Transparency in an Age of Surveillance - Megan Boler

FORCE2018 Keynote: This Keynote will address the challenges of understanding and defining transparency in an era of "post-truth" and ubiquitous surveillance. Focusing on our participation in social media platforms, I will provide an overview of how computational propaganda and platform politics pose threats and challenges to democratic processes. Political actors not only seek to spread disinformation but to sow confusion, anarchy, and mistrust that effectively erodes trust in media and governments. Of particular concern is how digital media propaganda, algorithms, and activism target emotions to influence public opinion, and often seek to inflame pre-existing emotional tensions surrounding racism, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia. The talk will invite the audience to consider the possibilities of trust given our complex media landscape.