Category: Politics

Critical data modeling and the basic representation model – Annotation & Notes

Chart showing Race disparities in US criminal justice system, late 2010s

Data models are foundational to information processing, and in the digital world they stand in for the real world. When machines are used to make algorithmically-informed decisions, their algorithms are informed by the data models they use. And the data structured by data models is numerical of necessity, since machines must perform logical operations, and not creative interpretations. It follows that data used in machine operations are machine-language translations of real-world phenomena, expressed in a data model designed for efficient processing. It should not be surprising then that as information systems increasingly make decisions that affect people and communities, their operations are in a very direct sense an extension of the messy human world. This has resulted in information systems that reflect human racism, sexism, and many otherisms, with real-world harm to individuals and communities. But given the black-box nature of “machine learning” algorithms, how do we know what happens inside the black box? How can we document machine bias so as to design algorithms that don’t perpetuate social harms?

Information and Communication Technology and Society – Annotation & Notes

In this article Fuchs introduces “Critical Internet Theory” as a foundation for analyzing the Internet and society based on a Marxian critique. He illustrates Critical Internet Theory (hereinafter CIT for brevity) using the emergence of the so-called Web 2.0 as an Internet gift commodity strategy, wherein users produce content on free platforms, which commodify the content to increase their advertising revenues. Fuchs introduces the concept of the “Internet prosumer commodity” to describe this “free” exchange of labor and value. This strategy, he writes, “functions as a legitimizing ideology.”

Project Report: Political Propaganda & Social Media

All seeing eye illustration

In 2019 Ellen Lechman and I embarked on a research project to begin assessing the use of social media to spread propaganda in nations other than the United States. With this focus in mind, we conducted a literature review of recent research on propagandistic interventions occurring in Asian and European nations. We surveyed available academic and other institutional publications, and produced an annotated bibliography detailing a baker's dozen of sources we deemed most relevant.

News, Trust, and Social Media: Signals from a 2016 Echelon Insights Poll

Computer keyboard showing icons for Facebook and Messinger

There's nothing surprising in the results of a 2016 study conducted for Buzzfeed by Echelon Insights and Hart Research. It shows that the majority of Americans who were likely voters in 2016 were under the age of 50, and that about half of them share news links on social media every week. But the results of this study conform with a growing body of other research that shows a massive shift in how people discover news, and how trust works in a media system increasingly dominated by social media platforms. 

Annotation – A Bundle of Open Source Resources for Social Media Data Mining and Analysis

command line graphic of hand tools

We've reached the final annotation in our series on "Social Media Data Collection, Processing, and Use in Research, Marketing, and Political Communication." Toward the end of the project my research drifted from traditional academic sources to investigative journalism. We now veer further off-track into blog posts and GitHub repos. Some videos and a course syllabus on Data Science for Social Systems. Tools, documentation, and related sources that don't fit neatly into any particular box. This isn't so much an annotation as a grab bag of annotated links. I apologize in advance.

Annotation – Cambridge Analytica: Undercover Secrets of Trump’s Data Firm

Cambridge Analytica staff saying it's no good winning an election on the facts

In the third and final part of their undercover investigation, Channel 4 News captures chief executives from Cambridge Analytica explaining how the firm used social media analytics to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election for Donald Trump. After this report was aired in March, Cambridge Analytica executives denied using social media analytics to win the election for Donald Trump. In earlier parts of this report, they claim to always tell the truth, while adding that actually people may not know or care what's true and what isn't. Anyway if people were misled it's not their fault. Also, these are not the 'driods you're looking for.

Annotation – Cambridge Analytica Uncovered: Secret filming reveals election tricks

Screenshot of video Cambridge Analytica Uncovered

The Cambridge Analytica story is what inspired me to pursue research on the details and methods of data processing that form the technical basis of using social media metadata for psychographic purposes, and the role of programming in accessing, collecting, processing, and using social media data, and the specific tools and workflow that enable this work. But I believe we can't fully understand the technical story without the political and social context. Technology isn't neutral, and our values are embedded in every tool we build.

London's Channel 4 News discovered the values held by senior executives of Cambridge Analytica, as they detail in part two of their investigative report.

Annotation – Channel 4 News Report – Cambridge Analytica: Whistleblower reveals data grab of 50 million Facebook profiles

So far in this project I've been annotating traditional academic sources. These sources explore methods of machine learning, Natural Language Processing, sentiment analysis, and the tools used to mine social media for research purposes. But the literature hasn't kept pace with the news, and social media data is being used for things other than academic research. Like maybe stealing elections. Here begins a series of three annotations of investigative reports by London's Channel 4 News. These are video stories about Cambridge Analytica and its methods and role in political campaigns in the U.S., Africa, Europe and beyond. These are of course non-traditional annotations. But I consider the source credible, and given the subject important to include.

Annotation – Technology Firms Shape Political Communication: The Work of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Google With Campaigns During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Cycle

megaphone shouting social media icons

If you ran digital strategy for a presidential campaign, and Facebook came knocking on your door and said "We want to help you win this election," would you turn them down? There's nothing like a little help from the mothership.

Annotation: A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization

Sign saying spread the vote

Finally, a break from annotating technical stuff. Don't get me wrong I like it but...here's where it hits the road: Changes in voting behavior. Here we have a study published in 2012 in Nature on a randomized controlled study of changes in users voting behavior after seeing different versions of messages on Facebook. You want to read this one.