[Air-L] Will Academic Twitter Exist Under Elon Musk?

Mon Oct 24 15:27:17 PDT 2022

Hi

I'm on Mastadon already, but would prefer to be on an AOIR sponsored server...
________________________________
From: Air-L <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Fenwick Mckelvey via Air-L <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2022 1:45 PM
To: Robert W Gehl <lists at robertwgehl.org>
Cc: air-l at listserv.aoir.org <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Will Academic Twitter Exist Under Elon Musk?

Hi all
I am very much interested in the Mastadon opportunity. Please count me in
too.

Be good,
Fenwick

On Mon, 24 Oct 2022 at 13:52, Robert W Gehl via Air-L <
air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:

> Count me in on this, Aram. (no surprise there, I imagine!)
>
> As far as I'm concerned, there is academic microblogging beyond the Musk
> site -- it's on the fediverse. I'll be talking about it a bit in my
> presentation at AOIR.
>
> - Rob
>
> On 10/24/22 13:21, Aram Sinnreich via Air-L wrote:
> > I’ve been thinking that AoIR should launch its own Mastodon instance,
> open to all members. Something like aoir[dot]social.
> >
> > Glad to discuss in Dublin.
> >
> >> On Oct 23, 2022, at 4:42 PM, Richard Forno via Air-L <
> air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> External Email: Use caution with links and attachments.
> >>
> >> Hi Stu -
> >>
> >> Like many, I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst for Twitter.
> >> I find Twitter a fantastic tool for staying in-touch and updated on
> >> colleagues' research/ideas/musings, sharing ideas of my own and perhaps
> >> soliciting feedback/contributions, following conference hashtags (hello
> >> #AOIR2022!), some current events and socialization...and the odd dog or
> >> nature photo  I'd hate quit it, but I've not ruled it out ... but I
> >> could live w/o Twitter, even after 13 years.
> >>
> >> Without getting too deeply into politics here (which can be hard given
> >> the broader issues raised) -- as to your last paragraph Stu, I'm with
> >> you.  Since 2001 I've been increasingly concerned about the future of
> >> America's lttle-d democracy, view 2016 as a populist
> >> accident/experiment, saw 2020--1/6 as a test run. feel 2022 will be a
> >> good indicator of where things are heading having learned from 2020, and
> >> firmly believe that 2024 likely will be *the* pivotal point for our
> >> country one way or the other.   (Though politically, I think this
> >> political decline started in the mid-90s when one party decided to treat
> >> the other as the 'enemy' and embraced a scorched-earth brand of politics
> >> that considered compromise akin to treason, which got cranked to 11
> >> thanks to silo'd cable news and SM platforms in ensuing years.)  And
> >> that's all I will prognosticate about here politically -- other than to
> >> conclude by saying I'm worried not just about now, but that we will not
> >> be able to fix things and get "back on track for the future" anytime
> >> soon.  :/.
> >>
> >> I do admit that despite being an old-school geek/hacker, in recent years
> >> I've wrestled with the warm-and-fuzzy nostalgic notion from the '90s
> >> that "information wants to be free". In some ways, it's been great for
> >> individuals and society -- in other ways, as Borat might say, "not so
> >> much."  Of course, that change in thinking also could be a function of
> >> midlife as well as current events.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
> >>
> >> But one of the world's dominant modern comms mediums transitioning into
> >> an unaccountable private entity run by a person .... however you view
> >> Musk .... definitely is concerning on *many* levels.[1]. By contrast, at
> >> least FB is a regulated public company and has the appearance of some
> >> 'objective' review of controversial things via its Oversight Board.
> >>
> >> As for aca-Twitter?  As I said, I'm still in wait-and-see, but it
> >> wouldn't surprise me to see many tweeps both from academia and elsewhere
> >> posting their final tweets either due to protest or for professional
> >> reasons / protection by year-end or early next year, depending on what
> >> 'innovations' are introduced to the platform post-acquisition.
> >>
> >> Stay tuned, I guess...
> >>
> >> -- rick
> >>
> >> [1] WaPo reported Friday that DOD/DOJ 'might' be investigating the
> >> Twitter deal and SpaceX-DOD contracts due to national security concerns
> >> with Musk's public views and his foreign investors.  Could be something
> >> there, could be a flash of desperation to block the sale ... but again,
> >> the question of accountability comes up.
> >>
> >>
> >> On 21 Oct 2022, at 7:43, Shulman, Stu via Air-L wrote:
> >>
> >>> Will academic Twitter exist under Elon Musk? Will there be more or
> >>> less
> >>> data? More or less urgent issues to study? Will the "Fail Whale" show
> >>> up
> >>> again after 75% of the staff is gone? Who will do content moderation?
> >>> Is
> >>> this a FastTrack to the next violent uprising in the US?
> >>>
> >>> I am curious what people on this particular list think is about to
> >>> happen.
> >>> After 12 years featuring the formal study of Twitter data I am
> >>> completely
> >>> burned out. Not on the challenges, nor the art and science of the
> >>> tasks. I
> >>> still love talking to students and faculty who have chosen Twitter as
> >>> the
> >>> object of their research. The data has never been more widely
> >>> available and
> >>> the positive uses of it can be inspiring.
> >>>
> >>> It's the voluminous amounts of hate I see in my own research. Also the
> >>> systemic weaponization of Twitter against democratic systems of
> >>> government
> >>> globally. As an original Board Member and the Treasurer of a 501
> >>> (c)(6)
> >>> called "The Big Boulder Initiative" I was working as a liaison to
> >>> academia
> >>> with a group of industry people on the "long term preservation of the
> >>> social data industry." The industry survived, but the ideals aspired
> >>> to
> >>> have not. We offered this 2-minute Lawrence Lessig-inspired vision of
> >>> the
> >>> challenges about 7 years ago:
> >>>
> >>> "Why Texifter Joined the Big Boulder Initiative"
> >>>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://vimeo.com/129423037__;!!IaT_gp1N!0Ghlkf1rWCTGT5MfqPFpLm-cdX_SBpmFHVzAbi7e_nr3KCSBblNWocRhIbpOHQGFDd5ZOBbVTyp2WHk_ow$
> >>>
> >>> Lessig was right. On the Internet, architecture is the most powerful
> >>> regulator. The architecture of Twitter, with corporate ads featured on
> >>> insurrectionist and other problematic timelines, is now a persistent
> >>> threat
> >>> to democratic systems of government without a single day of Musk
> >>> governance. The insurrection January 6, 2021 was planned in the open
> >>> on
> >>> Twitter. There were advertisements from familiar brands in every
> >>> seditious
> >>> timeline. Evolving tactics using Twitter trains (tagging 30
> >>> like-minded
> >>> users), notification-rich replies, the ReTweet functionality,
> >>> gamification,
> >>> domestic and foreign meme warfare, the idolatry of influence via
> >>> misinformation, bots and trolls, as well as paid amplifiers of all
> >>> manner
> >>> and variety. The "digital soldiers" we found in the Canadian election
> >>> of
> >>> 2019 (fake Americans who hated Trudeau but liked RT, Russia Today and
> >>> Southfront) were openly planning a QAnon-inspired "storm" which
> >>> ultimately
> >>> was the first coup attempt in two centuries of American democracy. I
> >>> briefed the US/UK Intelligence Community (staff from the Joint Chiefs,
> >>> JSOC, etc.) February 12, 2020 via the Strategic Multilayer Assessment
> >>> using
> >>> open source information from Twitter. Things have since gotten much
> >>> worse,
> >>> not better, since that briefing. These were the slides in early
> >>> February
> >>> 2020:
> >>>
> >>>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://tinyurl.com/huntingbotsandtrolls__;!!IaT_gp1N!0Ghlkf1rWCTGT5MfqPFpLm-cdX_SBpmFHVzAbi7e_nr3KCSBblNWocRhIbpOHQGFDd5ZOBbVTyq6oRe2Xw$
> >>>
> >>> Looking at the current threat-relevant data, I have a
> >>> sick-to-my-stomach
> >>> feeling about the next 60 days in U.S. history. We may be late to
> >>> notice
> >>> the end of small "d" democracy is imminent or inevitable because of
> >>> the
> >>> Internet effects we cannot fully see, capture, measure, or control.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Dr. Stuart W. Shulman
> >>> Founder and CEO, Texifter
> >>> Editor Emeritus, *Journal of Information Technology & Politics*
> >>> _______________________________________________
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--
Be good,
Fen
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