Beyond Discourse Dumpster Fires: Rethinking Social Media
Today’s social media platforms have transformed human communication into algorithm-friendly “content” units that can be efficiently processed, ranked, and moderated. While this approach has powered extraordinary growth, it has also created an online environments that often bring out the worst in humanity, by stripping away context, rewarding sensationalism, and replacing trust with surveillance.
Is this a technical issue or a fundamental design one? How can we move beyond the “promote and police” model that dominates today’s platforms? And what practical steps can create digital spaces that bring the best rather than the worst of us? Join us for a conversation with Jonathan Bellack, Advisory Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, and former Director of its Applied Social Media Lab.
Hosted by: Alexa Raad and Leslie Daigle.
Further reading:
- Harvard’s Applied Social Media Lab
- Social media has a responsibility … to make it as easy as possible for people to be their best selves online
- The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society: Beyond Discourse Dumpster Fires – Jonathan Bellack Keynote
- The Networked Leviathan – Paul Gowder
The views and opinions expressed in this program are our own and may not reflect the views or positions of our employers.
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