i think el-sayed winning the michigan senate primary will permanently break the brains that were being held together by string since mamdani

Something strange is happening in the markets just before President Trump posts on Truth Social. Our latest article (with @phzerosounds.bsky.social and Ella Chorazy) tells a visual story via a large-scale empirical analysis. stories.theconversation.com/the-market-m...

The market moves before Trump posts

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being made on well-timed oil bets occurring just before Trump posts. But can we call it insider trading?

stories.theconversation.com

Great read, very relevant to current interests

Claes de Vreese@claesdevreese.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Training data for AI models matter for what you get. A lot. And states can benefit. Good primer by @justinhendrix.bsky.social and @techpolicypress.bsky.social on @hwaight.bsky.social and team’s important piece in @nature.com www.techpolicy.press/language-mod...

📢 Call for Interview Participants for PhD Project 🗣️ I am seeking interview participants who 💫 currently hold or have previously held beliefs that could be called conspiracy theories 💫. I am assessing how knowledge and belief systems are formed online.

I'm very excited to be starting my Virtual Fellowship with DISC at Manchester Metropolitan University in collaboration with the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy at Loyola University this week! digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/virtual-fell...

Virtual Fellowship - Digital Society Research Cluster

Virtual Fellowship 2026 Virtual Fellows

digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk

This was a fun one to host! Have a listen to our 20 years of Twitter roundtable now! 🐦 🎉

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This week's episode of the Read Them Sideways podcast is a roundtable discussing the 20 year anniversary of Twitter with Jean Burgess, Axel Bruns, Kateryna Kasianenko, and Luke Pearson

An interesting episode with a crossover of my interests! 🧐 🇮🇪 Thanks @cazuarina.bsky.social for the link. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Psst: the Irish love a conspiracy theory - ABC listen

The Irish have high trust in government, and, also, a surprisingly widespread belief in conspiracy theories. What explains the Irish appetite for conspiracies, and how can damaging beliefs be slowed d...

abc.net.au

So glad to see this article finally out! I loved working with this team and it was a great opportunity to develop qualitative methods for generative AI research. I feel this is an important contribution that we are currently expanding on in a multilingual context, so stay tuned! ✍️ 🖥️

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New article alert! “Just Asking Questions”: Doing Our Own Research on Conspiratorial Ideation by Generative AI Chatbots is now available to read open access! This study examined how a selection of popular chatbots responded to conspiratorial prompts.

A great read 🇮🇪

RTÉ Brainstorm@rtebrainstorm.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Most read on #RTEBrainstorm: How the emergence of St Brigid's Day as a public holiday marks a renewed engagement with Indigenous Irish ways of understanding time, land and belonging. By Jennifer Manning @maynoothuniversity.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

This is a MUST-READ affidavit. This eyewitness to Alex Pretti’s murder — who is too scared to even go home because she doesn’t trust federal agents — directly refutes what the feds are saying happened today:

Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · 6mo ago

JUST IN: Lawyers file declaration in federal court from first-hand witness to immigration agents' shooting of a US citizen onlookers today. Minneapolis Mayor Frey said details would be used to bolster case for ousting ICE from city. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

x 100 It’s incredible that Alex Pretti apparently served as an ICU nurse. His death is tragic But if they’re not employed, not white, not male, have drug offences, have been previously incarcerated, have mental health problems, etc etc… this does not undermine their victimhood & right to life

Marco Rogers@polotek.bsky.social · 6mo ago

People already working hard to prove how perfect Alex Pretti was. To show he didn't "deserve" to be killed. But it's a trap folks. You're only feeding into a dynamic where people who are considered lesser get no protection. You don't have to be an Alex Pretti to deserve to live.

We’ve placed the available videos of the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis today into the same synchronised timeline and are continuing to analyse further.

More active language would be stating what actually happened: a man was executed in the street by a nascent Gestapo. I don’t care that this post will disqualify me from ever getting a United States visa. I’m appalled and sick with worry about family in the US.

southpaw@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 6mo ago

years and years of avoiding plain language and the active voice do make the choice to use it more impactful, I suppose

Watching Iga Swiatek and Eva Lys battle it out on the third day of the tennis season; women’s tennis is in such a good place right now 💪

Of course it f&&king is. Please don't use GenAI for news. Please don't use Grok for anything. Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting www.theverge.com/news/844443/...

Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting

Grok has repeatedly misidentified video of the Bondi Beach shooting and the hero who disarmed a gunman.

theverge.com

Quelle surprise! Great to have evidence-based research to demonstrate this bias.

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New research on Twitter (right before rebranding to X) shows right leaning accounts got outsized visibility from the algorithm & suggests this bias stemmed from different content production techniques (more sensational, outrage-bait) and from direct interaction w/ the new king of the platform: Musk.

Good chat between @phzerosounds.bsky.social and @antmandan.bsky.social today - a quick lightning talk on the pod about the social media ban, the shortcomings, and what we might see in the future.

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We have your morning commute listening for Wednesday lined up... 👂🔊 DMRC Director Daniel Angus (@antmandan.bsky.social) spoke with the Read Them Sideways podcast team about the social media ban, the implications, and what to expect in the future. open.spotify.com/episode/6IES...

Three presentations over the three days of #AANZCA2025, and I was really proud to share some theoretical work in progress from my PhD thesis. Thank you to my @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleagues for coming along to watch and support!

Making it into the @snurb.info live blog was the highlight of my week! But seriously, #AANZCA2025 was fantastic and sincere thanks to the organisers for making it a genuinely hybrid conference that allows for folks with disabilities to attend - I appreciate the opportunity to share my work! 🎉

Axel Bruns@snurb.info · 8mo ago

Wheee, a very fast-paced session (mostly) on conspiracy theories to end #AANZCA25, also featuring my @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleague @katemfitzgerald.bsky.social presenting our audit of how GenAI chatbots respond to conspiracy theory-curious questions. Final liveblog here:

A new article by me in @theconversation.com about forthcoming research with fab colleagues @snurb.info, @riedlinm.bsky.social, @phzerosounds.bsky.social, @timothyjgraham.bsky.social, and @antmandan.bsky.social. Looking forward to presenting this at the #AANZCA2025 conference this week! 🎉

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 8mo ago

PhD researcher Kate FitzGerald has a new article out in The Conversation today looking at generative AI chatbots and conspiracy theories.

Academic hot take: getting stood up for a research interview is significantly worse than getting stood up on a date 😭

Excellent new paper from an excellent colleague! Anybody looking at user practices online should engage with this paper and model. Well done @kkasianenko.bsky.social!

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Congratulations to research fellow Kateryna Kasianenko (@kkasianenko.bsky.social) on her recent publication in Communication Theory! "Elements of practices in digital publics: a model for identifying collective doings on social media platforms" can be read here now! academic.oup.com/ct/...

It's the last day of October and the last day of the One Foot Forward challenge! I met my distance goal, but would love any last minute donations to help further my fundraising goal! Thanks in advance everyone.

Kate FitzGerald@katemfitzgerald.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Hi all, in October I am participating in the One Foot Forward initiative by the Black Dog Institute, to raise money to support Australians impacted by mental illness. www.onefootforward.org.au/fundraisers/...?

Hi all, in October I am participating in the One Foot Forward initiative by the Black Dog Institute, to raise money to support Australians impacted by mental illness. www.onefootforward.org.au/fundraisers/...?

Support my 40km challenge for mental health research!

Together, we can help create better mental health for all.

onefootforward.org.au

Australian media and politicians have taken a huge interest in an overseas figure the vast majority of their constituents would have never heard of prior to September 10, @theshufflediary.bsky.social writes.

Charlie Kirk's martyrdom in the US is to be expected. Here, it's baffling

crikey.com.au

It was great to listen to @essideh.com discuss his new book, The Discursive-Digital Link this week! 📖 📚 🎉

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 11mo ago

After a brief hiatus, the Read Them Sideways podcast is back! In this week's episode, Klaus Groebner (@gklaus.bsky.social) interviews Dr Ehsan Dehghan (@essideh.com) about his new book: The Discursive-Digital Link. Listen to Klaus and Ehsan chat about the new book below!

You guys

Drew Harwell@drewharwell.com · 12mo ago

Laura Loomer, who the president has consulted for decisions on who to fire, is arguing with a chatbot

Some super interesting case studies in this issue - would highly recommend for fandom scholars!

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Two of our postdoctoral research associates, @svegaard.bsky.social and @vilkins.bsky.social , have guest edited the latest issue of M/C Journal. They have curated some excellent articles around the theme of fandom and politics. Read the issue here! journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mc...

Apparently a completely peaceful march across Sydney Harbour Bridge today was extremely perilous. Yet somehow fewer people (i.e. nobody) died today than when NSW Police were asked to assist with a 95-year-old nursing home resident behaving erratically.