Wonks and War Rooms: Recent Episodes
Elizabeth Dubois
Where political communication theory meets on the ground strategy. Host, Professor Elizabeth Dubois, picks a political communication theory, explains it to a practitioner, and then they have a chat about whether or not it makes sense at all out in the world of politics and communications. She chats with political staffers, journalists, comms experts, lobbyists, activists and other political actors. Elizabeth quizzes them on pol comm theory and they tell her how ridiculous (or super helpful) that theory actually is.
This week Elizabeth talks with Seher Shafiq, a program manager at the Mozilla Foundation and expert in civic engagement, particularly in the context of elections and engaging marginalized people in the vote. They discuss how AI is impacting Canadian elections, civic engagement, and democracy. They look at helpful and not so helpful uses of AI tools in elections and chat about ways these tools could be used to increase voter engagement. Seher concludes the episode with suggestions for how we can deal with the lack of trust in AI, including an emphasis on digital literacy.
Side note: We are collecting examples of impacts of the podcast and we’d love to hear from you. Could you take two minutes to fill out this short questionnaire for feedback on the podcast.
Additional Resources:
- Elizabeth mentions the report she wrote with Pol Comm Tech Lab member and PhD student Michelle Bartleman, The Political Uses of AI in Canada, which touches on a lot of the topics discussed in this episode.
- Check out this article, The impact of generative AI in a global election year, by Valerie Wirtschafter for examples of AI robocalls/media impersonating candidates, as mentioned by Seher.
- For more information on the threat that deepfakes pose for Canadian elections, consult The Evolution of Disinformation: A Deepfake Future, a report published by CSIS.
- For an overview of digital literacy theories, listen to our final episode from Season 3 of the podcast: Mapping theories for media and digital literacy.
- Elizabeth also mentions two past episodes on personal influence: The Two-Step Flow and Opinion Leaders with Nick Switalski and Personal Influence in Politics.
- Seher mentions the recent report, Training Data for the Price of a Sandwich, written by Stefan Baack of the Mozilla Foundation in collaboration with the Mozilla Insights team. It explores Common Crawl’s “influence as a backbone for Large Language Models: its shortcomings, benefits, and implications for trustworthy AI.”
- Find more from Seher on her website, X, and LinkedIn.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this episode Elizabeth discusses the idea of counter-speech as content moderation with far right extremist researcher, Kesa White. Kesa describes her work on “dog-whistling,” talks about how counter speech can be helpful but doesn’t solve the problem of hate speech online, and explains some of the challenges tech companies face with content moderation. Drawing on her own experience with hate-speech she emphasizes how important it is for us to keep being “in the know” about social media and what is being said.
We are doing a call-out for people who have had some kind of impact or have been helped by this podcast - we’d love to hear from you! Here is a google form to fill out to help us track the impact of our podcast!
Additional Resources
- Elizabeth mentions our past content moderation episode of the podcast with guest Andrew Strait.
- Elizabeth also references some categories of hate speech (Consult: Thou Shalt Not Hate: Countering Online Hate Speech)
- Kesa mentions her project with the RSM fellowship, her piece is titled “Not All Superheros Wear Capes: Identity Triggers the Trolls”
- For more context on the concept of counter-speech and extremism, here is an article by the Dangerous Speech Project based on a Counter-speech field study on Twitter.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
This week Elizabeth talks with Michael Redhead Champagne, a community organizer in Winnipeg working to dismantle harmful systems and build better ones through Indigenous practices and knowledge. They discuss collective and connective action logics, and the importance of creating networks of people to promote and sustain change. Michael talks about building a spider web or network to help advance change, highlighting how essential fostering social connections is for pushing for political change. Elizabeth also asks Michael about the ways he uses social media to get information out and get people in.
Side note: We are collecting examples of impacts of the podcast and we’d love to hear from you. Could you take two minutes to fill out this short questionnaire for feedback on the podcast.
Additional Resources:
- For a quick explanation on the logic of collective action and the tragedy of the commons, check the video Collective Action 101: What Are Large-Scale Collective Action Problems?
- For a more in-depth explanation of collective action, connective action and the comparison between the two, you can read the article that first discussed connective action by Bennett and Segerberg The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics
- Michael talks about some amazing projects he has worked on such as Our Care, the review of Manitoba's Child Welfare Legislation, and Meet me at the Bell Tower
- You can also read Michael's Health Services Should Care for us Auntie-Style [2MB] report
- Elizabeth and Michael talk about the social movements Black Lives Matter, Idle no More, Women's Memorial March
- You can learn more about our guest, read his blog, sign up for his newsletter, and buy his children's book We Need Everyone on his website Michael Redhead Champagne
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this episode Elizabeth chats with TikTok creator and researcher T.X. Watson about parasocial relationships and how this term created in the 1950s applies, or not, to digital content creators. T.X. talks about relationships between influencers and their followers and how both research and popular culture still don't have words to properly describe this new form of connection. They discuss important topics that show up throughout this season of Wonks and War Rooms, such as authenticity, ethics, co-creation and measuring influence.
Side note: We are collecting examples of impacts of the podcast and we’d love to hear from you. Could you take two minutes to fill out this short questionnaire for feedback on the podcast.
Additional Resources:
- Elizabeth and T.X. mention the 1950s research by Horton and Wohl that defined the concept of parasocial relationships. They explain the term in their article Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance
- Elizabeth talks about how some researchers are discussing the use of the term parasocial relationships to talk about influencers and proposing alternatives. One alternative is given by Lou in the article Social Media Influencers and Followers: Theorization of a Trans-Parasocial Relation and Explication of Its Implications for Influencer Advertising
- T.X. mentions Nancy Baym's book "Playing to the Crowd", but you can also check her out in conversation with Daniel Cavicchi and Norma Coates in this chapter on Music fandom in the digital age
- T.X. mentions the Vlogbrothers John and Hank Green that have been making social media content since 2006
- Find T.X. Watson on TikTok
- Check out past episodes mentioned in this one: News Influencers with Rachel Gilmore, Political Influencers with Nate Lubin, and Technological Affordances with Rachel Aiello
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this episode Elizabeth delves into the fascinating world of data and personalization with Hamish Marshall, former National Campaign Manager for the Conservative Party of Canada and seasoned expert at the crossroads of data and politics. They explore the evolution from the Two-Step Flow to the One-Step Flow of Communication, examining how data personalization and the changing media landscape have shifted the way information is disseminated in political campaigns. Hamish shares real-world insights into the practicalities and challenges of data-driven campaigning, touching on the nuances of voter targeting, the effectiveness of door-knocking, and the potential of personalized campaign strategies.
Additional Resources:
- Elizabeth relies on Bennett and Manheim’s article, The One-Step Flow of Communication, to outline the theory.
- To provide historical context, The Two-Step Flow of Communication by Katz is referenced.
- For further information on data-driven campaigning, consult Just what is data-driven campaigning? A systematic review by Dommet, Barclay, and Gibson.
- Hamish discusses the limitations of data targeting in political campaigns, referencing the varied effectiveness of these strategies in different jurisdictions due to privacy laws and data availability. For more information about data laws and availability, consult:
- Elections Canada’s collection of personal information and data privacy practices,
- This Reuters article on the use of data in political campaigns in US elections,
- This piece about the German government's support of banning the use of personal data in political campaigning, and
- The UK’s guidelines for the use of personal data in political campaigns.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this episode, Elizabeth chats with digital communication strategist and experienced political campaigner, Nate Lubin about social media content creators in politics. Nate draws on his experience with the Better Internet Initiative which helps influencers make educational content related to progressive issues as well as his past experience as Director of the Office of Digital Strategy at the White House and Director of Digital Marketing at Obama for America. They talk about what constitutes a political influencer, how content creators engage in politics, and different models of influencer engagement.
Additional Resources:
- Elizabeth relies on Brooke Erin Duffy’s article, Social Media Influencers to define the term.
- Check out the Better Internet Initiative, a program that Nate mentions throughout the episode.
- Elizabeth mentions Political influencers in Canadian election laws, as defined by Elections Canada in their interpretation note on partisan and election advertising on the internet.
- For more context on what “political speech” means in the American context, here is an article by de Gregorio and Goanta, which touches on how political speech is a constitutionally protected form of speech in the US.
- Nate mentions his Berkman Klein Centre’s Project, Accountability Infrastructure in Public Health.
- Throughout the episode Elizabeth and Nate talk about different models of engaging social media influencers in politics. Check out the article Social Media Influencers and the 2020 U.S. Election: Paying ‘Regular People’ for Digital Campaign Communication, for more from an American perspective.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this episode Elizabeth chats with journalist Rachel Gilmore about what counts as journalistic content and how to navigate the intersection of journalism and the social media influencer industry. Rachel is a freelance journalist who posts regularly on TikTok (@rachel_gilmore), Instagram (@r.gilmore), and X (@atRachelGilmore) having previously worked in organizations such as CTV and Global News.
Additional Resources:
- In this episode, Elizabeth and Rachel discuss the blurred boundaries between traditional media and new media platforms. Learn more about this from Phoebe Maares’ article: Exploring the boundaries of journalism: Instagram micro-bloggers in the twilight zone of lifestyle journalism.
- Rachel and Elizabeth discuss the decline in trust of journalists in the shift towards new marketing strategies. For more, consult Leonie Wunderlich’s article: Does Journalism Still Matter? The Role of Journalistic and non-Journalistic Sources in Young Peoples’ News Related Practices.
- Rachel mentions the role of journalists on TikTok and what new forms of journalism have appeared with the use of TikTok. To read further on those new forms and journalists’ roles, consult María-Cruz Negreira-Rey’s article: Blurring Boundaries Between Journalists and Tiktokers: Journalistic Role Performance on TikTok.
- Elizabeth and Rachel explore how news influencers challenge the traditional theoretical tensions between celebrity influence and opinion leadership. For more on opinion leadership, check out our previous episode: The Two-Step Flow Hypothesis with Nick Switzalski.
- Elizabeth mentions a previous Wonks and War Rooms episode on Journalism and online harassment with Rosemary Barton, Fatima Syed and Mark Blackburn. This episode was a special live recording in our Season 4 on Mis- and Dis-information.
- Find Rachel’s work on TikTok (@rachel_gilmore), Instagram (@r.gilmore), and X (@atRachelGilmore).
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
This week Elizabeth chats with Dave Sommer, Vice President of Strategic Communication at Enterprise Canada, former Head of Politics and Government at Instagram in Washington, D.C., and former Deputy Director of Communications, Digital, for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. They chat about the use of social media in political campaigning, where personal influence fits in, and how it has evolved over time.
Additional Resources:
- Elizabeth and Dave discuss how social media can be a tool to help connect with existing political audiences and potentially mobilize folks who are on your side. Learn more about this from Andrew Hugh’s book chapter, Weapons of Mass Consumption: Social and Digital Media in Political Campaigns.
- Elizabeth mentions that social media may be changing how campaigns leverage volunteers and online relationships. Bruce Bimber’s article, Digital Media in the Obama Campaigns: Adaptation to the Personalized Political Communication Environment, argues that Obama set a precedent for this type of engagement.
- Elizabeth notes that social media platforms are constantly evolving and she chats with Dave about how some are choosing to deprioritize political content. For more on how changes in platform structure can influence campaigning, see The Digital Architectures of Social Media.
- Elizabeth and Dave touch on the importance of authenticity in social media. For more on this, listen to our Season 1 episode on Authenticity with Kevin Parent.
- Dave talks about his experience developing the "I voted" stickers on Instagram in 2018 and Meta’s Voter Information Center in 2020.
- Dave references NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s use of TikTok in the last election. For more on this, see The Use of TikTok for Political Campaigning in Canada: The Case of Jagmeet Singh.
- Elizabeth brings up the idea that the candidate that you want to have a beer with may be the candidate you're more likely to vote for, to which Dave recalls the “beer summit” and that neither Trump nor Biden drink.
- Throughout the discussion, Dave is reminded of the famous quote: “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
This week Elizabeth chats with tech culture reporter and Washington Post columnist, Taylor Lorenz about influencers and the influencer industry. Taylor takes us from Ce-web-reties to influencers to content creators, telling us a bit about the history of folks who monetize their online presence. The two chat about the influencer industry beyond social media influencer marketing, the unique dynamics of political campaigning, smaller scale content creators as opinion leaders, and the ways in which having a perspective in the content you create meshes with expectations for authenticity and objectivity.
Additional Resources:
- Check out Taylor’s book Extremely Online : The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet.
- Elizabeth introduces a definition of influencer by Brooke Erin Duffy, you might also want to check out Brooke’s book: (Not) Getting Paid to Do What you Love.
- Elizabeth adds to that definition to talk about political influencers building from an article by Martin Riedl, Josephine Lukito and Samuel Woolley.
- Taylor mentions White House efforts to rely on influencers during the COVID-19 pandemic and Elizabeth mentions a similar strategy by the Quebec government.
- If you are interested in the influencer industry The Influencer Industry by Emily Hund and Internet Celebrity by Crystal Abidin are two great books to check out.
- Find Taylor on TikTok and YouTube.
Taylor Lorenz’s social media info:
- Instagram (@taylorlorenz)
- Facebook (Taylor P Lorenz)
- X (Formerly Twitter) (@TaylorLorenz)
- Threads (@taylorlorenz)
- Youtube (@TaylorLorenz)
- Tiktok (@taylorlorenz)
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Prepare for an intriguing journey in Season 6 of Wonks & War Rooms! Join Elizabeth Dubois as she unravels the dynamics of personal influence in politics, especially as it evolves with new technologies. In this episode Elizabeth talks about her experience working in politics and how it has pushed her to question what counts as personal influence and what roles technology plays in political communication.
She also gives a peak at what to expect this season.
New episodes drop Wednesday mornings.
Additional Resources:
- Elizabeth highlights how new technologies are integrated into campaign strategies.
- Elizabeth summarizes the two step flow hypothesis, published by Katz and Lazarsfeld in the 1950s. They hypothesized that most people rely on their social circle to help interpret and filter information.
- For more info, see our previous episode from Season 1: The Two-Step Flow and Opinion Leaders with Nick Switalski
- Elizabeth highlights key topics within personal influence, such as targeted communications using personal data and news influencers.
- Elizabeth links the one-step flow of communication to the influence of personalized messages based on data collection.
- Elizabeth highlights our new relationships with our media environment.
- Elizabeth gives an overview of persuasion and how it works, through methods such as reciprocation.
- Next, Elizabeth recalls a period of micro-targeting using massive amounts of personal data, before highlighting the use of social networks for peer-to-peer communications, like relational campaigning
- Finally, Elizabeth forecasts an uptake in synthetic content in future campaigning.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Get ready for Season 6 of Wonks & War Rooms! This season, we're looking at personal influence in politics and how it evolves as new technologies are integrated into campaign strategies.
Host Elizabeth Dubois will talk to journalists, campaigners, content creators, activists and more to discuss everything from opinion leaders to social media influencers to personalization and augmented analytics to generative AI and how all of those things impact the way personal influence plays out in politics.
As always, episodes will drop Wednesday mornings every week or two. Our first episode of the season is coming to your feed Wednesday, January 20th.
Also, to expand on last season's discussion about political uses of AI in Canada, we are launching a brand new report. You can sign up for our free virtual launch event on January 31st at noon Eastern Standard Time, where Laura Tribe and I will discuss the report and what it means for upcoming elections and campaigns
Get caught up on past episodes and find fully annotated transcripts in English and French at https://www.polcommtech.com/.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this final episode, our host Elizabeth reflects on the six episodes of Season 5, which dug into tech, politics, and policy with guests from the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard and Center for Information Technology and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. She recaps highlights of each episode, looks at what they had in common, and where we need to dig a little deeper.
Additional resources:
Here are direct links to this season’s episodes, including show notes and annotated transcripts:
- Episode 1: Knowledge Mobilization for Policy Impact with Petra Molnar
- Episode 2: Image Manipulation with Juliana Castro-Varón
- Episode 3: Meta Oversight Board with Julie Owono
- Episode 4: Big Tech and Political Campaigns with Becca Rinkevich
- Episode 5: The Uses of AI in Canadian Politics (Live Event)
- Episode 6: Antitrust and Big Tech with Matt Perault
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Matt Perault is the director of the Center on Technology Policy at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously worked at Facebook, as the head of the global policy development team. This episode he and Elizabeth get into the weeds on antitrust competition laws, monopolies and big tech. They talk about how monopolies can be both good and bad, the goals of antitrust laws, and the complication of these laws applying across different regions of the world. They also discuss some of the antitrust lawsuits in big tech right now, and the various stakeholders involved.
Additional resources:
- Off the top, Elizabeth mentions this crash course video about monopolies and anti-competitive markets.
- Matt uses a few terms related to the antitrust context:
- interoperability - the ability for users to use different devices or systems interchangeability, for example using the same cable to charge different types of cell phones
- nondiscrimination principle - an antitrust principle that obliges companies to be neutral vis-à-vis other competitors and service providers in their industry
- consumer welfare standard - a guideline that prohibits actions by companies that negatively impact consumers
- Matt brings up a number of antitrust cases throughout the episode:
- FTC suit to block a proposed merger between Meta and Within Unlimited
- UK looking into Microsoft bid to buy video game company Activision
- 16 U.S. states and territories filed a suit against Google over ad technology practices
- U.S. Justice Department filed a suit on the same issue at the federal level
- FTC looking at Amazon for monopolistic business practices
- Dispute between Apple and Epic Games
- House Judiciary Committee did a big a investigation of big tech companies
- There are also a few big pieces of antitrust legislation that come up.
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — Europe
- Competition Act — Canada
- Please visit our website for complete show notes with additional links.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
In this special episode Elizabeth is joined by our panel of experts — Samantha Bradshaw, Wendy Chun, Suzie Dunn, Fenwick McKelvey and Wendy H. Wong — for a roundtable discussion on how artificial intelligence is being deployed in Canadian political contexts. The topics range from mis- and disinformation, facial recognition, synthetic media, deep fakes and voice cloning to technical terms like GANs and large language models. We discuss the ways identities can be manipulated through AI, how generative AI creates content that dilutes our trust in images and media, and how AI relies on past data to make decisions about our future. We also look at potential solutions to all these challenges, including how to develop tools and techniques to detect disinformation, and questions around regulating AI while also enabling its use in creative expression.
This episode is packed with more resources than we can list below, so take a look through the annotated transcript for more links!
Additional resources:
- The discussion focuses a lot on synthetic media — deep fakes, voice cloning, generative AI — and how AI is used to create fake images, videos or sound bites of politicians, as well as fake historical or political events. Some increasingly popular tools include Midjourney, Dall-E, Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT.
- Suzie brings up the challenge of regulating these uses of AI. Take a look at her paper Identity Manipulation: Responding to Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
- Samantha talks about tools and techniques to detect AI-enabled dis-information, propaganda and manipulation. Take a look at this guide that she co-authored: Combating Information Manipulation: A Playbook for Elections and Beyond.
- Wendy C. outlines some of the challenges related to the underlying data on which AI relies and the flawed ways that AI systems make sense of that data. For a deep dive, take a look at her book Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition.
- Wendy W. asked the question: what does the public need to know to decide what kinds of automation or machine learning or AI we're comfortable with as a society? Here’s an op-ed she co-wrote for the Globe and Mail on this. And keep your eye out for her upcoming book: We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age.
- Fenwick points out that people have promised computers would disrupt politics since the 1960, and part of the work is understanding which challenges are actually new. Check out his book about the history of programs that run in the background of our computers: Internet Daemons - Digital Communications Possessed.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Get ready for a special live edition of Wonks and War Rooms! From deep fakes to detecting disinformation or harassment to voting predictions and sentiment analysis, AI-enabled technologies are playing an increasing role in democratic election processes. Join us on April 3 at 12 p.m. ET for a roundtable discussion on the use of artificial intelligence in politics. Our host Elizabeth Dubois, and a panel of experts in the fields of politics, public policy, and new technologies will help break down how artificial intelligence is being deployed in Canadian political contexts.
Find out more and register for this free event.
Guest panelists:
- Samantha Bradshaw (American University)
- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun (Simon Fraser University)
- Suzie Dunn (Dalhousie University)
- Fenwick McKelvey (Concordia University)
- Wendy H. Wong (UBC Okanagan)
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Becca Rinkevic is the Director of the Institute for Rebooting Social Media and formerly the Deputy Director of Digital Strategy at the White House under President Joe Biden. This week she and Elizabeth are tackling the role of big tech in election campaigns and political advertising. They talk about the involvement of representatives from social media companies in election advertising campaigns, the changes in these relationships before after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and what these relationships might look like in the future. They also talk about ways to report disinformation and harassment, guidelines around political advertising on social media, digital identities in the online environment, and the role of digital literacy.
Additional resources:
- Both Elizabeth and Becca mention Cambridge Analytica, a company that was hired by the Trump campaign in the run up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and subsequently found to have misused user data. A 2019 documentary, The Great Hack, was made about the events.
- Becca talks about the technique of social listening, a way of monitoring online information related to your brand to better understand what’s going on in that ecosystem.
- Becca mentions a Rebooting Social Media fellow—Elodie Vialle—who is developing an escalation channel for journalists to report harassment and attacks received on social media platforms. The project is still in the works, but keep your eye on the RSM website for further info.
- Elizabeth throws back to our last episode on the Meta Oversight Board with Julie Owono. Find it here.
- Becca mentions this political ad tracker created by Bully Pulpit Interactive, where she used to work as Director of Political Programs.
- Becca notes that both Facebook and Google have parameters around political advertising on their platforms. Find out more about Facebook policies here and Google policies here.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Julie Owono is the executive director of Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders) and a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. She is also an inaugural member of the Meta Oversight Board, an independent group of experts who review appeals of content moderation decisions on Facebook and Instagram, which is the topic of today’s episode.
Elizabeth and Julie talk about the background of the board and the appeals process, how cases are chosen, the possibilities and limits of what can be accomplished with content moderation, and the lesson Julie has learned in her time serving on the board. They also discuss what counts as content moderation and who gets to be involved in that process, the paradox of tolerance and where the line is drawn when it comes to limiting people’s freedoms of expression.
Additional resources:
- Off the top Elizabeth references two previous episodes that set the scene for this episode: Content Moderation with Andrew Straight and Regulating Big Tech with Taylor Owen.
- You can find the Meta Oversight Board website here, including a description of the appeals process, the decisions made to date, and board member bios.
- This 2022 article by David Wong and Luciano Floridi takes an academic look at the OB, assessing its strengths and weaknesses, and suggesting improvements.
- Julie explains some of the principles around how the board chooses which cases to review, and the Case Selection Committee that makes those decisions, which are documented in the Rulebook for Case Review and Policy Guidance.
- Julie mentions two specific cases: the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
- Elizabeth introduces Karl Popper’s Paradox of Intolerance, introduced in his 1945 book The Open Society and its Enemies. We relied on this 2015 paper by Brett G. Johnson, which applies tolerance theory to extreme speech and social media platforms.
- Julie mentions the implementation committee, and the tracking being done to capture how the OB’s recommendations are being operationalized. You can find out more in the Oversight Board’s Annual Report, Meta's Quarterly Reports and on the Meta's Transparency Centre page.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Juliana Castro-Varón is the founder of the digital open access publisher Cita Press, and a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. This episode she and Elizabeth discuss the historical examples of image manipulation, how photographic manipulations can mislead the public and the impact of images on our memories. They also talk about ways to spot fakes.
Additional resources
- Early in the episode Juliana mentions this article about Photoshop in The Verge about the history of this photo editing software.
- Juli talks about one of the very first known examples of image manipulation - a composite photograph of Abraham Lincoln’s head superimposed on someone else’s body. Here it is.
- Factcheck: In the episode Juliana incorrectly notes Abraham Lincoln’s year of death — the U.S. president was assassinated in April 1865. This date also precedes Thomas Hick’s photo composition of Lincoln, which is generally agreed to have been done after his death, rather than as part of an election campaign.
- Juliana tells us about the photographer, William Mumler, who made ghost images using the technique of double exposure. They also talk about his trial - he was arrested for fraud - and acquittal. This other article also takes a broader look at the history of ‘ghost photography.’
- Both Elizabeth and Juliana mention deep fakes and AI manipulation several times - this is a topic that will take a full episode sometime, but for now here’s a good introduction.
- Juliana references this article — Changing history: doctored photographs affect memory for past public events (Sacchi, Agnoli & Loftus, 2007) — about the impact of images on our memories, and Elizabeth noted there have been a number of studies in this area.
- Juliana notes that one of the concerns about AI-generated images is that they draw on currently existing archives of information, which tend to be dominated by western cultures. Here’s an interesting look at what happens because of this.
- Finally, Elizabeth asks what we can do about image manipulation, and Juli suggests that understanding the technologies and the techniques at play is the most useful strategy. Here’s a few tips and tools that help uncover manipulated images:
- Image Edited
- Tin Eye Reverse Image Search
- The hidden signs that can reveal a fake photo (BBC, 2017)
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Petra Molnar is a lawyer and anthropologist, and co-director of York University’s Refugee Law Lab. This episode she and Elizabeth talk about how researchers get their expertise into the hands of people who shape the world we live in, like policymakers, politicians and journalists. They talk about what it means to know something, as well as different approaches to sharing knowledge, like co-production and co-learning. They also consider the power imbalances of knowledge and how to make sure that knowledge is being shared equitably, and inclusively.
Additional resources:
- One of the academic papers we used to prepare for this episode is Paul Cairney and Kathryn Oliver’s (2020). How Should Academics Engage in Policymaking to Achieve Impact? Check it out here.
- Off the top, Elizabeth mentions SSHRC, which provides a bunch of information on knowledge mobilization (or KM) for researchers. Here’s what they say about effective KM.
- Elizabeth also talks about the idea of co-production and Petra further mentions co-learning. This cool graphic from Michelle Lokot’s paper on research in humanitarian settings, shows a number of components that could be part of co-production (FYI there isn’t just one way!)
- Petra mentions participatory action research. Find out more here.
- Elizabeth suggests that part of the work of knowledge mobilization is teaching people about knowledge itself, about how you know if knowledge is valid or if the evidence is reliable. If you want to know more, try this crash course on The Meaning of Knowledge.
- Petra mentions that she takes a “transgressive approach” in her work. Take a look at this short video to find out.
- Petra mentions that part of the work she does is related to the “de-centralization of knowledge.” What does that mean and why does it matter?
- Petra mentions the EU’s current drafting of legislation to regulate AI, and her related work technology and border issues. Here’s more on that.
- Petra mentions that she takes a trauma-informed perspective in her work. Take a look at this guide from Western University on Trauma- And Violence-Informed Research.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Get ready for Season 5 of Wonks & War Rooms! This season we’ll be diving into tech, politics, and policy. Host Elizabeth Dubois will talk to public policy managers, technologists & campaigners to discuss how technology policy is shaped, how technology is used in political campaigns, and what that means for political communication research and practice.
As always, episodes will drop on Wednesday mornings each week starting Wednesday, February 8. Mark your calendars!
Get caught up on past episodes and find fully annotated transcripts in English and French at https://www.polcommtech.com/.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Vinita Srivastava is the senior editor of culture and society for The Conversation Canada, and host of the podcast Don’t Call Me Resilient, as well as a research associate with the Global Journalism Innovation Lab. This episode, Vinita and Elizabeth chat about post-truth politics and the idea that how people feel about information is sometimes more influential than the actual facts. They discuss differences between the facts contained in a story versus the perspective of who is telling a story, as well as the question of which stories get told, who gets to decide that, and the idea of truth as a product of power.
Additional Resources
- Elizabeth notes that “post-truth” was Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2016. This Washington Post story explains why (and also gives a good overview of the term).
- Elizabeth mentions that a key feature of a post-truth world is that there are no longer “universally recognized arbiters or referees of fact.” This idea comes from David Roberts’ 2013 post on Grist. There is also general consensus that Roberts coined the term “post-truth politics” in this earlier post.
- For a more academic take, philosopher Lee McIntyre wrote a book called Post-Truth. Here’s a 2020 interview with him.
- Also, this article by Matt Carlson looks at how the concept of post-truth politics affects journalism specifically.
- Elizabeth brings up the concept of the “relativization of facts.” Learn more about that in this article by Sebastien Schindler.
- Vinita gives an example of how India’s press is being muzzled by its government. Reporters Without Borders generates an annual World Press Freedom Index to track where press freedoms are being violated and how. (India ranked 142 of 180 in 2020; Canada was 14th and the U.S. was 44th).
- Vinita brings up the old adage that journalism is “the first draft of history.” Here’s the backstory of that saying.
- Elizabeth talks about how emotion is a big part of mis and dis information. Check out this study that showed how anger contributes to the spread of misinformation. This was also something Claire Wardle talked about in her episode earlier this season on information disorder. Listen here.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Taylor Owen is a professor of public policy at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill university, and his research focuses mainly on tech regulation. This episode, he and Elizabeth define and categorize types of regulation. They discuss what tech regulation looks like, how lobbying impacts tech regulation, why regulation of tech is difficult, and the balance governments (both in Canada and internationally) must grapple with between regulation options and public good. This episode, recorded in January 2022, does not explore current legislation or the nitty gritty of the regulatory options. However, Elizabeth and Taylor provide the background for understanding what the options are and why regulation and self-regulation happen.
Additional Resources
- Elizabeth draws on this article to form her list of types of regulation
- Taylor mentions how many of these big tech companies are so many things, making them difficult to regulate. He uses the example of facebook launching a digital currency and Amazon launching health care services.
- Taylor and Elizabeth discuss Canada’s tech lobby. Here is an article (from former Wonks and War Rooms guest Megan Beretta) that further delves into how tech lobbying shapes federal policy.
- Elizabeth and Taylor address Canada’s online harms bill. This article gives an overview of the status of that bill. This page also gives an overview of the steps the government is taking to address online harms (including the creation of the advisory committee which Taylor was recently appointed to).
- Taylor mentions the EU’s Digital Service Act as a model that focuses on risk assessment. This article gives an overview of that legislation.
- Want to hear more from Taylor? Check out his podcast Big Tech.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
This episode is an audio version of a special live taping of Wonks and War Rooms, in partnership with uOttawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society, where Elizabeth is joined by a panel of journalists to tackle a tough topic: online harassment of journalists and what it means for our democracy.
Rosemary Barton is the Chief Political Correspondent for CBC News; Fatima Syed is a reporter for the Narwhal and host of Canadaland podcast The Backbench; and Mark Blackburn is the social media and online producer at APTN. Elizabeth and the panel look at different types of online negativity, the motivations behind harassment and attacks, and the impacts of weaponizing media. They also talk about different ways of managing online harassment, and how to balance their responsibilities as journalists with protecting themselves as individuals.
Additional Resources
- Off the top, Rosemary and Elizabeth mention the day of the live event was not exactly a slow news day. Here’s why.
- This topic brings a bunch of terms that get jumbled together: harassment, abuse, toxicity, negativity, incivility, hate speech, intolerance. This Public Policy Forum report provides a framework for thinking about harmful communication online.
- Fatima talks about “chilling effects” that online harassment can have on journalists. Here’s a report from earlier this year about these kinds of impacts, published by The Canadian Journalism Foundation and the Canadian Association of Journalists.
- Also, last fall IPSOS ran the first Canadian survey on online harassment against journalists and media professionals, which showed it is “prevalent and pervasive.” Here are the results.
- Rosemary and Elizabeth discuss trolling and how it has changed over time. This article by Silvio Waisbord looks at the specific impact trolls have on journalism.
- Rosemary mentions that the pandemic has been a turning point for journalism. This special issue of Digital Journalism has a collection of articles on all the ways that COVID-19 has impacted the work of journalists over the past few years.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Riyadh Nazerally is the Director of Communications for the Hon. Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, and is the former Director of Communications for Capital Pride in Ottawa. This week he and Elizabeth discuss the backfire effect and its three types: familiarity, overkill and worldview. They talk about how to understand and handle the backfire effect when it happens. Riyadh explains how comms and policy teams figure out how much information to send, who to send it to, and when.
Additional resources:
- Elizabeth uses this article from Lewandowsky and this article from Peter & Koch for academic definition of backfire effect
- Early in the episode Riyadh mentions the book Weapons of Math Disruption by Cathy O’Neil — here is a review that summarizes what it’s all about.
- Elizabeth also mentions last week’s rebroadcast episode about Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles with Adi Rao.
- The term “information overload” is used in this episode. Here is an interesting article with simple tips on how to deal with information overload.
- Riyadh discusses the benefits of use of infographics to make information more accessible. Linking to the theme of the season, however, this post shows how infographics can easily be used to spread misinformation.
- Riyadh leaves us with this useful tip for communication strategies: “Would your mother understand this and are you pissing off a stakeholder?”
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Adi, a lawyer and campaigner, explains how campaigns are often thinking about how they can crack into people's filter bubbles in order to raise awareness and find new supporters. During the conversation Elizabeth and Adi tease apart the difference between algorithmically driven filter bubbles and echo chambers which come about as a result of individuals choices in their media environment.
Additional Resources:
- Eli Pariser has a helpful Ted Talk about his notion of the Filter Bubble: Beware online “filter bubbles”.
- This academic article by Dubois (yes, your host) and Blank breaks down the theory of echo chambers and talks about how people's media diets might help them avoid echo chambers: The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media.
- This Knight Foundation report is a great, accessible, overview of academic research related to echo chambers: Avoiding the Echo Chamber about Echo Chambers.
- Early in the episode Elizabeth mentions homophily which is basically the idea of "birds of a feather flock together." The Wikipedia article on homophily is a great place to start.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Journalists Facing Mean Tweets: What It Means for Our Democracy - Join us Tuesday, March 22 at noon ET for a live virtual event! Register here.
In this special live recording of the podcast, Elizabeth will chat with Rosemary Barton, chief political correspondent for CBC, Fatima Syed, host of The Backbench podcast (Canadaland) and vice-president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, and Mark Blackburn, online producer for APTN.
They will talk about increasingly toxic online spaces and tackle tricky questions: What can we do to cultivate civic engagement between individuals and news media? What counts as incivility and who is a troll? How can we encourage broad civic engagement while discouraging harassment? How do we create safer environments for journalists?
Learn more here and don't forget to register early.
Sean Speer is the Editor-At-Large at The Hub, a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and previously served as Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He and Elizabeth chat about political polarization and dig into the different theories of polarization including elite polarization and mass polarization, as well as ideological versus affective polarization. They discuss the idea of politics as a left-to-right spectrum, polarization causing artificial divides, the rise of populism, and the idea that polarization can be used as a tool for meaningful progress.
Additional Resources
- Interested in learning more about political polarization from an academic perspective? This systematic review by Kubin & von Sikorski is a good place to start.
- Elizabeth mentions two past episodes of Wonks and War Rooms: this episode about issue ownership with Tiffany Gooch and this episode about the high-choice media environment with Jane Lytvynenko.
- Sean speaks about how Canadian campaign finance regimes might contribute to political polarization. This article gives a brief overview of how political parties are financed in Canada.
- Sean and Elizabeth spend some time discussing the link between populism and polarization. This video shows what the rise of modern populism is all about.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Shuvaloy Majumdar is the Foreign Policy Director and Munk Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and this week he and Elizabeth tackle propaganda, government communication and mis/disinformation. They discuss the blurry line between government messaging and propaganda, and what they can look like in authoritarian versus democratic regimes. Shuvaloy also speaks to his experiences of government communications as a former policy director to foreign ministers.
Additional Resources
- Elizabeth draws on this article by Aaron Hyzen for her definition of propaganda.
- Elizabeth mentions this episode from season one about the high choice media environment with Jane Lytvynenko
- In this episode, which was recorded in early February, Shuvloy uses examples of propaganda from the Russian government. This CBC article discusses some examples of how disinformation and propaganda are being used in the context of the current invasion of Ukraine.
- Elizabeth discusses the concept of computational propaganda towards the end of the episode. This article from Woolley and Howard tackles how political communication is impacted by algorithms and automation.
Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.
Claire Wardle is a professor at Brown University and the co-founder of First Draft, a non-profit that focuses on misinformation and the tools needed to fight it. She and Elizabeth chat about information disorder, a term Claire helped coin. The term helps us think about issues related to mis- and dis- information as bigger than being about fact or not. Claire explains how it is actually much more important to think about the information environments people find themselves in, how they might be different from other people’s information environments, and how things like emotion and sense of community come into play. They also talk about the idea of inoculation against mis- and dis-information.
Additional resources:
- Claire and her colleague Hossein Derakhshan coined the term ‘information disorder’ in this 2017 report where they break down different types, phases and elements of mis- and disinformation.
- The hypodermic needle theory also comes up, which is an early idea about how media messages affect audiences. This video primer explains what it is (and why it definitely isn’t accepted anymore).
- Claire reminds us that humans are hardwired “to be really bad at this stuff” and talks about the role that emotions play in spreading mis- and disinformation. Claire explains the connection in this First Draft video.
- This article by Linda Monsees looks more closely at the emotional reasons that people share mis/disinformation, and some of the weaknesses of relying only on media literacy as a solution.
- Elizabeth brings up the idea of inoculation theory as a promising way to deal with mis/disinformation, and Claire introduces the notion of pre-bunking. This First Draft guide explains what pre-bunking is and how it can help fight mis/disinformation.
- At the end of the show, Claire also brings up algorithmic amplification, which sometimes gets lost in the mix of conspiracy theories and ‘fake news’ – this CJR post includes examples and a bunch of resources to learn more.
To kick-off our season on mis- and dis- info we are rebroadcasting this great conversation with Nasma Ahmed who is the Director of the Digital Justice Lab. In this episode, recorded in 2019, Nasma helps Elizabeth unpack what exactly mis- and dis- information are, why we need to question content we see online, and how a lack of trust in larger political systems plays in.
Additional Resources:
- First Draft has a number of very useful resources. Find some key definitions in Wardel's Fake news: It's complicated and check out this three part series on The Psychology of Misinformation.
- Marwick and Lewis with Data & Society also have a helpful report: Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online.
This season of Wonks and War Rooms is going to focus on mis- and dis- information. We'll talk about information disorder, political polarization, post-truth politics, and more! Tune in to hear from political strategists, journalists, public policy folks, and academics.
Get caught up on past episodes and find fully annotated transcripts in English and French at https://www.polcommtech.com/.
This week Elizabeth wraps up season 3! This season was focused on Media and Digital Literacy, and Elizabeth runs through all the concepts we covered to help you gain a greater understanding of how these concepts are interrelated. Elizabeth also takes a look back at some concepts and episodes from previous seasons, and looks to the future for our next season on mis and dis-information.
Additional Resources:
- Remember Season 3, Episode 1 with Matthew from Media Smarts? This excellent resource from Media Smarts provides an overview of digital literacy fundamentals.
- Check out this report to understand more about the Digital Media Ecosystem.
- Elizabeth mentions this video on hybridity.
- Many of the theories discussed on the show are media effects theories. Check out this article that gives an overview of media effects theories.
- Curious about any of the other theories or episodes mentioned? You can find all Wonks and War Rooms episodes here.
Do you have guest ideas? Political communication theories you need explained? Any other feedback for the show? Make sure to reach out to @polcommtech on Twitter and Instagram or @lizdubois on Twitter.
Elizabeth chats with public policy expert Vass Bednar about surveillance capitalism. Taking a few Canadian examples, they talk about how tech companies collect and use data about their users, how privacy policy might be a red herring and how incentive structures in the tech industry contribute to the system of surveillance capitalism.
Additional Resources:
- Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is the key text. There are also a lot of summaries of the book in blog posts, podcasts, and videos. One of my favourite short reviews of the concept comes from the Fortune Magazine YouTube channel, found here.
- Check out Vass's newsletter, Regs to Riches - of particular interest to this conversation are her pieces on Laying down the Loblaw and Loblaw media.
- Vass also wrote a piece in the Globe and Mail: Loblaw’s points economy for private-health data follows Big Tech’s playbook.
- In the episode Vass mentioned a weather app - check out The Weather Network's description of their "precise location forecast" which includes information about user privacy.
- Vass also mentions that Facebook offers information about why you might see certain ads. Find out more here.
- Not sure what the bread memories of 2017 Elizabeth is talking about? Here’s the wiki.
- Also, wondering about GDPR? It’s Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which came into effect in May 2018. Find out more.
- Vass mentions the Shopify breakup with Mail Chimp, which happened in November 2019. Since this episode originally aired, the two have gotten back together.
This week Elizabeth chats about technological affordances with Rachel Aiello, an online politics producer for CTVNews.ca and a member of the parliamentary press gallery. They chat about how technology is changing how journalists report and how audiences receive information, from politicians on social media to journalists working from their phones. They also talk about technological determinism in order to highlight why it is important we think about affordances in the first place.
Additional Resources
Elizabeth uses this article by Butcher & Helmond and this article by Nagy & Neff to build her definitions of the different types of affordances she discusses in this episode.
Rachel discusses how phones have become a key tool for journalism, check out the Mobile Journalism Manual to learn more.
Elizabeth mentions Authenticity with Kevin Parent from Season 1, Episode 7.
Rachel and Elizabeth talk about the changes to the news cycle and how news is consumed. This study from Verizon shows how often people watch videos on mute.
Elizabeth also discusses technological determinism. Here is an overview of the theory.
Former content moderator and current director of the Ada Lovelace Institute, Andrew Strait and Elizabeth chat about what content moderation is, why it is always flawed, and how the way in which platforms are constructed impact the flow of content. They talk about a bunch of related issues including how to (and how not to) regulate tech companies in order to minimize harms.
Additional Resources
Andrew recommended two great books that look at content moderation and content moderators: Behind the Screen by Sarah T. Roberts and Custodians of the Internet by Tarleton Gillespie.
This interview with Sarah T. Roberts discusses the psychological impact of being a content moderator.
After the interview Andrew also mentioned the work of Daphne Keller and Robyn Caplan.
Andrew brings up the landmark “right to be forgotten” case from 2014.
The German regulation mentioned in this episode is NetzDG. Here is a primer written by academics Heidi Tworek and Paddy Leerssen in April 2019, just over a year after the regulation came into effect.
This episode Andrew mentions the idea of affordances. To learn more about this concept make sure to come back for next week’s episode where we will explore technological affordances!
Tim Fontaine is a former journalist who founded the satirical news website Walking Eagle News. He and Elizabeth chat about the role of political satire in peoples’ information diets. Political satire can provide an audience with a different perspective, help people understand the dominant narratives, and highlight gaps in dominant discourses. Elizabeth and Tim cover everything from the role of political satire, to critiques of political satire, to the difference between political satire and “fake news”.
Additional Resources
Elizabeth uses this article from Hill to inform her definition of political satire.
Tim uses Canadian Press Style at Walking Eagle News, check out this overview of the style guide to understand what that means.
Tim mentions multiple examples and headlines from Walking Eagle News. Here is “man filmed murdering man found guilty” and here is the article “there is only race, the human race”.
To see a little more about the difference between satire and fake news check out this short interview.
Tim notes the importance of media literacy. To learn more about becoming media literate check out our episode on Critical Digital Literacy with Matthew Johnson.
Erin Gee is a policymaker, specialist in gender-based analysis, and Co-Founder of the Bad + Bitchy Podcast, and this week she discusses safe spaces with Elizabeth. Safe Spaces are online or physical spaces where historically marginalized groups might connect, share information and ideas, and mobilize. How does the idea of safe spaces connect to media and digital literacy? We consume information in social contexts, safe spaces can be one of those contexts. Erin and Elizabeth cover types of safe spaces, critiques of safe spaces, free speech, equity, and intersectionality.
Additional Resources
Elizabeth draws on this article from Rosemary Clark-Parsons and this article from Anna Gibson for her academic definition of safe space.
Erin uses LGBTQ spaces on campuses as an example of a safe space. This opinion article shows the importance of these kinds of spaces on campus, and the impact on students who lost them during the pandemic.
Erin and Elizabeth discuss the tension between safe spaces and free speech, this article demonstrates the type of arguments that may be used against safe spaces.
Erin uses this graphic about equity to highlight her point about privilege and free speech.
This week Elizabeth chats with Jen Gerson, a freelance journalist and co-founder of The Line, about selective avoidance. Whether it be blocking someone on Twitter, unfriending someone on Facebook, or just carefully choosing from which sources we get our news, selective avoidance is an everyday occurrence. They discuss topics like the role of emotion in selective avoidance, fragmented media environments, political polarization, and hyper engagement.
Additional Resources:
Elizabeth uses this article by Parmalee and colleagues to help define selective avoidance.
Check out this article to learn more about the role of emotions can play in selective avoidance.
Elizabeth mentions this previous episode about the High-Choice Media Environment with Jane Lytvynenko.
Murad Hemmadi is a reporter for The Logic and this week he talks to Elizabeth about political information repertoires. From party campaign material to policy discussions to political memes, political information repertoires can be a mix of a lot of different things. They chat about what makes up a persons’ repertoire, the idea of Slacktivism, the lack of ‘backstory’ in the news, and Jagmeet Singh’s TikTok.
Additional Resources:
Elizabeth draws on this article by Wolfsfeld et al. to define political information repertoires.
Elizabeth uses The Conversation Canada as an example to show how some outlets are trying to communicate better with the public.
Murad and Elizabeth discuss whether they agree with this article by Oh et al. that finds high amounts of political information may actually overwhelm and negatively impact people.
Elizabeth mentions the Reuters Digital News Report which breaks down how news is being consumed across a range of countries.
If you liked this episode be sure to check out our episode on Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles with Adi Rao and The High-Choice Media Environment with Jane Lytvynenko.
**A quick note that in this episode Murad uses “repository” synonymously with “repertoires,” repertoires is the correct term.
Want even more? Be sure to check out www.polcommtech.ca.
Matthew Johnson is the Director of Education for MediaSmarts, and he chats with Elizabeth about critical digital literacy. From house hippos to authenticating information online, Elizabeth and Matthew discuss functional and critical aspects of media and digital literacy. They talk about the skills required to use digital and media tools, and the “key concept approach” to digital literacy, and digital literacy in the context of democratic systems.
Additional Resources:
Check out Media Smarts’ overview of digital literacy fundamentals here.
Matthew also discusses the 5 key concepts for Media Literacy which can be found on this page.
This article written by Gianfranco Polizzi addresses the importance of critical digital literacy for democracy.
Matthew refers to the Break the Fake campaign which teaches us how to tell what information is true online. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to reminisce over the House Hippo.
This season we are doing things a little bit differently. We are going to spend this season looking at media and digital literacy and a bunch of political communication theories that are related.
Next week we kick things off with a run down of what exactly media and digital literacy are. Then we will go week by week talking about things like political information repertoires, selective avoidance, political satire, safe spaces and more. Elizabeth will be chatting with journalists, political campaigners, and folks working in non-profits.
Learn more about the podcast and Elizabeth's research team at www.polcommtech.ca
Follow Elizabeth on Twitter @lizdubois or find the lab on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn @polcommtech.
This season is funded in part by a Connections Grant from SSHRC and the Digital Citizen Initiative.
Mini-episode coming at you. Elizabeth closes out season 2 with an update on plans for next season and a request to you listeners!
While we are away you can follow Elizabeth's work on Twitter @lizdubois
Check out the Pol Comm Tech Lab website: www.polcommtech.ca
Sherry Aske, former CBC multimedia journalist, and Elizabeth chat about the fourth estate and the networked fourth estate. They dive into the origins of theories and the range of information producers that make up the networked fourth estate. Sherry and Elizabeth also reflect on the power dynamics at play between actors in the networked fourth estate and what that means for who gets heard in the current media environment.
Additional ResourcesThis open-access academic journal article by Yochai Benkler (2011) introduces the concept of the networked fourth estate.
Wikipedia provides a good sketch of the notion of the estates of the realm which is where the idea of the fourth estate comes from.
Elizabeth notes that Anonymous and WikiLeaks are groups connected to the networked fourth estate. Here is a recent summary of Anonymous's recent activities. Benkler discusses the role of WikiLeaks in the networked fourth estate in the journal article above.
Elizabeth also mentions previous episodes of the podcast on the high-choice media environment and assemblages.
Sherry references the Edelman Trust Barometer's gauge of the public's trust in news media.
Shaaz is a Digital Advisor and Director of Digital Transformation for Microsoft and he chats with Elizabeth about what exactly is digital transformation. They go from academic definition, to business buzz words, to practical applications. Shaaz explains why he puts humanity at the centre of digital transformation and why he always wants to focus on "why" (rather than just what fancy new tech can we use).
Additional Resources
Elizabeth uses this academic journal article by Gregory Vial (2019) to define digital transformation.
Tip: You can get access to some articles for free by looking for things like "Open Access" or "Download for Free" - in this case you find the free version by clicking the "View Open Manuscript" link at the top-centre of the page. When academic journals don't have a free version on their main website sometimes the authors upload a pre-print version somewhere else so you can also try your favourite search engine.
Elizabeth mentions the Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Curve. Here is an example of the curve which is found in this blog post (the blog post focuses on IOTA/cryptocurrency, but the theory is applied much more broadly). Here is a YouTube video that explains the theory in the context of marketing.
Etienne Rainville of The Boys in Short Pants podcast, former Hill staffer, and government relations expert chats with Elizabeth about liquid modernity. They chat about how the fast-paced nature of politics, how political actors learn about the issues, and the role of Twitter in Canadian politics and policy making.
Additional Resources
Chapter 4 in the book Political Communication and Social Theory by Davis is a great place to start to understand liquid politics.
Etienne also mentions Policy Options, Canada2020, Canada Strong and Free Network and Parliamentary Committees in this episode.
Co-founder of CivicTechTO and self-declared certified nerd, Anowa Quarcoo chats with Elizabeth about the idea of citizenship. They talk about legal and cultural definitions of citizenship before jumping into a discussion of what counts as a citizen in a digital era. From civic leaders, to publics, to users, to citizens - they talk about how some terms can be empowering while others can be exclusionary. Key take-away? Context matters. You need to ask why you are trying to define a group with this kind of term and pick accordingly.
Additional Resources
There are a lot of definitions of citizenship out there. Elizabeth summarizes legal and cultural definitions quickly in the episode, drawing on what she and Florian Martin-Bariteau wrote in their Introduction to the Citizenship in a Connected Canada book (available open access!).
Check out CivicTechTO, one of North America's largest civic hacking communities.
Mor is a self-described data geek, she chats with Elizabeth about what open data actually is, how it can be used, and why it isn't always the perfect fix (but still helpful) for increasing government transparency and accountability. Hear about examples from government and philanthropy in Canada, Israel, and the UK.
Additional Resources
Two useful websites for defining open data are: open.canada.ca and opendefinition.org.
In the episode, Mor mentions a McKinsey report that discusses the potential economic value of open data.
The episode also includes lots of examples of open data and its users. Check out:
1) GTFS (that thing that helps you catch your buses!)
2) City of Ottawa’s open portal
3) 360Giving, an organization that uses open data to improve charitable giving.
4) IATI, International Aid Transparency Initiative and their standard
Mor also mentions an episode of another podcast called Wind of Change which used freedom of information requests to learn about the CIA's possible role in writing the song Wind of Change. Note, in the episode Mor says FBI but she meant CIA.
Last but not least, if you're interested in Digital Government don’t forget to check out Wonks and War Rooms Season 2, Episode 3.
Megan Beretta is a public servant who is dedicated to digital government. She and Elizabeth chat about the evolution from e-government to digital government, where we find digital gov efforts in Canada (also, who can actually get stuff done), and opportunities for increased accessibility.
Additional Resources
We've mentioned the Citizenship in a Connected Canada book before - it is the one Elizabeth co-edited. It is available open access (that means free!). There are three relevant chapters for today's episode! Links below are to SSRN which is a repository for pre-prints, you can also download or order the full book here.
Ch. 4: Elizabeth mentions a model of e-government and transition to digital government in the episode. You can find a good breakdown of that model in the Canadian context in Kent Aitken's chapter: Government in the Connected Era.
Ch. 5: Megan mentions Amanda Clarke's work (which is vast) but you can find an accessible overview of some key points in her chapter: Data Governance, The Next Frontier of Digital Government Research and Practice.
Ch. 7: While you're at it, check out Megan's own chapter: Influencing the Internet, Lobbyists and Interest Groups’ Impact on Digital Rights in Canada.
For more information on how digital government works at the federal level in Canada you can check out the government website and the Minister for Digital Government's mandate letter.
Vass Bednar is a public policy expert who chats with Elizabeth about the idea of surveillance capitalism. Talking about a few Canadian examples, they talk about how tech companies collect and use data from their users, how privacy policy might be a red herring and how incentive structures in the tech industry contribute to the system of surveillance capitalism.
Additional Resources:
Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is the key text. There are also a lot of summaries of the book in blog posts, podcasts, and videos. One of my favourite short reviews of the concept comes from the Fortune Magazine YouTube channel, found here.
Check out Vass's newsletter, Regs to Riches - of particular interest to this conversation are her pieces on Laying down the Loblaw and Loblaw media.
Vass also wrote a piece in the Globe and Mail: Loblaw’s points economy for private-health data follows Big Tech’s playbook.
In the episode Vass mentioned a weather app - check out The Weather Network's description of their "precise location forecast" which includes information about user privacy.
Alexander Dirksen, a proud member of Métis Nation BC, researcher and strategist chats with Elizabeth about what it means to decolonize digital spaces and why it is so crucial to re-centre conversations about tech development through the lens of decolonization.
Additional Resources
- Decolonizing Digital Space (Chapter 1) - this is the chapter written by Alexander Dirksen that is mentioned throughout this episode. The Citizenship in a Connected Canada book is available open access which means anyone can read it for free!
- In the episode Alexander mentions nation-to-nation relationships. You can learn more about it in this speech: Realizing a Nation-to-Nation Relationship with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada (Wilson-Raybould).
- Turtle Island is used in this work to refer to the unceded territories of Indigenous Nations that transcend colonial borders.
- Decolonizing Digital: The Future is Indigenous from Animikii, an Indigenous-led tech firm. You can also find their podcast by following the link!
- Digital privacy law is being updated for the first time in decades, and it's imperative we get it right by Vass Bendar and Mark Surman provide relevant additional context about federal policy in this opinion piece.
- From the People is an online, Indigenous-led marketplace for Indigenous peoples that was established in response to the pandemic.
- MIT’s Indigenous Digital Delegation is an incredible convening of Indigenous leaders to discuss the digital age.
Elizabeth here with a quick update on what you can expect from Season Two of Wonks and War Rooms. The first full episode will drop Wednesday, February 17!
That's it for season 1 - thank you so much for joining us! Season 2 will kick off in January. Until then, you can head over to polcommtech.ca to join our mailing list or follow Elizabeth on Twitter @lizdubois.
Former content moderator, Andrew Strait, and Elizabeth chat about what content moderation is, why it is always flawed, and how the way platforms are constructed impact the flow of content. They talk about a bunch of related issues including how to (and how not to) regulate tech companies in order to minimize harms.
Additional Resources
- Andrew recommended two great books that look at content moderation and content moderators: Behind the Screen by Sarah T. Roberts and Custodians of the Internet by Tarleton Gillespie.
- After the interview Andrew also mentioned the work of Daphne Keller and Robyn Caplan.
- The German regulation mentioned in this episode is NetzDG. Here is a primer written by academics Heidi Tworek and Paddy Leerssen in April 2019, just over a year after the regulation came into effect.
- Andrew quickly mentioned "safe harbor" (in the US you might hear "Section 230"). Here is a brief explainer from Reuters.
Tiffany Gooch, Principal at Aurora Strategy and activist, chats with Elizabeth about issue ownership (which, it turns out, is NOT issue management). Issue ownership is this idea that certain political parties will be perceived to be particularly credible or effective on certain issues and they can develop comms strategy based on it. But pandemics change things.
Additional Resources:A great place to start is the academic article byBélanger and Meguid: Issue salience, issue ownership, and issue-based vote choice.
Kate Harrison (VP at Summa Strategies) and Elizabeth chat about the permanent campaign, and how political parties and politicians change their communication strategies over time. With so much information out there, politicians have to be communicating with potential voters even outside official election times.
Additional resources:
In a Policy Options piece, Esselment reviews the Canadian context:Canada’s embrace of the permanent campaign
Vasko and Trilling have a useful academic article on the topic: A permanent campaign? Tweeting differences among members of Congress between campaign and routine periods.
Nasma Ahmed is the Director of the Digital Justice Lab and she helps Elizabeth unpack what exactly mis- and dis- information are, why we need to question content we see online, and how a lack of trust in larger political systems plays in.
Additional Resources:First Draft has a number of very useful resources. Find some key definitions in Wardel'sFake news: It's complicated and check out this three part series onThe Psychology of Misinformation.
Marwick and Lewis with Data & Society also have a helpful report: Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online.
Kevin Parent runs Ottawa Public Health's social media accounts. He and Elizabeth talk about how important authenticity is for communicating health information to the public, especially in a pandemic. Also, humour. Seriously, @OttawaHealth is hilarious on Twitter.
Additional Resources
This academic article byGaden and Dumitrica reviews the idea of authenticity: The 'real deal': Strategic authenticity, politics and social media.Check out Ottawa Public Health's COVID Wise website.
P.S. #Vaccineswork
Adi, a lawyer and campaigner, explains how campaigns are often thinking about how they can crack into people's filter bubbles in order to raise awareness and find new supporters. During the conversation Elizabeth and Adi tease apart the difference between algorithmically driven filter bubbles and echo chambers which come about as a result of individuals choices in their media environment.
Additional Resources:
- Eli Pariser has a helpful Ted Talk about his notion of the Filter Bubble: Beware online “filter bubbles”.
- This academic article by Dubois (yes, your host) and Blank breaks down the theory of echo chambers and talks about how people's media diets might help them avoid echo chambers: The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media.
- This Knight Foundation report is a great, accessible, overview of academic research related to echo chambers: Avoiding the Echo Chamber about Echo Chambers.
- Early in the episode Elizabeth mentions homophily which is basically the idea of "birds of a feather flock together." The Wikipedia article on homophily is a great place to start.
David Coletto, pollster and CEO of Abacus Data, chats with Elizabeth about what public opinion polling is, how publics are identified, and why what "the public" thinks is politically useful. They also talk about how social media (and all the data we leave behind as we use them) are changing how we can get to know different publics. David takes a quiz to differentiate between networked publics and calculated publics (spoiler: he passes!).
Additional Resources:
In the academic journal article: Social media analysis and public opinion: The 2010 UK general election, Anstead and O'Loughlin do a great job of explaining how ideas about public opinion and how it is measured have changed over time.
Kennedy and Moss also explore the idea of publics in their academic journal article: Known or knowing publics? Social media data mining and the question of public agency. They do a great job of connecting their work to the ideas of networked and calculated publics.
Dubois (yep, your host), Gruzd and Jacobson consider how social media data can be used to infer public opinion in this Policy Options article: Journalists should be careful when using social media posts to report what the public thinks, and should tell readers how the data was collected
Nick is a long-time campaigner and former Hill staffer. He and Elizabeth talk about opinion leaders and the two step flow hypothesis. In theory these opinion leaders use social pressure and social support to influence their friends and family but Nick argues that kind of influence just isn't that useful in most federal campaigns.
Additional Resources:
- Academic journal article by Katz (he and Lazarsfeld first developed the idea): Two-Step Flow of Communication: An Up-to-Date Report on an Hypothesis. The article is from 1957, so it was up-to-date at some point.
- Academic journal article by Dubois (yes, as in host Elizabeth Dubois) and Gaffney: The Multiple Facets of Influence: Identifying Political Influentials and Opinion Leaders on Twitter. Pages 1261-1264 are especially relevant. They distinguish between so-called "influentials," popular accounts, and others online who are some times called opinion leaders and those people who are more locally influential which, they say, is closer to what Katz and Lazarsfeld described as an opinion leader.
- Academic journal article by Bennett and Manheim: The One-Step Flow of Communication. In the episode Elizabeth mentions the theory developed here.
Elizabeth chats with journalist Fatima Syed about gatekeeping theory. Gatekeepers control the flow of information but Fatima isn't sure if there really are gatekeepers in a digital media ecosystem. The traditional role of news media assumes journalistic ethics will guide gatekeeping decisions but that doesn't apply to social media companies which are also important information controllers. In the end, it seems like gatekeeping theory still makes sense but the idea of who can be a gatekeeper is definitely a lot broader than it used to be.
Additional resources:
Wikipedia article on gatekeeping theory (remember to follow links to original sources!)
Academic article on networked gatekeeping by Barzilai‐Nahon: Toward a theory of network gatekeeping: A framework for exploring information control.
Elizabeth chats with lawyer Naomi Sayers about Assemblages. From @IndigiBot to bad date reporting to corporate complaint hierarchies, they've got lots of examples of Assemblages. They show how thinking about the system of people, organizations, tools, technology, and the relationships between each can be pretty useful.
Additional resources:
- This academic article by Chadwick: The political information cycle in a hybrid news system: The British prime minister and the “Bullygate” affair
- The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power, tumblr site
- The Wikipedia article on Assemblages Theory is a start. Follow the references.
Welcome to Wonks and War Rooms, where political communication theory meets on the ground strategy. Each episode Professor Elizabeth Dubois introduces use to a political communication theory and then chats with a with political staffers, journalists, comms experts, lobbyists, activists and other political actors. They talk through examples our in the applied world of politics and communication to illustrate just how ridiculous (or super helpful) that theory actually is.
Elizabeth Dubois (PhD, University of Oxford) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa. Her work examines political uses of digital media including media manipulation, citizen engagement, and political opinion development.
Elizabeth chats with Buzzfeed disinformation reporter Jane Lytvynenko about the high-choice media environment. In a tweet, Jane tells us the theory is basically information capitalism. They dig into the idea of having lots of choices both about the supply and demand for political information. From audience fragmentation to crisis communication, we question what the theory has to say about the way people access and share political information and news.
Additional resources:
Academic article by Van Aelst and colleagues: Political communication in a high-choice media environment: a challenge for democracy?.