Reminders for #APT2025!: ➡️ Initial registration deadline is Sept. 10! To remain on the program, please register by then; registration fees increase by $50 after 9/10 ➡️ Rooms in the APT block at the conference hotel are going fast! Info on the conference homepage ➡️ New prelim program version is out

i hate it here.

my new piece in political communication (part of @meredithpruden.bsky.social @jiyoun-suk.bsky.social @jolukito.bsky.social @yunkangyang.bsky.social & Wei Zhong's issue on multiple platforms!) is now out! This one was tough to nail down; thankful to all who helped & would love to hear thoughts!

the story today is of a profoundly low energy military parade being met with millions of americans in nationwide protests denouncing the dictatorial pretensions of the president

Bluesky won’t recreate peak Twitter. Twitter won’t recreate peak Twitter. Instagram isn’t going to go back to good Instagram. All this handwringing seems to yearning for a moment in social media history that isn’t ever coming back. Get used to it, figure out new things, build real community.

this was my exact first thought (in only the best way)

Da Pope: Chicago loses its mind over homegrown pontiff. Within minutes of the announcement, Chicagoans had Photoshopped the new pope holding an Italian beef sandwich and made at least 50 Malört jokes. buff.ly/hxnbaII

CPT just published a symposium on my book! huge thanks to Susan Bickford, @pollysigh.bsky.social, @nicolecurato.bsky.social, @jgastil.bsky.social, Victor Bruzzone, @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social for contributions that critique, stretch, & apply the book's argument in such generous & productive ways

Really great to see the Coalition for Independent Tech Research weighing in on the unethical Reddit experiment. independenttechresearch.org/a-case-for-e...

more good thoughts on this violation. i have to wonder if researchers' willingness to treat reddit as simply data (& not people) is exacerbated by either/both the site's anonymity and, maybe more importantly, its reputation.

this is so deeply messed up & i hope the research team is appropriately censured for it (if not, as it seems, by their IRB then by the rest of the academic communities they try to engage)

very much looking forward to this (virtual!) event with @hertieschool.bsky.social and Columbia World Projects, where i'll be talking how to design & govern digital platforms to promote democratic practice, incl. new thoughts on things like decentralized platforms/protocols & crowdsourced moderation!

(upper) midwest once again showing us all how to organize, mobilize, and protect democracy even when institutions are stacked against us

today my grad course on platform governance suggested that "we should change the name of this class to 'the redditization of the internet'" because of how often the conversation comes back to reddit as a good model. i've never felt called out so hard (😂)

i... i just...

tenure, if you can keep it.

the 2025 APT (@associationpt.bsky.social) conference is at LOYOLA CHICAGO this year, from November 6-8! deadline to submit an abstract* is tonight at 11:59p. join us in the city/on the lake! we'd love to have you! *you have to become a member to submit; membership is free

re-upping this for a new crowd (will do so again, sorry for the spam!) deadline is March 28. lmk if you want to talk!

loyola is hiring! an assistant professor of italian american studies, though the tenure home department will be determined by the candidate's background. please circulate widely! (and: if there are any POLITICAL THEORISTS who may fit the call, APPLY) lmk if you have questions! #poltheory #polisky

boy oh boy does arendt hit differently this semester:

happy to be in such great company!

We've also updated the list of highlights in ECR publishing to feature books by TJ Billard @billard.bsky.social, Jen Forestal @seejenspeak.bsky.social, Janice Gallagher, Sharan Grewal @sharangrewal.bsky.social, Adam Lerner @adamblerner.bsky.social, & Pascale Massot. academic.oup.com/pages/publis...

not too long ago i had a convo with a cousin, currently in HS, during which it became clear they did not know the difference between a cassette tape and a CD. ...my soul promptly left my body. i have not recovered.

Wikipedia is the last major, visible platform for facts that they can’t buy. The attacks are going to be merciless.

on one hand, this news comes as i'm finishing a new piece on crowdsourced content moderation as dem innovation-yay, relevance! OTOH, it's increasingly hard to take these initiatives seriously as democratic anything when it's so glaringly obvious that rhetoric is cover for bad (billionaire) actors.

i think this is generally right, though the algorithmic selection that Henry highlights is only one part of the issue. the ways these platforms structure relationships & interactions between users is just as (and maybe even more) significant.

you know the rules 🤷‍♀️

thanks all for sharing. we found someone! but for those who fit this description -- please be in touch with me! we often need adjuncts to teach theory classes (not this last-minute!). more broadly, i want to keep tabs on who is around as we continue building the chicago-area theory community!

YES.

anyone (know anyone) in Chicago available & interested to teach intro to theory for Loyola next semester? we had a part-time instructor leave unexpectedly and kinda leave us hanging!

new, from me! 👇

the grandpa in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is an absolutely horrible person who lays around watching as Charlie's mom does all the hard work then decides he's well enough to go have fun (taking the opportunity from her without a second thought, natch)

so i won't offer much by way of post-election analysis, except to say that i reread Dewey's "Creative Democracy" last week, as one does when they're despairing for democracy. & i think his analysis in 1939 is just as accurate for today, especially to explain the utter failure of democrats. 1/x

like everyone else, i seem to have gained a bunch of new followers. hi! this 👇 is a good succinct plug for what i do, though i (ironically?) tend to post, uh, inconsistently

this is the second time in about a week that i've been in a women's bathroom stall--in two VERY different parts of the country!--and seen a note like this, reminding women that they can secretly vote for harris.

or watched TV, I guess, since superstore covered this exact scenario perfectly: youtu.be/1hrmOper6OA?...

it's finally here! ENGAGING CITIZENSHIP is a labor of love, a textbook that introduces students to politics (and political science) by centering practices of democratic citizenship. we hope people find it useful! #polisky

🤷‍♀️

thanks to @us.theconversation.com for giving me some space to talk about my recent work on social media, democracy, and public shaming! #poltheory #polisky

imagine my surprise (AND ABSOLUTE DELIGHT!) to be listening to @ifbookspod.bsky.social and hear @michaelhobbes.bsky.social casually mention @dithomps.bsky.social and his super interesting work on (comparative, historical) state bureaucracies! #checkoutmyfriend #poltheory #polisky

very very excited to share that Abe Singer and I are hosting this workshop, "Democracy & Justice Above & Below the State," at Loyola Chicago this April! Please join us and share with anyone who may be interested! Register at forms.gle/wnbZ47mvyXuF... happy to answer questions!

very late to RT this, but thanks to @meritaina.bsky.social and @hansasenbaum.bsky.social for inviting me to take some space to articulate my (preliminary!) thoughts on incels, platform governance practices, and the creation of democratic norms/identities. poltheory polisky

happy to share that my article "Social Media, Social Control, & the Politics of Public Shaming" is out now--& open access!--at APSR. in it, i discuss online public shaming, network structure, and one european_douchebag (no, not Rousseau!) www.cambridge.org/core/journal...