[Air-L] CFP // The Post-API Conference: Social media data acquisition after Twitter

[Deen Freelon]

*


  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 at gmail.com 
<mailto:post.api.conf at 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>