The Promise of Access
Does Not Compute
On September 10, CITAP hosted Daniel Greene to discuss his book The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope in conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom and Alice Marwick.
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Where Do We Go From Here?
Does Not Compute
We've explored how disinformation plays on our biases, fuels our anger, and even nudges us to find only what we wanted to learn. The mess is daunting.
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What does tech owe democracy?
Does Not Compute
Technology platforms didn't create our political divides. They aren't blameless, either. Host Daniel Kreiss sits down with Katie Harbath & Tressie McMillan Cottom to understand the role of "efficiency machines" in social contexts and imagine the guardrails we need for social media and other tech companies to become stewards of a healthy democracy—because public life is far easier to destroy than rebuild.
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Admit it, You Love Being Angry
Does Not Compute
Disinformation is social—it's designed for sharing, to draw bright lines between "us" and some other "them." To do that, disinformation campaigns mess with our emotions. These narratives can convert feelings of anxiety, fear, and powerlessness into bright, actionable anger, or sow doubt and uncertainty in the face of optimism.
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Across Oceans, Tables, & Platforms
Does Not Compute
Online, information and disinformation cross huge physical distances easily. By comparison, bridging the dinner table and its language and generational differences can prove much more daunting.
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What You Think Is What You Find
Does Not Compute
We like to think of ourselves as savvy searchers, but the truth is that most of us have no idea how search engines work—especially given how much we rely on them. But a lot goes into those results and the quality of information or disinformation we find.
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Talking About Garbage
Does Not Compute
Often when we talk about disinformation, it’s like we’re talking about garbage—not what’s in the garbage, or who made the garbage, or why the garbage spreads, just that there is garbage and we have to get rid of it. That’s a mistake.
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Conspiracy and Racism
Does Not Compute
What do conspiracy theories and racism have in common? More than you might think. Deen Freelon explores how a willingness to believe disinformation about people of other races might open a door to believing falsehoods about science, medicine, politics and other topics.
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Introducing Does Not Compute
Does Not Compute
On our first season of Does Not Compute, we’ll be talking about identity and disinformation. How do our communities shape what we search for, share about, and even believe? And how do malicious actors manipulate our identities to promote their ideologies? What role do big tech platforms play in spreading disinformation, and how can they help address the problem?
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Does Not Compute - Trailer
Does Not Compute
Does Not Compute is a podcast about technology, people, and power brought to you by the Center for Information, Technology, & Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. At CITAP, we study technology as it’s tangled up in our lives and societies. On Does Not Compute, we’ll pry into the black boxes and get to know the people behind the code to understand technology platforms in context.
info_outlineWe like to think of ourselves as savvy searchers, but the truth is that most of us have no idea how search engines work—especially given how much we rely on them. For example, do you know whether different people get personalized results for the same searches? What are data voids, and how do they become gateways to disinformation?
Search isn't magic, and in this episode, host Francesca Tripodi discusses the ins and outs of how search engine algorithms work, how media manipulation can game the results, and how our own perceptions and biases shape our results before we even open the search bar.