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

Fri Oct 28 10:22:29 PDT 2022

Hi Sarah, this is a decent Masto-101 page that I've referred to a few times already today:    https://mastodon.help/

On 28 Oct 2022, at 12:40, Sarah Ann Oates via Air-L wrote:

> BTW I went on Mastodon today and was ... baffled. There is even a "see help
> section below" ... with no help section below. I get that it is a
> collaborative thing and I very much appreciate the concept etc. but it's a
> bit of a closed world ... Couldn't even figure out where to start. OK,
> probably should have tried harder but if the interface is baffling to
> someone who spends a lot of time studying social media ... what would it be
> to a more casual user?
> Sarah
>
>
> Sarah Oates
> Pronoun: she/her
>
> Professor and Senior Scholar
> Philip Merrill College of Journalism
> Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
> University of Maryland
> College Park, MD 20742
> Email: soates at umd.edu
> Phone: 301 455 2332
> www.media-politics.com
> Twitter: @media_politics
>
> *Support the UMD Student Crisis Fund
> <https://giving.umd.edu/giving/showPage.php?name=crisis-funding> today. *
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>
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 28, 2022 at 12:36 PM supriti malhotra via Air-L <
> air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Some have started using Tribel as an alternative... Any thoughts/experience
>> using the platform?
>>
>> Warm Regards,
>> Supriti
>>
>> On Fri, 28 Oct 2022, 20:43 Eugenia Siapera via Air-L, <
>> air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
>>
>>> 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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>>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>>>
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>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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