Category: Research
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A Taxonomy of Middleware: How User Tools Can Improve Social Media
Social media platforms have proven to provide users with a space to connect that is non-existent in the physical world. However, users struggle with mental health concerns, disinformation, and more. Social media’s issues have a wide range of implications for these individuals and society as a whole. Middleware—third-party services that give users more control over…
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5 Main Takeaways from Randomly Sampling YouTube
We’re excited to announce the publication of our paper, Dialing for Videos: A Random Sample of YouTube, in the Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media. The article is the culmination of a long research project to better understand YouTube as a whole by producing a random sample of YouTube videos, analyzing their metadata, sending the…
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“From Community Governance to Customer Service and Back Again: Re-Examining Pre-Web Models of Online Governance to Address Platforms’ Crisis of Legitimacy”
Ethan and Chand cover the history of “trust and safety” and talk about what it will take to build a safe Internet, from the standpoints of both technology and content moderation. Published by Social Media and Society, September 2023.
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The Three-Legged Stool: A Manifesto for a Smaller, Denser Internet
“The Three-Legged Stool” is the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure’s banner white paper: the culmination of our work here at the lab so far and our roadmap for our efforts in the coming years. It was written primarily by Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci and Michael Sugarman under the editorial direction of Ethan Zuckerman. Access “The Three-Legged Stool”…
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Creating PublicSpaces by Geert-Jan Bogaerts, José Van Dijck, and Ethan Zuckerman
In Digital Government: Research and Practice. Abstract: Institutions like public broadcasters and universities face conflicts of values when using surveillant digital tools: organizations bound to protect the privacy and respect their autonomy of their constituents – which we term “values-led organizations” – find those values undermined by tools they must use to conduct business online.…
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How social media could teach us to be better citizens by Ethan Zuckerman
In Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society – Special Issue on “Digital Citizenship.” Abstract: In 1995, social scientist Robert Putnam suggested that American civic life was weakening because people were retreating from public spaces. Local organizations from bowling leagues to men’s lodges, Putnam believed, helped train citizens in the mechanics of civics. People learn to…
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Yale Journal of Law and Technology: Forgetful Advertising, Imagining a More Responsible Ad System
Chand and Ethan just published a long-in-the-making paper proposing a new system for targetted advertising that doesn’t rely on a surveillance model. Check it out in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology’s special issue “A Healthy Digital Public Sphere.”
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Stanford Social Innovation Review: Solving Social Media’s ‘Local Paradox’
Chand and Ethan dig into the problem that while local networks offer ways to connect with local community members, they also host much more severe mis- and disinformation.
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Stanford Social Innovation Review: The Good Web
Ethan lays out his vision for one of the key ideas we’re working on at iDPI, The Good Web.
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New Approaches to Platform Data Research
In March, we published iDPI’s first piece of research, New Approaches to Platform Data Research. This was written by Elizabeth Hansen-Shapiro, Michael Sugarman, Fernando Bermejo, and Ethan Zuckerman. Download the full report here. The white paper was originally commissioned by the NetGain partnership as a post-mortem on the Social Science One initiative. Ultimately, the research…
