Wohn, Hemphill and Roberts win NSF grant to study content moderation

Image from the NSF Future of Work initiative Thrilled to announce that, along with two colleagues, Donghee Yvette Wohn of NJIT and Libby Hemphill of UMich iSchool, we have won a $1.5 million grant to research and study decision-making and worker support of content moderation of social media. This is my first NSF win, so… Continue reading Wohn, Hemphill and Roberts win NSF grant to study content moderation

Science Magazine: “‘Dark pools’ of hate flourish online. Here are four controversial ways to fight them” – and my response

Portion of a figure from the Nature study depicting the transit of clusters of hate activity across and among platforms. An article from Eva Frederick in today's edition of Science gives some context and color commentary on a new study published in Nature that shows, among other things, how the circulation of cluster of online… Continue reading Science Magazine: “‘Dark pools’ of hate flourish online. Here are four controversial ways to fight them” – and my response

“The Cleaners,” commercial content moderation documentary, airs on PBS’s Independent Lens

UPDATE: The Cleaners is currently available for streaming for US audiences. At long last, The Cleaners makes its American wide-release début! The documentary film, first released this January at the Sundance film festival and making appearances at Hot Docs, Human Rights Watch Film Festival and other festivals around the world, will air tonight on the… Continue reading “The Cleaners,” commercial content moderation documentary, airs on PBS’s Independent Lens

Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media now available for pre-order

As of yesterday, my book eight years in the making is now available for pre-order. The book is Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadow of Social Media and will be published by Yale University Press. You may pre-order direct from the Press if you prefer, or you may also find it at Amazon.… Continue reading Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media now available for pre-order

First(?) Academic Job to Reference “Content Moderation” Appears at Michigan

Saving here as much for posterity as to share it, the following announcement for a position in Michigan's School of Information for the 2018-19 has appeared. Of particular interest to me, and likely to many readers, is the fact that the job as specifically mentions "content moderation" as an area of specialization. To my knowledge,… Continue reading First(?) Academic Job to Reference “Content Moderation” Appears at Michigan

Google brings AI tool to arsenal in anti-child sexual exploitation fight – for whose benefit?

An article from The Verge today described a new AI tool released by Google and intended to assist in the (sadly) unending battle to control the circulation of child sexual exploitation (CSE) material (also known as child sexual abuse material and, incorrectly, as "child pornography") online. This tool is intended to work alongside extant technologies… Continue reading Google brings AI tool to arsenal in anti-child sexual exploitation fight – for whose benefit?

Update: ARTE’s Trailer Not Removed, But the Confusion Is the Story

Yesterday, I wrote about the case of what appeared to have been a removal of a trailer for the documentary film The Cleaners. I'll point you to that post so that I don't need to rehash it too much here and I can get right to the update.   Here's the update. This morning (US-time), the… Continue reading Update: ARTE’s Trailer Not Removed, But the Confusion Is the Story

“The Cleaners,” Cleaned – Google’s YouTube Removes Trailer for Content Moderation Documentary, Citing “Shocking Content”

PLEASE SEE THIS UPDATE FOR IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION Today, news from France: it seems the French outlet of the Franco-German television channel ARTÉ (known as ARTE in Germany) has found itself on the wrong side of Google and YouTube's opaque and mysterious content moderation policy for videos. The irony? The video that has been removed is a… Continue reading “The Cleaners,” Cleaned – Google’s YouTube Removes Trailer for Content Moderation Documentary, Citing “Shocking Content”