Richard Reisman

Thx Richard .. love your idea of "filtering for serendipity"!!

Thanks, Jose. As noted in my 2012 post, I see that as a variation on “bridging” that might be no more difficult, primarily just shifting filtering thresholds. And both variations can flourish with open algorithmic choice.

...And thanks to @justinhendrix.bsky.social for creating this essential resource, and to my coauthors on pieces I mention, @richardwhitt.bsky.social and @mchrisriley.com
***Comments are invited here from those authors and others.***

Tech and Democracy: Busy Times in Tech Policy Press [Working notes in progress, as I try to drink from and reflect on this firehose...] Tech Policy Press has become increasingly essential rea...

Busy Times! @techpolicypress.bsky.social - increasingly essential reading, increasing energy in "issues & ideas at intersection of tech & democracy." This blog post ties my latest to others: @urbanz.bsky.social & @josemarichal.bsky.social (+ @robin.berjon.com)
ucm.teleshuttle.com/2025/07/tech...

To Make Sure AI Advances Democracy, First Ask, ‘Who Does It Serve?’ | TechPolicy.Press AI must serve the people who use it to engage in free expression and make democratic decisions, writes Richard Reisman.

Good points on gov’t influence issue. I suggest multi-agent systems that negotiate to serve individuals and communities, let subsidiarity emerge.
www.techpolicy.press/to-make-sure...

Humanity now faces a fateful choice:
Will AI help us think & work better, or make things worse, perhaps irreversibly?
Will our tools support us, or their builders—manipulating & exploiting us & our data?
As I explain in @techpolicypress.bsky.social the key question is “Who does it serve?”

Also to my collaborators on related works, @richardwhitt.bsky.social @noupside.bsky.social and @mchrisriley.com -- and for the wise editing by @justinhendrix.bsky.social

+ Other speakers' supportive points, including Deirdre Mulligan Daniel Susskind @mhtess.bsky.social @lukethorburn.com @joshuadarr.bsky.social Aziz Huq @grantbaker.bsky.social @georgewang.bsky.social @jbullockruns.bsky.social @ruchowdh.bsky.social @sebk.bsky.social @sammanning88.bsky.social

Thanks to those this piece on AI serving democracy builds on, especially @knightcolumbia.org's symposium I refer to, organized by @jameeljaffer.bsky.social @katygb.bsky.social and @sethlazar.org, speakers @ghadfield.bsky.social @sydneylevine.bsky.social, @kjfeng.me, @spenceroverton.bsky.social

How to Reclaim Social Media from Big Tech “Middleware” is an idea whose time has come.

I agree w/ Renee DiResta “potentially interesting if they can find a way to avoid floods of spam.” X may mismanage this, but in hands of them or others, it could be a huge step toward open middleware -- which Renee and I just wrote about in Persuasion. www.persuasion.community/p/how-to-rec...

Making Social Media More Deeply Social with Branded Middleware This vision of social media future is meant to complement and clarify the vision behind many of my other works (such as  this , see list of ...

Understandable concern, but the trick is to build layers of user agents that simplify that for us. Think of how the interop of smartphone app stores enabled an ecosystem of tools to do amazing things for us that Steve Jobs had not imagined before he opened it up.
ucm.teleshuttle.com/2024/10/maki...

My comment explaining how to rebuild is here: bsky.app/profile/rrei...

Great thread by @katestarbird.bsky.social explains the problem—
AND an essential urgent step toward solution is to #FreeOurFeeds with #middleware to rebuild communities and how they mediate our sensemaking, as my comment explains.

Three Pillars of Human Discourse (and How Social Media Middleware Can Support All Three) | TechPolicy.Press Human discourse is a social process, writes Richard Reisman, that depends on three pillars: agency, mediation, and reputation.

Absolutely!
And…now is the time for us all to draw on the great work on what is going sociotechnically wrong to lean in to the rebuilding of our media tools to restore the structure and flows of community sensemaking. #FreeOurFeeds with #middleware.
www.techpolicy.press/three-pillar...

It replaces the binary choice between centralized control and anarchy with an adaptive middle ground that empowers individuals, communities, and institutions to shape their own social experiences. 10/10

Middleware can also reduce the risk of political capture, where incumbent platforms, or governments, exert undue manipulation of online discourse. It fosters competition and innovation, enabling a robust market of providers, improving transparency and responsiveness to user/community needs. 9/10

This supports a greater diversity of online experience, enabling users and communities to select for their desired “vibe.” 8/10

An open market (think “app store”) of middleware software and services would allow users to freely choose from a variety of algorithms and/or human-in-the-loop moderation services to compose their feeds for them. 7/10

Middleware: independent software-enabled services, sit between the user and the platform, managing the information that flows between them. This can rebalance the scales, empowering users to control their attention while limiting platforms’ ability to dictate the terms of online discourse. 6/10

We need to shift this paradigm and empower users to take more control over their social media experience. What would that look like? 5/10

Some key ideas:

Social media platforms have long influenced global politics, but their entanglement with power is deeper and more fraught than ever. It is users—and democracy—that bear the brunt of such volatility. 4/10

...The question is not whether such alternatives are necessary or feasible—it’s whether they can be scaled, enhanced, and sustained. 3/10

Conclusion: Middleware empowers communities to decide how they wish to balance competing democratic values—free speech, protection from harm, pluralism. It offers a path toward a more democratic, resilient information ecosystem, where users have more agency over their attention... 2/10

How to Reclaim Social Media from Big Tech “Middleware” is an idea whose time has come.

How to Reclaim Social Media from Big Tech:
Middleware, an idea whose time has come.

Now in @frankfukuyama.bsky.social's Persuasion Community - by @noupside.bsky.social and me. #FreeOurFeeds

The conclusion and some key ideas in this thread... 🧵 1/10

www.persuasion.community/p/how-to-rec...

Yes! @freeourfeeds.com, @robin.berjon.com, @rudyfraser.com's @moderation.blacksky.app.
This is why I argue for Three Pillars: Individual Agency, Social Mediation Ecosystem (= Communities), and Reputation.
www.techpolicy.press/three-pillar...

Three Pillars of Human Discourse (and How Social Media Middleware Can Support All Three) | TechPolicy.Press Human discourse is a social process, writes Richard Reisman, that depends on three pillars: agency, mediation, and reputation.

Yes! @rudyfraser.com's @moderation.blacksky.app.
That is why I argue for Three Pillars: Agency, Social Mediation Ecosystem (= Communities), and Reputation.
www.techpolicy.press/three-pillar...

Thanks, @zittrain.bsky.social, your early work with @jackbalkin.bsky.social on digital information fiduciaries is a major foundation for this piece by @richardswhitt.bsky.social and me.

New Perspectives on AI Agentiality and Democracy: "Whom Does It Serve?" | TechPolicy.Press Richard Reisman and Richard Whitt write that interoperability will enable agential relationships that serve individuals and communities faithfully.

"It should impel us to demand commitments by model makers and operators that the models function as the harmless, helpful, and honest friends they are so diligently designed to appear to be." We need personal AIs that interact with other AIs to do that for us!
www.techpolicy.press/new-perspect...

What AI Thinks It Knows About You What happens when people can see what assumptions a large language model is making about them?

AI is often thought of as a black box -- no way to know what's going on inside. That's changing in eye-opening ways. Researchers are finding "beliefs" models are forming as they converse, and how those beliefs correlate to what the models say and how they say it.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

CCCR logo, 100 Days Under Trump: Public Reactions to Attacks on American Governance & Institutions

🚨 CCCR has a new survey report out today! 🚨

"100 Days Under Trump: Public Reactions to Attacks on American Governance & Institutions"

The report draws on our Apr/May YouGov panel survey of US adults, following our Oct 2024 survey w/ recontacts + a sample refresh. 1/
cccr.wisc.edu/wp-content/u...