Deception, Propaganda & Epistemology on the Anti-Social Web

transcript

AoIR14 Conference – Denver, COOctober 25, 2013

Jessie Daniels, PhDCUNY-Graduate Center and Hunter College

Deception, Propaganda & Epistemologyon the Anti-Social Web

@JessieNYC#ir14

@JessieNYC #ir14

The first page of search engine

results@JessieNYC #ir14

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<cloaked sites> : disguise authorship in order to conceal political agenda

@JessieNYC #ir14

<cloaked sites> : examples of deception & propaganda with features that are unique to the web

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<cloaked sites> : used by individuals, social movements, corporate interests

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“Yeah, because the site itself, it says, ‘Martin Luther King dot org’ so I guess they’re dedicated to

that.” (study participant, age 18)

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“I actually have never, I think, in my life gone to like the third

page, or the second page, because I just stop at the first page…because I mean, there

must be a reason why everything’s on the first page

and the rest of the stuff is later.”

(study participant, age 16)

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evaluating pairs of websites

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The Racial Politics of “Bias”

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“Well, you know, in looking at this site, it appears to be created by his widow, or his

family, so, it could be biased.”

(study participant, 17)

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“Two Sides to Everything”

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“I mean, I don’t think I would disagree with it. I’m sure there are some slaves that were treated

well. So, I can understand their point of

view. There’s always two sides to everything.”

(study participant, age 17)

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<anti-abortion cloaked site>

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“complications for girls”

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“post-abortion syndrome”

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not a medical condition

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rhetorical strategy of the pro-life movement

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brick-and-mortar “crisis pregnancy centers”

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“Americans for Balanced Energy Choices”

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how we know what we say we know

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Enlightenment notions of ‘truth’ rooted in empiricism and rationalism have been the cornerstone of racist culture, ideology and ‘science.’

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Enlightenment notions of race, racism and slavery were foundational to Ivy League institutions in the U.S.

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“Social movements in the Information Age

are essentially mobilized

around cultural values...

[and seek] to seize

the power of the minds, not

state power.”~ Manuel Castells, 1997

individuals

social movements

corporate interests

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affordances become deceptions

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on the anti-social web, URLs are propaganda tools

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truth v. truthiness = impasse

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Thank you!

@JessieNYC

@JessieNYC #ir14

Deception, Propaganda & Epistemology on the Anti-Social Web

Education