* The Post-API Conference: Social media data acquisition after Twitter Conference details Sunday, October 22, 2023 (the day after AOIR ends) Annenberg Public Policy Center 202 S 36th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 8:30am - 4:30pm ** *Organizing committee* * Deen Freelon, University of Pennsylvania Josephine Lukito, University of Texas at Austin Bree McEwan, University of Toronto Mississauga Josh Pasek, University of Michigan * If you use social media data in your research, you’re going to want to listen up, because we’ve reached a crisis point. Digital data access has survived in an uncomfortable and unpredictable flux for years, but the most recent wave of policy changes may well be existential. Consider the following developments from the past 12 months: * Elon Musk has eliminated free access to Twitter’s API, and the only academically useful paid tiers far exceed most researchers’ budgets. <https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23662832/twitter-api-tiers-free-bot-novelty-accounts-basic-enterprice-monthly-price> * Musk has also demanded that Decahose users delete all Twitter data acquired under previous agreements <https://inews.co.uk/news/twitter-researchers-delete-data-unless-pay-2364535>–whether this demand will be extended to Academic API users is currently unknown. * Reddit has denied access to its API for Pushshift <https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/134tjpe/reddit_data_api_update_changes_to_pushshift_access/>, a popular service used by researchers to collect Reddit data. Popular Reddit app Apollo is facing API charges of $1.7M per month <https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/>to continue operating. * TikTok released a new API for researchers, which among other things requires them “to regularly refresh TikTok Research API Data at least every fifteen (15) days, and delete data that is not available from the TikTok Research API at the time of each refresh." <https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/global/terms-of-service-research-api/en> * Crowdtangle, Meta’s researcher tool for acquiring data from Facebook and Instagram, still exists as of this writing. But rumors of its imminent demise have been reported in multiple <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-23/meta-pulls-support-for-tool-used-to-keep-misinformation-in-check?leadSource=uverify%20wall>reputable <https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180357/meta-crowdtangle-shut-down-facebook-misinformation-viral-news-tracker>outlets <https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-08-16/facebook-crowdtangle-meta-disinformation-transparency/101325544>. If your research pipeline has been caught in the crossfire of these and similar developments, this one-day Post-API Conferenceis for you. We’re looking to convene some of the brightest minds working on these issues across disciplines to help identify the most viable solutions and alternatives. To encourage informal conversation between participants, the conference will adopt a nontraditional structure. Participants will be organized into four informal plenary panels–two in the morning and two in the afternoon–each of which will begin with a series of four 5-minute lightning talks. However, most of the time will be spent in large-scale moderated discussions between participants and panelists. Each of the four panels will focus on one of the following topics: * Gaps.What tools/software/workflows/perspectives are missing from our research toolkits? How can we stay nimble and responsive to a constantly changing data ecosystem? * Education.What tools/software/workflows/perspectives have you developed or used that you’d like to showcase? What broad types of education do people in this area need (e.g. does everyone need to learn to code)? * Storage and access.How can we overcome challenges in post-acquisition data storage and access, especially across institutions? * Ethics.What ethical considerations should we bear in mind as we plow forward? Would it be worth the effort to create a broad, interdisciplinary ethical framework? Submission Information Applicants interested in giving a lightning talk should submit a memo (no more than 1 page single spaced) describing their topic. We encourage participants to think broadly here: for example, you could discuss a project that failed because you could not gather the data, impending concerns about studying a particular platform, concerns regarding non-traditional data collection methods, or new data collection software you developed. In your proposal, please indicate which panel you feel best fits your talk. You may also apply to attend the conference without submitting a lightning talk proposal, but preference will be given to those who submit proposals. Submissions are due by Monday,July 17, 2023 at midnight Pacific Daylight Time/PDT (UTC -700). Please submit your proposal in MS Word or PDF format by clicking the following link: Post-API conference submission form <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvztMyqjUUMFrTQEyIOJyLwCM6zL9Yc3mdYarCaMkqX50I0Q/viewform> Author teams for which multiple authors wish to attend the conference should designate one team member to submit their proposal.Every individual who wishes to attend must submit their own separate application. Please send any questions to post.api.conf@gmail.com <mailto:post.api.conf@gmail.com>. Travel Funding We are currently working on obtaining need-based travel funding for graduate students, non-tenure track faculty, and independent researchers. If you are interested in being considered for funding, please complete the relevant section of the application. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate a lack of institutional funds (e.g. via a link to your department’s travel policy or a letter from your chair, dean, or relevant administrative staff confirming your lack of travel funds). Stable link to CFP: https://tinyurl.com/post-api-conf-cfp *Stable link to submission form: https://tinyurl.com/post-api-conf-submit -- Deen Freelon, Ph.D. Associate Professor | Hussman School of Journalism and Media Principal Researcher | Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://dfreelon.org | @dfreelon <https://twitter.com/dfreelon> | https://github.com/dfreelon | https://citap.unc.edu/ Schedule an appointment with me <https://doodle.com/bp/deenfreelon/book-a-time>