Episodes

#103: What American History Teaches us about Political Communication, with Dr. Ben Epstein

March 29, 2020 Academics


Dr. Ben Epstein, Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University, guests to discuss the role of history in understanding contemporary political communication.


We take a deep dive in Dr. Epstein’s book The Only Constant is Change: Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation over Time, published by Oxford University Press.


Dr. Epstein explains how the development of newspapers, the radio, and Internet fundamentally changed political communication practices for political campagins, social movements, and interest groups. We then discuss how television and social media were novel technologies for their time, but did not fundamentally establish new political communication orders. 

#102: House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, with Lord David Puttnam and Dr. Kate Dommett

March 15, 2020 Academics, Civil Society


Lord David Puttnam and Dr. Kate Dommett guest to discuss the work on the British House of Lords select committee “Democracy and Digital Technologies.”


The committee seeks to investigate the pros and cons of digital technologies around six key areas: transparency in political campaigns; privacy and anonymity; misinformation; the effects of digital technology on public discourse; how technology can facilitate democracy; and the development of effective digital literacy. 


We discuss the motivations behind forming the committee, the status of the inquiry so far, as well as get into a broader discussion about policy recommendations for the potential regulation of digital and social media companies in the UK and elsewhere in the European Union. 


For links mentioned during the episode, check out: 


The website of the committee, and follow their latest updates on Twitter @HLDemoDigital. 

Dr. Dommett’s study “Data-driven Political Campaigns in Practice” in Internet Policy Review. 

#101: Video Search Engines and Petey Vid as an Alternative to Google Video Search, with Craig Stadler

March 1, 2020 Civil Society


Craig Stadler, Founder and CEO of Petey Vid, guests to discuss the video search engine landscape and his alternative to the dominance of Google and YouTube: Petey Vid. Petey Vid offers users video content from 60+ different sources while not tracking users’ search history or IP addresses. We break down Craig’s motivations behind starting Petey Vid, how it’s search architecture is structured, and what separates it from YouTube.

#100: Content Moderation and the Politics of Social Media Platforms, with Dr. Tarleton Gillespie

February 16, 2020 Academics


Dr. Tarleton Gillespie, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and Associate Professor of Communication at Cornell University, guests for our 100th episode!


We revisit Dr. Gillespie’s 2010 study “The Politics of Platforms” as well as discuss his latest book: “Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions that Shape Social Media.”


We discuss how social media companies strategically position themselves through discourse, the early adoption of social media by advertisers and political campaigns, and how content moderation shapes our interactions with platforms and politics.

#99: Information Gerrymandering on Social Networks, with Dr. Alexander Stewart

January 27, 2020 Academics


Dr. Alexander Stewart, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Houston, guests to discuss his research on “information gerrymandering,” recently published in Nature. The study uses a voter game, mathematical modelling, social media data, and legislative data to examine how information asymmetries in social networks impact collective decision-making processes. We break down the study, and the implications of its findings for democracy.


Read the full study, and check out the video showing information gerrymandering in action!

#98: Political Mobilization in the 2019 EU Election Campaign, with Stephen Clark

January 11, 2020 Digital Strategists


Stephen Clark, Director for Liaison Offices at the European Parliament, guests to discuss his role coordinating the Parliament’s election campaign in the 2019 European Elections. We discuss the Parliament’s social media strategy, its focus on mobilizing citizens through the “ground game,” and the reaction to the Parliament’s campaign video “Choose your Future.”


Listen to the Steve discuss the Parliament’s strategy before the elections on the EuroPCom podcast!

#97: 2019 Year In Review, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

December 29, 2019 Academics


The 2019 Year in Review! Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten and Dr. Michael Bossetta break down the top trends and developments of this year and look forward to the decade ahead. We talk about the posts that garnered the most engagement on platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and Pornhub (no Facebook this year), look into the growing importance of TikTok, and chat about digital taxation, Epstein, and so much more.


Watch the video recording, including visual examples here!

#96: Pro-Trump Social Networks: The Donald on Reddit and TheDonald.win

December 3, 2019 Civil Society


A moderator of Reddit’s The Donald guests to discuss the notorious subreddit community, and the new pro-Trump online forum: TheDonald.win.

We discuss the role of memes in these online forums, how memes are used for redpilling, and the steps Reddit has taken to limit the reach of pro-Trump social networks.

#95: Political Advertising on Facebook and Television, with Prof. Travis Ridout

November 25, 2019 Academics


Prof. Travis Ridout, Distinguished Professor of Government and Politics at Washington State University, guests to discuss a new study examining American campaigns’ political advertising on Facebook and television in the 2018 US midterm elections. We break down some of the key differences between the two media in terms of who is more likely to use Facebook advertising, when and where online ads are most likely to occur, and how the topics and tone of ads across the two media differ.


Read the full study here!

#94: Warren’s Meme Team, with Misha Leybovich

November 17, 2019 Civil Society


Misha Leybovich, Organizer for Warren’s Meme Team, guests to discuss how memetic templates can be used for grassroots political campaigning. We break down the plan for Warren’s Meme Team, its focus on augmented reality (AR) lenses, and what the response to the initiative has been like so far.


Read the full plan here.