I hate how hard our fragmented, gamified social media is making the dissemination of key civic data.
Take this video of NC Senator Natasha Marcus outlining how many so-called pregnancy centers are just fronts to siphon public money into private hands (& of course, under the veneer of US political Christianity).
Posted on TikTok. Reposted on reddit.
What we need is responsible media to make civic knowledge easier to attain. But how do we build better public platforms?
@MLClark The problem is that trying to counter all the disinformation is like playing Whac-A-Mole.
We as consumers of information have to do a better job of reviewing what is fed to us. You and I, as trained researchers, know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, but most people are more interested in practicing confirmation bias.
You and I, Stephen, are tearing our hair out! 🙃
But seriously - gamified platforms play a role in individual outcomes. I can't discuss most of what happened in the first year of a new venture where I publish even now, but... suffice it to say, I saw a lot of how the "sausage" is made by squeezing all attempts to change the model through a grinder that reduces everything to the need to produce high-SEO-value content to keep the lights on in an era of less investment to go around.
@MLClark I had a haircut yesterday. Less hair to tear out.
I don't have an answer, other than to point out that over a hundred years ago "yellow journalism" ran rampant in this country.
Newspapers in the U.S. got started as partisan publications by political parties. John Adams had opposition newspapers seized and their publishers arrested.
So honest reporting is a relatively recent phenomenon.
I listen to a podcast where a host reads each time from a newspaper from a different date and location in history - anywhere from the late 1600s to the mid-1900s. It is a TERRIFIC reminder that most of the history of journalism is a crapshoot.
I don't see that sort of journalism being the right space in which to expect better civic data. That's why I mention "third spaces" like the promise of WolframAlpha, the cultural artifacts kept on Open Archives, and some explainer sites.
Actually, even NASA's website is a pretty good example of accessible data trails!
But it also hints at the amount of public investment needed to curate civic knowledge well. We're not there yet - but we *do* need something centralized and new, especially after noting the steeply depleted levels of public confidence in existing institutional authorities in these last few years.
@MLClark Well, most forms of government here in the U.S. make documents available online. NASA is one example. But do people read it?!
In my last job, I'd tell people who didn't believe me to go to NASA.gov and look it up themselves. The annual budget is there, line by line. But I suspect that 99% of them never did.
Maybe AI is the answer, but I'm cynical enough to know that AI will be manipulated too.
Having docs available isn't the same as having a good user experience to help average users identify, search, & assess what they're seeing. NASA has some great explainers--& oddly enough, slices of the IRS website does, too. And there's a solid website to help people find out about upcoming US elections and ballot measures: no nonsense basic info on all the issues and candidates.
But something centralized for unfolding civic news? That's still a challenge to get right.
@MLClark I'm going to watch a classic Twilight Zone episode before bedtime, so I will send the sun your way in the morning after it passes by.
Now THAT'S civic data we can work with. 😉 Thanks for your service! Have a great night!
@MLClark There goes the sun ... I tried to take a photo for you of our nearest star, but the cloaking device is up ...
It can't stay cloaked forever! 👌🏻 Glad you got out to enjoy the quadrant.