Coming Out of the Dog Days of Summer
Coming Out of the Dog Days of Summer
This is the time of planning and preparing for a crazy Fall
My condo is an absolute disaster right now. In addition to remodeling my primary bathroom (which has been torn up since the beginning of June), I also decided that I absolutely had to reorganize every closet, cupboard, and drawer. I’ve purchased boxes and boxes of The Home Edit product from The Container Store and Walmart. Some more were delivered as I sit here typing. I’ve been watching their old episodes on Netflix. I’ve put in one new Elfa closet system already and have five more on the way.
I’m also trying to remodel my lifestyle. I let things go during COVID and it’s time for me to eat healthier, drink less, and exercise more. This means going nuts on fresh fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market and starting back up my religious tracking of all the health data - steps, sleep, glucose, calories, weight, and water. I got bored with my Peloton last year and so I’m selling that and trying to decide what my new exercise will be. I’m starting with walking with a little bit of hope that the ankle I sprained in 2019 will be healed enough that perhaps I take running back up again.
Turns out taking care of yourself causes you to have A LOT of energy. This is good given my aggressive organizing plans, but it also means my mind is going wild with work project ideas. I’m bouncing back and forth between doing the analysis of the tech and election history database that was launched Monday, trying to put pen to paper about how we should evaluate tech companies’ efforts for the midterms (I promise this will come, I just really want to be fair and it’s taking me a bit longer than I thought to feel good about this), and a bunch of other projects I can’t talk about yet. Needless to say, my brainstorming docs are going wild.
The fall schedule is filling up FAST and I already feel bad because I know I’m going to have to change some plans. The scheduling needle I’m trying to thread is complicated, but I’m hopeful I can because there are so many interesting things happening.
Just last week Meta and Twitter announced additional plans for Brazil and US Midterms respectively. The FEC ruled that Google can go forward with its email program to losen spam filters for political emails. Last night I discovered on Twitter that the lead academics working with Meta to research the 2020 election have submitted a panel to SXSW so I’m really hoping it means that research will be coming out in the latter half of this year. I’ve been asked to write a paper on how the platforms should handle Trump and if he should be let back on. I’ll be speaking at the Knight Foundation Informed conference in late November. We still don’t know who won the Kenyan election. There are a bunch of other things I’ll be doing/releasing that I can’t talk about yet either.
So much for August being quiet. It’s a foolish lie I tell myself every year, and in some ways it is but I tend to use that quietness in other areas to prepare for the rest of the year. It’s also the time for me to continue trying to catch my first rockfish in the Chesapeake. Last night we could see them and they would only nibble at our bait. They mocked us. At least we had a beautiful full moon rising and I taught my friends’ two kids how to fish. They loved it even if we didn’t catch anything. That said, if anyone is an avid rockfisherperson and has some tips please reach out. I have so many questions.
What I’m Reading
Land of Giants: The Facebook Election
New York Times: How Russian Propaganda Is Reaching Beyond English Speakers
MIT Technology Review: Social media is polluting society. Moderation alone won’t fix the problem
Washington Post - FEC greenlights Google plan to loosen spam filters, overcoming Democratic challenge
Politico Morning Tech: Italian election disinfo
Daily Beast: Don’t Be So Certain That Social Media Is Undermining Democracy
Brazilian Report: Why banks are now voicing concern about Brazilian democracy
The Verge: Gmail is now officially allowed to spam-proof politicians’ emails
Reuters: Twitter plan to fight midterm misinformation falls short, voting rights experts say
Politico: 5 questions for Nick Clegg
Think Tanks/Academia/Government
Pew Research Center: Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022
U.S. Congress: Representatives Malinowski, Cheney, Crow and Wilson Introduce the Bipartisan Madeleine K. Albright Democracy in the 21st Century Act
Integrity Institute: The Hidden Economy of Spam
Atlantic Council DFR Lab: Colombian PR firms used Facebook ads to spread disinfo on presidential candidates
Adrienne Sheares, MA: Why Gen Z is Using TikTok for Search
Companies
Twitter: Our approach to the 2022 US midterms
Job Openings
U.S. House of Representatives: Software Engineer
Freedom House: Policy and Advocacy Officer or Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer, Technology and Democracy
There are **many** open positions at Freedom House. Check them out here: https://freedomhouse.org/about-us/careers
National Endowment for Democracy: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program
Democracy Works: Openings for software engineer and director of HR
Atlantic Council DFR Lab: Variety of positions open. More info at link.
Atlantic Council: #DigitalSherlocks Scholarships
Meta Oversight Board: Variety of positions open. More info at link.
National Democratic Institute (NDI): Variety of positions open. More info at link.
Protect Democracy: Technology Policy Advocate
Calendar
Topics to keep an eye on that have a general timeframe of the first half of the year:
Facebook 2020 election research
Oversight Board opinion on cross-check
Senate & House hearings, markups, and potential votes
August: Angola elections
September 6 - 8: Code 2022 - Vox/Recode Silicon Valley Conference
September 11 - Sweden elections
September 13 - New Hampshire Primary (Hassan defending Senate seat)
September 13 - 27: UN General Assembly
Sept 20 - High level general debate begins
September 21-23: Atlantic Festival
September 27 - 28: Trust Con
September 28 - 30: Athens Democracy Forum
September 29 - 30: Trust and Safety Research Conference
October: Twitter/Musk Trial (Dates not set yet)
October 2 and 30: Brazil
October 15 - 22: SXSW Sydney
October 17: Twitter/Musk Trial Begins
November 8: United States Midterms
March 10 - 19: SXSW
March 20 - 24, 2023: Mozilla Fest
Events to keep an eye on but nothing scheduled: