, Facebook has been an important part of my life for a very long time. I love keeping in touch with people from all over the world and learning about their lives and their societies. Leaving it would mean perhaps losing touch with these people forever. But, for me, that's not enough to outweigh what the company is doing. I believe a strong message has to be sent now. I'm not very good at memes. But they work! My proposal is simple. We create a meme with a simple message, something like: FACEBOOK IS ENABLING VIOLENT HATE GROUPS MAKE FACEBOOK STOP NOW IF NOT: #BOYCOTTFACEBOOK We set up a resource page or Twitter account called #BOYCOTTFACEBOOK which outlines our point: stop doing this. Or we will leave. And we will urge advertisers and others to leave as well. We set up a petition to collect sigs (expensive) or we get "influencers" to circulate the meme (cheap). If someone has a better idea, please respond! I wrote "we" and "our" throughout because I sure hope others feel the way I do. But if I don't hear back a more effective proposal within 48 hours I will make my own (crap) meme and post it to Facebook alongside this text. I will download my content and withdraw from Facebook - I don't want to leave completely as this is my only bargaining chip so will "suspend" my account or whatever is possible. I will also create the Twitter account. Cheers, Mathieu PS. Some of you may have been harassed online by trolls for speaking out against racism and extremism. I am sorry. I never have. I don't want to be. If it happens, I will deal with it. We should not be cowed. PPS. Some research on social media in general and Facebook in particular (taken from Bellingcat article): Ines von Behr, Anaïs Reding, Charlie Edwards, Luke Gribbon (2013) Radicalisation in the digital era. The use of the internet in 15 cases of terrorism and extremism, RAND Europe. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR400/RR453/RAN… Séraphin Alava, Divina Frau-Meigs, Ghayda Hassan (2017) Youth and violent extremism on social media: mapping the research. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000260382 Ryan Scrivens, Amarnath Amarasingam (2020) Haters Gonna "Like": Exploring Canadian Far-Right Extremism on Facebook. Digital Extremisms, pp 63-89. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-30138-5_4 [UC Logo]<http://www.canberra.edu.au> [National Reconciliation Week 27 May - 3 June 2020]<https://www.canberra.edu.au/events/Home/Event/170650> [UC Facebook]<https://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfCanberra>[UC Twitter]<https://twitter.com/UniCanberra>[UC Instagram]<https://www.instagram.com/unicanberra/>[UC Linkedin]<https://au.linkedin.com/school/university-of-canberra/>[UC Youtube]<https://www.youtube.com/user/uniofcanberra> [University of Canberra] <http://www.canberra.edu.au> Australian Government Higher Education Registered Provider (CRICOS) #00212K The University of Canberra acknowledges the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the lands where Bruce Campus is situated. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of Canberra and the region. We also acknowledge all other First Nations Peoples on whose lands we gather. 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Responsible IT research position at Hogeschool van Amsterdam
by Geert Lovink 29 May '20

29 May '20

https://ssl1.peoplexs.com/Peoplexs22/CandidatesPortalNoLogin/Vacancy.cfm?Po… <https://ssl1.peoplexs.com/Peoplexs22/CandidatesPortalNoLogin/Vacancy.cfm?Po…>

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New book: Immersion and Participation in Punchdrunk's Theatrical Worlds
by Carina Westling 28 May '20

28 May '20

Dear all, My book *Immersion and Participation in Punchdrunk's Theatrical Worlds *(Bloomsbury) is now available in paperback, hardback and e-book ( https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/immersion-and-participation-in-punchdrunks-th…) It is an in-depth exploration of immersion and participation in cross-platform spaces, and introduces a theoretical framework that allows for interrogation of virtual and physical scenographies and the inflection of conditions of possibility by how audience/user agency is modelled by their designers. The book is written around case studies of Punchdrunk, Chinese Room, Blast Theory, The Mill and other digital and cross-platform designers and an in-depth ethnographic study of how audiences and makers perceive interaction across interfaces. To accommodate analyses of cross-platform experience designed for immersive experience, I drew on critiques of representation in and beyond performance, media philosophy, critical posthumanism and infrastructure studies to articulate questions around space and place in interactive systems. Central to the book is a study of how experience is produced in interaction with designed virtual or physical spaces by audiences, and the role of complicity. The theoretical framework that the book introduces affords analyses of material cultures and the influence of technology on interaction design in theatre and beyond, and offers a blueprint for next-generation immersive design and scenography for interactive multimedia environments. Carina Westling Lecturer, Cross-Platform Media Bournemouth University cwestling(a)bournemouth.ac.uk ORCID 0000-0002-6549-0974 Twitter: @doctrixwestling

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New book: Digital Life
by Tim Markham 28 May '20

28 May '20

Dear all, I’m pleased to announce the publication of my new book, Digital Life<https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509541058&subject_id=6>, with Polity Press. Intended as a provocation to think differently about digital media and what it is doing to us, it argues that what it means to live ethically and politically is realised through and not in spite of the everyday experience of digital life. Here’s the pitch: Digital Life<https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509541058&subject_id=6> takes aim squarely at the prevailing conventional wisdom that the encroaching pervasiveness of digital media in our everyday lives is undermining core notions of politics, sociality and ethics. Its principal claim is simple: instead of ethical and political principles enduring in spite of the myriad distractions of digital life, such principles are constituted precisely through those distractions. That word constitutive is key, and it echoes Heidegger, for whom what we think of as inauthentic ways of being – idle talk and curiosity in his case, meandering about online seeking out diversion and affect in ours – should be understood as being just as ontologically foundational as anything else. All we have are the selves we constantly find ourselves thrown into, already acting in the thick of it. That can sound like fatalism, as though we just have to accept what we find ourselves doing in whatever world we’re thrown into, but we’re also hardwired to make that world familiar and to take responsibility for that self. Likewise, it can sound like the past doesn’t matter, only the now, which would make it difficult to criticise the way our world is rapidly changing. But the past is always part of our experience of the present, just not as an origin from which we’ve departed and by implication to which we should seek to return. We worry that while we’re better connected than ever our relations with mediated others are ersatz or virtue-signalling – but what if fleeting, ephemeral engagement is a better way of understanding our co-existence with others than deep reflection? Similarly, we fret that surveillance and data mining are fundamentally eroding ethical principles like autonomy and privacy – but what if there is no prior self to be defended against external forces? We express concern that the rise of identity politics has led to a new politics in which how people feel trumps all other reasoning – but what if the way someone feels isn’t seen as individualistic and reductive, but pre-individual, collective and thus political? The failure to recognise the full horror of suffering witnessed on the run is not a failure of self, and nor is each instance of data mining a threat to the integrity of our very selves. The spontaneous, fickle and fissiparous formation of interest groups online might lack the dedication and determination of seriously minded political activism, and might seem driven more by the experience than outcome of engagement, but the things that emerge out of these digital constellations are no less political. Political principles are not internal qualities, hard won and carefully honed, that we go about applying to the world as we find it; principles only come into existence as we go about acting, more often than not improvisationally and almost always provisionally. The whole point of living an ethical life is about what becomes of the ways we live in motion, grasping at knowledge and experience as we go, not randomly but rhythmically, drawing on collective repertoires that are of the world rather than us. This, finally, is what allows us to see that the ordinary stuff we get up to in our mundane digital existences is pregnant with the political. Tim Markham<http://www.bbk.ac.uk/culture/staff/teaching-staff/tim-markham> is Professor of Journalism and Media at Birkbeck, University of London. He is also the author of Media and the Experience of Social Change: The Arab World<https://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/media_and_the_experience_of_social…> (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), Media and Everyday Life<https://www.macmillanihe.com/page/detail/media-and-everyday-life-tim-markha…> (Palgrave, 2017), and The Politics of War Reporting: Authority, Authenticity and Morality<https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719085284/> (Manchester, 2012); co-author of Media Consumption and Public Engagement: Beyond the Presumption of Attention<https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403985347> (Palgrave, 2007; 2010) and co-editor of Conditions of Mediation: Phenomenological Perspectives on Media<https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/23231?format=PBK> (Peter Lang, 2017).

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WH's 'executive order' on social media leaked
by Richard Forno 28 May '20

28 May '20

That Tweety Amin's social media 'executive order' is out in less than 36 hours after he ranted about it strongly confirms this was their plan all along based on their rhetoric over the past year - they just needed the right moment to launch it for maximum effect. (Relatedly: good luck with it.) Not to mention, he needs another 'enemy' to distract from his Covid-19 failings, and of course it's well known that anyone who dares challenge his view of reality/truth is fair game -- in this case, big tech. Boss Tweety's EO will try to invoke Section 230(c) when social media sites “edit” (his words) content with labels like what Twitter did the other day ..... but of course, Twitter didn't actually "edit" his content. IMO this will be an interesting legal case about content (his words) vs the platform displaying said content (the Twitter box). Kate's got some good legal responses on her Twitter feed and also in the NYT article. My CIS colleage Daphne Keller provides some additional (and useful) color-coded reaction/context as well. PDF Draft @ https://kateklonick.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DRAFT-EO-Preventing-Onli… A Quick Take on the May 26 Executive Order on Platforms and CDA 230 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JnK80wk4Smcu3lt4TCwajQNTk0_v1sNR-FGhnoM…

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WEBCAST TODAY: When Rhetoric Meets Reality: Digital Accessibility, Persons With Disabilities, and COVID-19 @a11ySIG #GAAD2020
by Joly MacFie 28 May '20

28 May '20

This is underway. We were able to arrange, at the last moment, sign interpreters for ASL and BSL. to complement our real time text captions. ISOC Live posted: "On May 28 2020, from 12:00-13:30 UTC, in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (May 21) the Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group (A11ySIG) will host a webinar “When rhetoric meets reality: Digital Accessibility, Persons With D" [image: livestream] <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/gaad2020>On *May 28 2020*, from *12:00-13:30 UTC*, in celebration of *Global Accessibility Awareness Day <https://globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/>* (May 21) <https://globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/>the* Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group <https://www.a11ysig.org/>* (A11ySIG) will host a webinar “*When rhetoric meets reality: Digital Accessibility, Persons With Disabilities and COVID-19 <https://www.a11ysig.org/gaad2020/>*” This free webinar bring together digital accessibility experts and people with disabilities to discuss the digital accessibility outlook beyond COVID-19. The webinar aims to share and offer a variety of ideas from different disabilities and different parts of the world. SPEAKERS: *David Berman*, David Berman communications (Canada); *Naveed Haq*, Regional Director Infrastructure and Connectivity, Asia Pacific Internet Society (Pakistan); *Gunela Astbrink*, Vice President Accessibility SIG (Australia); *Fernando Botelho*, F123 initiative (Brazil); *Judy Okite*, founder, Association for Accessibility and Equality (AAFE) (Kenya); *Peter Crosbie*, advocate for the autistic community (France); *Lidia Best*, Vice President, European Federation of Hard of Hearing (UK); *Manique Gunaratn*e, Manager, Specialized Training and Disability Resource Centre (Sri Lanka). MODERATOR: *Muhammad Shabbir Awan*, President, ISOC Accessibility SIG. *VIEW ON LIVESTREAM: http://livestream.com/internetsociety/gaad2020 <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/gaad2020>* (Open Captions, ASL, BSL) *REAL TIME TEXT: https://www.streamtext.net/player?event=CFI-A11YSIG <https://www.streamtext.net/player?event=CFI-A11YSIG>* *PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM: https://bit.ly/3bX0BM5 <https://bit.ly/3bX0BM5> * (Closed Captions, ASL, BSL) *TWITTER: @A11ySIG #GAAD2020 <http://bit.ly/a11ysiggaad2020>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12121/ -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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WEBCAST TODAY: Importance of Internet Connectivity in Times of Pandemic: Case for Community Networks in Uganda
by Joly MacFie 28 May '20

28 May '20

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, let's hope that the upside of the pandemic is connectivity innovation. ISOC Live posted: "On Thursday 28 May 2020 from 12pm-1:30pm EAT (09:00-10:30 UTC) the Internet Society Uganda Chapter hosts a webinar: Importance of Internet Connectivity in Times of Pandemics. This webinar seeks to explore the importance of rural broadband connectivity in " [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/isocug1>On *Thursday 28 May 2020* from *12pm-1:30pm EAT* (09:00-10:30 UTC) the *Internet Society Uganda Chapter <https://isoc.ug/>* hosts a webinar: *Importance of Internet Connectivity in Times of Pandemics <https://www.facebook.com/events/907438433103994/>*. This webinar seeks to explore the importance of rural broadband connectivity in times of pandemics and how community networks can play a role in connecting the unconnected. The webinar will explore policy solutions needed to strengthen community networks as alternatives to rural connectivity. Ultimately, the webinar seeks to promote the creation and growth of community networks in Uganda. *SPEAKERS* - *Massimiliano Stucci*, Regional Technical Advisor - Europe, Internet Society - *Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo*, Ag. Executive Director, Uganda Communications Commission (@UCC_ED) - *Steve Song*, Founder, Village Telco (@stevesong) - *Carloa Rey-Moreno*, Local Access Policy and Regulation Coordinator, Community Networks Project, APC (@CreyM) - *Josephine Miliz*a, Africa Regional Coordinator, Community Networks Project, APC (@Msmiliza) - *Solomon Okot Nono* (Technical Manager, BOSCO Uganda (@sokotnono) - *Lillian Achom*, Founding Partner, AccessPlus (@achom_lillian) *MODERATOR* - *Lilian Nalwoga*, President, Internet Society Uganda Chapter (@lilna) *LIVESTREAM: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/isocug1 <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/isocug1>* *SIMULCASTS: Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/pg/ISOCAfrica/videos/> | Periscope <https://www.pscp.tv/ISOC_Live/> | Twitch <https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive>* *PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM: https://bit.ly/3dda6YE <https://bit.ly/3dda6YE>* *TWITTER: @ISOCUg + #connectivity <https://bit.ly/2Xd6rot>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12116/ - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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CFP--ECRA Special Issue on Business Analytics for Social Good
by Kang Zhao 27 May '20

27 May '20

*Electronic Commence Research and Applications* *Special Issue on Business Analytics for Social Good* Special issue editors: Dirk Neumann (The University ofFreiburg, Germany), dirk.neumann(a)is.uni-freiburg.de. Junjie Wu (Beihang University,China), wujj(a)buaa.edu.cn. Kang Zhao (The University ofIowa, USA), kang-zhao(a)uiowa.edu. Platforms for electronic commerce, mobile commerce, and online social networking are making huge impact on our life in various ways. Meanwhile, data generated from these platforms has created tremendous value not only to the business but also to the society. In addition to leveraging the data for business objectives, eCommerce researchers and scholars also bear the responsibility of contributing to the benefits of the general public by analyzing such data. This special issue seeks data-enabled research that applies or develops computational and data science methods to address societal challenges in today’s interconnected world. We encourage research that analyzes publicly available data (e.g., from the Web or government agencies) or proprietary data (e.g., from business and organizations). Potential topics include, but are not limited to: · Discrimination and bias in social media · Vulnerable population in disaster relief and infectious disease control · (Mis)Information during emergency responses · Equality and privacy in eCommerce recommender systems · Social justice in law enforcement · Equal access to business or life opportunities · Disparities and inequality in health, health literacy and healthcare · Healthcare management during emergencies · Donations and fundraising for charity · Environmental protection and sustainability Authors are encouraged to email their papers’ abstracts to guest editors, so that the fit for this special issue can be evaluated, although this step is optional. Timeline · Initial submissions due: Sept 30, 2020 · First round of decisions: Jan 15, 2021 · Revisions due: March 15, 2021 · Final decisions: May 15, 2021 Submission guidelines: · Authors must submit all manuscripts through ECRA’s online submission portal https://ees.elsevier.com/ecra/default.asp, and choose "BASociaGood” as a special issue submission. · Submissions must follow author guidelines of ECRA ( https://www.elsevier.com/journals/electronic-commerce-research-and-applicat…) -- Kang Zhao, Ph.D. Tippie College of Business The University of Iowa Website: http://www.kangzhao.net

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WEBCAST TODAY: Next Century Cities Member Call – How Local Leaders Can Influence State And Federal Policy
by Joly MacFie 27 May '20

27 May '20

This has just started. Although this session is primarily aimed at City managers in the USA, it should have lessons for anyone working on building community networks. ISOC Live posted: "Today Wednesday May 27 2020, at 1pm EDT (17:00 UTC) Next Century Cities hosts a member call 'How Local Leaders Can Influence State And Federal Policy' . Speakers Kathryn de Wit, Broadband Research Initiative, Pew Charitable Trust, and Jon Sallet, Senior F" [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/localleaders> Today* Wednesday May 27 2020*, at *1pm EDT* (17:00 UTC) *Next Century Cities <https://nextcenturycities.org/>* hosts a member call '*How Local Leaders Can Influence State And Federal Policy' <https://nextcenturycities.org/event/members-only-may-27-member-call/>* . Speakers *Kathryn de Wit*, Broadband Research Initiative, Pew Charitable Trust, and *Jon Sallet*, Senior Fellow, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, will discuss how NCC members can expand digital opportunities for their residents. *LIVESTREAM: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/localleaders <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/localleaders>* *SIMULCASTS: Periscope <https://www.pscp.tv/ISOC_Live/> | Twitch <https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive>* *PARTICIPATE: https://nextcenturycities.org/event/members-only-may-27-member-call/ <https://nextcenturycities.org/event/members-only-may-27-member-call/>* *TWITTER: #localleaders + @NextCentCit <https://bit.ly/2XA4EbJ>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12112/ - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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