In: Colombo , G & De Gaetano , C 2020 , Dutch political Instagram : Junk news, follower ecologies and artificial amplification . in R Rogers & S Niederer (eds) , The Politics of Social Media Manipulation . Amsterdam University Press , Amsterdam , pp. 147-168 . https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1b0fvs5.7
The research examines junk news, followers of problematic sources as well as artificial amplification on Instagram during the 2019 Dutch provincial and European parliamentary elections. First, this study looks at the circulation of junk content in high-engagement political spaces on Instagram. Second, it takes up the question of the mainstreaming of Dutch junk news providers by looking at the intersection between the followers of Dutch political entities and those of junk news sources. Third, it looks at the presence of artificial engagement tactics (specifically fake followers) employed by Dutch political entities and news sources on Instagram. In all it was found that Dutch political Instagram is a relatively healthy space, but not for all issues or political entities.
The research examines junk news, followers of problematic sources as well as artificial amplification on Instagram during the 2019 Dutch provincial and European parliamentary elections. First, this study looks at the circulation of junk content in high-engagement political spaces on Instagram. Second, it takes up the question of the mainstreaming of Dutch junk news providers by looking at the intersection between the followers of Dutch political entities and those of junk news sources. Third, it looks at the presence of artificial engagement tactics (specifically fake followers) employed by Dutch political entities and news sources on Instagram. In all it was found that Dutch political Instagram is a relatively healthy space, but not for all issues or political entities.
Digital platform research often focuses on a 'snap- shot' in time, such as around a critical political event. It is less common, and more challenging due to data restrictions, to look at changes over longer periods of time. In this project, we started to address this gap, investigating how Google's visual vernacular of cli- mate change has or has not changed using images date-stamped between 2008 and 2019.
In the modern 'data society', designers play a key role in the creation of artefacts that mediate our access to data and information. These artefacts include data visualisations and interfaces. Within this context, there is a growing risk of design educators training professionals who are indifferent to, or unaware of, the political power of the devices they contribute to creating. In this paper, we draw on our experiences in the DensityDesign course to identify and formalise a didactical approach providing students with opportunities to critically reflect on their work while gaining the technical skills they need as information designers. The paper describes the course's historical evolution, its didactical goals and its current structure. It then provides an overview of the didactical approach identifying practices that other design instructors can reproduce, entirely or partially, at three different levels: through the methodological framework, the situational tactics, and the research artefacts students produce throughout the course. Finally, a critical discussion evaluating the limits and risks of the proposed approach is provided based on our didactical experiences.
Many of the papers and more-than-textual proposals submitted for this special issue included machine vision technologies and other data- and AI- mediated practices. To provide a critical perspective on data-driven (design) research, we decided to explore the emerging field of data feminism through online interviews with three scholars and practitioners who apply intersectional feminist theory and practice to the realm of data-driven work: Catherine D'Ignazio, Lauren Klein, and Maya Livio. With Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein, authors of the book Data Feminism (2020), we touch upon the idea of data feminism as a way of thinking about (and acting upon) data and data science, informed by intersectional feminist thinking. From examining and challenging power structures in the data collection process to embracing pluralism beyond binaries and hierarchies, they outline a research program that clarifies why and how data science needs intersectional feminism. With them, we discuss how art and (speculative) design practices can make power imbalances visible. We also discuss the limitations and advantages of participatory data practices and the responsibility that lies upon data collectors when making visible an issue through data can cause more harm than good to those affected by it. We discuss how sometimes one needs to reject ground rules of data visualization to pursue higher political goals beyond simple analytical needs. We conclude this conversation with an invitation to embrace complexity when applying feminist principles to data work, while being aware of our personal standpoints and limitations. With Maya Livio, researcher and curator at the University of Colorado Boulder, we discuss how an intersectional feminist approach to data science can also consider more-than-human beings. We talk about her work on animal interfaces, in which she explores how the contact points between the human and more-than-human worlds are permeated with technology. Maya Livio then takes us through her experiences in feminist labs, explaining how the first step of incorporating a feminist practice is to take stock of and codify the work being done, cultivating attention towards (often unspoken or unwritten) methods and practices. We also discuss how she and her colleagues developed a framework for operationalizing the art of noticing as a methodological contribution. Finally, we touch upon her personal research approach, characterized by a mix of experimental multidisciplinary practices, moving from writing to curating to design and art-making. ; Muchos de los artículos y las propuestas más-que-textuales que se presentaron para este número especial incluían tecnologías de visión artificial y otras prácticas mediadas por datos e inteligencia artificial (IA). Con el propósito de ofrecer una perspectiva crítica sobre la investigación (de diseño) basada en datos, decidimos explorar el campo emergente del feminismo de datos a través de entrevistas en línea con tres académicas y profesionales que aplican la teoría y la práctica feminista interseccional al trabajo basado en datos: Catherine D'Ignazio, Lauren Klein y Maya Livio. Con Catherine D'Ignazio y Lauren Klein, autoras del libro Data Feminism (2020), abordamos la idea del feminismo de datos como una manera de pensar (y actuar) sobre los datos y la ciencia de datos, la que se caracteriza por estar informada por el pensamiento feminista interseccional. Desde la necesidad de examinar y desafiar las estructuras de poder en el proceso de recopilación de datos hasta la necesidad de abrazar el pluralismo más allá del pensamiento binario y las jerarquías, D'Ignazio y Klein esbozan un programa de investigación que aclara por qué y cómo la ciencia de datos necesita el feminismo interseccional. Con ellas discutimos cómo el arte y las prácticas de diseño (especulativo) pueden hacer visibles los desequilibrios de poder. También discutimos las limitaciones y ventajas de las prácticas participativas de datos y la responsabilidad que recae sobre quienes recolectan datos cuando usar datos para hacer visible un tema puede causar más daño que beneficios a los afectados. Discutimos cómo, a veces, es necesario rechazar las reglas básicas de la visualización de datos para alcanzar objetivos políticos más elevados que las simples necesidades analíticas. Concluimos esta conversación con una invitación a abrazar la complejidad al momento de aplicar los principios feministas al trabajo con datos, siendo conscientes de nuestros puntos de vista y limitaciones personales. Con Maya Livio, investigadora y curadora de la Universidad de Colorado Boulder, hablamos de la manera en que un enfoque feminista interseccional de la ciencia de datos puede tener en cuenta también a los seres más-que-humanos. Conversamos sobre su trabajo con interfaces animales, en el que explora cómo los puntos de contacto entre los mundos humano y más-que-humano están impregnados de tecnología. A continuación, Maya Livio nos lleva a sus experiencias en los laboratorios feministas, para explicarnos que el primer paso para incorporar una práctica feminista es hacer un balance o inventario y codificar el trabajo que se está realizando, cultivando asimismo la atención hacia los métodos y las prácticas (a menudo tácitos o no escritos). También discutimos cómo ella y sus colegas desarrollaron un marco para operacionalizar el "arte de notar" como una contribución metodológica. Por último, nos referimos a su enfoque personal de investigación, caracterizado por una mezcla de prácticas multidisciplinares experimentales, que van desde la escritura hasta la curatoría, pasando por el diseño y la creación artística.
In the modern 'data society', designers play a key role in the creation of artefacts that mediate our access to data and information. These artefacts include data visualisations and interfaces. Within this context, there is a growing risk of design educators training professionals who are indifferent to, or unaware of, the political power of the devices they contribute to creating. In this paper, we draw on our experiences in the DensityDesign course to identify and formalise a didactical approach providing students with opportunities to critically reflect on their work while gaining the technical skills they need as information designers. The paper describes the course's historical evolution, its didactical goals and its current structure. It then provides an overview of the didactical approach identifying practices that other design instructors can reproduce, entirely or partially, at three different levels: through the methodological framework, the situational tactics, and the research artefacts students produce throughout the course. Finally, a critical discussion evaluating the limits and risks of the proposed approach is provided based on our didactical experiences.
There is growing awareness about how social media circulate extreme viewpoints and turn up the temperature of public debate. Posts that exhibit agitation garner disproportionate engagement. Within this clamour, fringe sources and viewpoints are mainstreaming, and mainstream media are marginalized. This book takes up the mainstreaming of the fringe and the marginalization of the mainstream. In a cross-platform analysis of Google Web Search, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, 4chan and TikTok, we found that hyperpartisan web operators, alternative influencers and ambivalent commentators are in ascendency. The book can be read as a form of platform criticism. It puts on display the current state of information online, noting how social media platforms have taken on the mantle of accidental authorities, privileging their own on-platform performers and at the same time adjudicating between claims of what is considered acceptable discourse
