Francesca Tripodi

Thrilled to have this opportunity to study as a Distinguished Professor at University of Tübingen🇩🇪 this summer. I am struck by the walkability of the town (no car needed for the month!), the inexpensive and extremely fresh produce, and the access to outstanding public resources. Feeling grateful 💕

The public meltdown happening between the world’s richest man 🙄 and the President of the United States 🙄🙄 once again begs the age-old question: are men simply too emotional to be in positions of power?

Anti-Transgender Disinformation in the Age of Algorithmic Search Summaries Recently Google introduced a feature in its search engine that algorithmically creates summaries of one's search results. Though it could be viewed as a useful tool, researcher Anna Beers argues this ...

Hey all, here's a post at @ssrc.org about how anti-trans talking points are getting wrapped into Google's AI search results.

AI search not only cites anti-trans disinfo, but sanitizes it, making practices like conversion therapy sound legitimate and safe.

About this Collection | Chronicling America | Digital Collections | Library of Congress Search America's Historic Newspaper Pages through 1963 Please Note: The Library of Congress has transitioned the longstanding Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website to this new digi...

Some sad confirmation from @bcgl.bsky.social while I was at UW last week—the National Digital Newspaper Program—which builds Chronicling America—has been shut down

Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss

This makes sense. Many of my colleagues from abroad express fear of traveling to the U.S. right now. Unfortunately, more and more U.S. scholars are no longer able to travel internationally to disseminate our research because our grants have been frozen or cancelled.

Thinking about devastating cuts to NSF: US gov-funded science has been the engine upon which most of the tech wealth was generated. But the oligarchs (currently hoarding much of that $) think it’s their own brilliance & not the accident of standing close to the scientific engine that made them rich.

The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy - Kindle edition by Tripodi, Francesca Bolla. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy.

It's tied to my concept, the IKEA EFFECT OF MISINFORMATION. Business scholars found that people value furniture more when they put it together themselves ("the ikea effect"). My research explains how this tangible do-it-yourself strategy is used to spread harmful ideas www.amazon.com/Propagandist...

‘Do your own research': affordance activation and disinformation spread Affordances are the perception of what a technical artifact can do. They bridge a technically-determinist perspective with social constructivist theory, acknowledging the material aspects of techno...

More importantly, this call is used by conspiracy theorists and propagandists to further the reach of their ideas. ln this article with @alicetiara.bsky.social and Lauren C. Garcia - we explain how that works. doi.org/10.1080/1369...

It's appealing to encourage parents to "do their own research" regarding their children's safety. But *my research* demonstrates that this strategy can easily lead people down rabbit holes of their own making.

Rejection email from NEH noting that all programs through the Office of Digital Humanities have been canceled.

Cancel Culture

His family has launched a gofundme campaign to cover legal expense www.gofundme.com/f/support-in...

Indiana University cybersecurity professor has not been arrested or detained, lawyer says A prominent Indiana University professor whose abrupt firing and disappearance drew interest in the cybersecurity community has not been detained and there are no pending criminal charges against him or his wife, a lawyer representing him told Reuters.

The judge has been ordered to unseal the warrants by April 17, according to Reuters.

Cybersecurity professor targeted by FBI has not been detained, lawyer says - www.reuters.com/world/us/ind...

"I wish more people were talking about the prominent Prof from Indiana whose home was raided by the FBI, was fired (with tenure) and scrubbed from the University's website, and then disappeared like he never existed. #notnormal "

Thank you for highlighting this extrajudicial kidnapping, Francesca.

"he's fine"? Sure, he's not in prison. but we need to be talking about the fact that 1) he was fired (with tenure); 2) he was scrubbed from IU's website; 3) the FBI searched his home

Indiana University cybersecurity professor has not been arrested or detained, lawyer says A prominent Indiana University professor whose abrupt firing and disappearance drew interest in the cybersecurity community has not been detained and there are no pending criminal charges against him or his wife, a lawyer representing him told Reuters.

www.reuters.com/world/us/ind...

I wish more people were talking about the prominent Prof from Indiana whose home was raided by the FBI, was fired (with tenure) and scrubbed from the University's website, and then disappeared like he never existed. #notnormal

My next book on the impact of parental rights is officially under contract with @thenewpress.bsky.social 📖🎉

Reminder that this was the exact same sort of argument Richard Spencer made when a video of him giving Nazi salutes and saying "Hail Trump!" went viral in 2016. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

this was such a joy to attend! thank you for engaging with my research.

Call for submissions: Metascience and AI postdoctoral fellowship | Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Our mission is to make the world a better place through the advancement of scientific knowledge.

New postdoc opportunity from Sloan to study how AI impacts scientific research. We have a great community growing around AI/STS at Princeton and I would be very happy to consider supporting applications as a mentor - please email if you are interested! sloan.org/programs/dig...

"The three branches work together through a system of checks and balances. For example, CONGRESS investigates the executive branch for misuse of funds and abuses of power." - Google AI Overview "How do the three branches of government work in the US"

If you don't know, now you know.

EXECUTIVE (President and Vice President) - their job is to enforce the existing laws and appoint important government officials. They are in charge of spending the money as APPOINTED by Congress. kids-clerk.house.gov/grade-school... and

LEGISLATIVE (Congress and Senate) - makes the laws. They control the money. They have the power to declare war. JUDICIAL (Supreme Court) - interprets the laws. They decide if the laws are constitutional.

My eldest is in 5th grade and I recently reviewed a civics lesson with them. Seems like a reminder is needed on what the three branches are supposed to do...

Check out my and @philnichols.bsky.social's teaser for the next Civics of Tech book club, discussing The Propagandists’ Playbook by @ftripodi.bsky.social! Join us on February 18 at 8pm EDT (registration link in blog post)!

A screenshot of the start of the paper "WikiReddit: Tracing Information and Attention Flows Between Online Platforms"

📄 Excited to share a new dataset preprint!
WikiReddit: Tracing Information and Attention Flows Between Online Platforms
A collaboration with @beeeeeers.bsky.social, Viviane Ito, Agustin Orozco, and @ftripodi.bsky.social at @citap.bsky.social .

NSF now paused. It was only a matter of time. It doesn't matter what you focus on - no research is protected. the goal is to gut higher education and scientific inquiry.

NC: 3,500 projects totaling $3.8 Billion

Excited to share that @ftripodi.bsky.social will join us to discuss her incredible book, The Propagandists’ Playbook, for our next @civicsoftech.bsky.social book club, hosted by me and @philnichols.bsky.social!

Grab a copy and register at www.civicsoftechnology.org/events to join us on February 18

“You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”
― Octavia E. Butler