Sophia A. Knight

Tough on populism, tough on the causes of populism How Labour’s buried communitarian history can restore Britain’s lost social trust.

What if one solution to winning back the public's trust is...to trust the public?

Weekend Essay for @newstatesman.com on the labour movement's long history of working with communities to make life a bit better, based on my paper for @iconeighbours.bsky.social

www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

🇪🇺 What could a sovereign, independent European digital infrastructure look like?

A workshop organised with @algosoc.org & ASCA brought together leading voices from various academic disciplines and the media industry to reflect on alternatives to current digital infrastructures.

🪡 Findings thread:

🧵1/ In a new working paper with @kunkakom.bsky.social & @adrauc.bsky.social, we examine how people feel about AI use by governments.

We find an unsettling tension: information about AI-driven efficiency gains boosts trust – but makes people feel less in control.

arxiv.org/abs/2505.01085

AI is ruining houseplant communities online AI-generated images and chatbot misinformation plague plant collectors.

I think the comments on this (very good, if I do say so myself) article are fascinating. If the AI industry has lost the Verge commenter, who do they have on their side? www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

One week on from the BRAID Community Gathering, and we’re still feeling the energy from a day filled with insight, authenticity and connection.

Heartfelt thanks to our speakers, attendees; Our Community - your being there made it what it was.

V pleased to say I will be responsible for the APSA task force on AI and Research Methods.

Want to talk to as many as possible so shout if you'd like to send any of your own insights or have a short chat!

William Davies · TV Meets Fruit Machine: Faragist TikTok In my own For You journey into Faragism, I was struck by the recurring assumption that the ultimate prize was exit of...

‘In her recent ethnographic study of Mansfield… the sociologist Sacha Hilhorst discovered that many local residents viewed politics entirely through the lens of ‘corruption’.’

Fascinating piece by @will-davies.bsky.social

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

My friend and colleague Remco Heesen once told me study of social epistemology of science made him "less trusting of any particular scientific paper but more impressed by science as a whole." I honestly think that's the right lesson to draw. But I think holding both attitudes doesn't come naturally.

Glad to see that the article notes the importance of Joe Rogan in this space (someone who I think remains under-studied as an influence on current US political debates), though a shame that data couldn’t be accessed!

Great article looking into networks of prominent political podcasters and their guests - particularly interesting to see more about the role of shows that act as a bridge across political divides

Podcasts in the periphery: Tracing guest trajectories in political podcasts Social networks structure the flow of political information that is critical for civic participation and individual decision making, simultaneously op…

“Given the growing prominence of podcasts within the information ecosystem, and the high levels of trust that podcasters enjoy from listeners, it is critical to better understand the role this medium plays in political communication.” - @sydneydemets.bsky.social & @emmaspiro.bsky.social

'Skills wallet' is the 'quiet bat people' of industrial policy

Re-upping this thread as you can now find recordings of the talks here ☺️ conference.publicspaces.net/en

Let's Rewild the Internet PublicSpaces Conference

Recordings are live now ☺️ conference.publicspaces.net/en/session/l...

Looks like a great opportunity! 👇

Quantifying Narrative Similarity Across Languages - Hannah Waight, Solomon Messing, Anton Shirikov, Margaret E. Roberts, Jonathan Nagler, Jason Greenfield, Megan A. Brown, Kevin Aslett, Joshua A. Tuck... How can one understand the spread of ideas across text data? This is a key measurement problem in sociological inquiry, from the study of how interest groups sh...

I am thrilled to share a new article in Sociological Methods & Research, “Quantifying Narrative Similarity Across Languages”. My co-first author Sol Messing and our collaborators developed a new approach to measuring “narrative similarity” between texts: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Yes, sorry to have missed you! Would be great to stay in touch and meet up in future? Myself and most of the team are based in London

We will be continuing to build on many of these themes in our work at RIC, including public value, personalisation, AI in journalism, digital inclusion, and my work on civic and democratic participation online @rhianne-j.bsky.social @bronwynjo.bsky.social @helenljay.bsky.social 🌟

Finally, in her beautiful closing keynote on Rewilding the Internet, @mariafarrell.bsky.social described how we can move from an Internet dominated by “highways” (massive scale, dangerous, centralised) to “hedgerows” (spread-out, smaller, diverse connections) 🌱

@cubicgarden.com presented the new BBC R&D report on The Social Internet. My favourite quote, on metrics: “if one message gets someone up on their feet to go out into the world & do something for the betterment of society, that’s more powerful than a billion likes” 👍

During the lightning talk session, I gave a quick intro to my work at RIC, where I will be analysing the role of public service media in supporting civic & democratic life in the digital age, setting out a research agenda for where we need to go from here ⚡️

@parismarx.com gave a fascinating opening keynote on the history and politics of our digital infrastructure and the growing demand for alternatives that protect public values 🛜

Had a brilliant time in Amsterdam representing the Responsible Innovation Centre at @publicspaces.net Conference 2025. Some highlights …

Looking forward to speaking tomorrow on the "Countering AI Harms" panel at the BRAID Community Gathering in Manchester.

Will present our report:

Mitigating Harms in On-Demand Delivery Platforms
zenodo.org/records/1314...

Congratulations to Nic Newman and the RISJ team for another data-packed digital news report: an essential reference work

Where is the social internet taking us? Report: An emerging crisis for the giant social platforms - toxic and polarised online environments, but enormous potential to transform our world in positive ways.

Our host department BBC R&D has just launched a great report today on many similar themes www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/...

Photo of large church in central Amsterdam in between rows of houses

Photo of central Amsterdam canal in the sunshine

Just arrived in Amsterdam for tomorrow’s 2025 @publicspaces.net conference Shaping Our Digital Future! Excited to be here representing the Responsible Innovation Centre for Public Media Futures 🎉

Lets talk about the future of social media at PublicSpaces 2025

#MakeSocialsSocialAgain
#pubconf2025

Will be sharing more updates throughout the conference tomorrow! #MakeSocialsSocialAgain #pubconf2025

Looking forward to hearing from so many brilliant speakers on topics related to digital public spaces, democracy and digital sovereignty, including one of our partners at RIC, the @aimediademlab.bsky.social