Politics and Social Change Workshop (Hybrid)
Date and Time
Location
"Technology and Civic Discourse"
Speakers:
Joan Donovan, Assistant Professor, College of Communications, Boston University.
Stephanie M. Ortiz, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
Rebekah Larsen, Marie Curie Fellow, University of Copenhagen.
Contacts:
Clayton Covington
claytoncovington@g.harvard.edu
Cat O'Donnell
codonnell@g.harvard.edu
Attendance Information:
- Physical Location: William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Room 450
- Attend this event virtually.
Abstracts:
Joan Donovan, "Meme War 2024: Networked Incitement in the Static Age"
In this talk, Joan Donovan will offer a contemporary analysis of the political communication strategies that leverage the ambiguity of memes to carry out media manipulation and disinformation campaigns. In her co-authored book, Meme Wars, Donovan argues that political communication is at a crossroads as more and more people find their news, entertainment, and politics packaged and delivered through black-boxed algorithms. During election season, platforms become a battleground, where competing factions drive public opinion on wedge issues to villainize opponents and valorize their party. Memes become a powerful psychological weapon in the netwar, where it becomes difficult to differentiate between citizens and combatants.
Stephanie M. Ortiz, "From Tweets to Classroom Seats: How Social Media Shapes White College Students' Engagement in Race Discussions."
While scholars have explored how social media can impair civic discourse through echo chambers and the spiral of silence, less attention has been given to how interactions across platforms shape students' engagement in academic settings. This talk examines how social media influences white college students' perceptions of the political climate, particularly in relation to classroom discussions of race and racism. Through analyses of interviews and survey data, this talk will show how white students cite the perceived hostility of people of color online as the source of their fears of being "called out" in classroom discussions—even in the absence of firsthand personal experience being criticized online or in person. This perception (1) limits their willingness to engage in race-related conversations in the classroom and (2) reinforces beliefs about white victimization, both of which deepen the divide between white students and classmates of color.
Rebekah Larsen, "Technology and Politics in Local Context: Rural Talk Radio in the US"
Talk radio has been an enduring player in the American media landscape for decades. US talk radio tends to be partisan and sometimes painted as alternative ‘infotainment’ on a dying medium. But on national and local levels, talk radio continues to play an outsize role—especially in conservative politics. Rural talk radio stations can be significant and trusted source of news and information. They can serve to contextualize national events and topics, as well as playing a role in local news, promoting local businesses, and organizing local politics. Drawing from data collected from three rural stations in Utah, this presentation sheds light on how contemporary rural radio stations operate at the intersection of digital and broadcast developments. It situates choices of programming, technical operations, and audience curation within local contexts (cultural and even geographical) as well as the wider political economy of conservative news environments—from expanding syndication choices bolstered by podcasting to the rise of digital ‘newspapers’ owned by these local stations. This presentation also explores some implications of these findings for discourses on conservative media, disinformation, and technological exceptionalism.