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

Fri Oct 28 07:52:20 PDT 2022

Super interested in this Aram and all!

Btw you may know about this already but a few years ago there was an effort
to buy Twitter on behalf of its users and turn it into a cooperative. There
is now a movement to see if there is scope to imagine an alternative
platform - see here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEhpgWBcg5v-pw2jgNQeBioABJaO5l-hl_lhDh88CYfzi8sw/viewform?link_id=0&can_id=ef7bc98d850063290e9a252158eab395&source=email-test-10880&email_referrer=email_1719107&email_subject=twitter-users-lets-imagine-a-platform-where>
for more details. Disclaimer: I am not involved in running this initiative
but I plan to participate.

All the best, Eugenia

On Mon, Oct 24, 2022 at 6:32 PM Aram Sinnreich via Air-L <
air-l at listserv.aoir.org> 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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