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

“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

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”

New article: Digital detritus: ‘Error’ and the logic of opacity in social media content moderation

Announcing a new article on the politics of commercial content moderation: Digital detritus: 'Error' and the logic of opacity in social media content moderation. This article is part of a special issue of First Monday devoted to gender and digital labor, edited by Carolyn Elerding, Roopika Risam and Radhika Gajjala. The issue also features contributions from… Continue reading New article: Digital detritus: ‘Error’ and the logic of opacity in social media content moderation

CCM in the Atlantic connects phenomenon to key questions of democracy

I'm pleased to report that, after many, many months in the works, my article on commercial content moderation has appeared in the Atlantic today. The story has taken many forms over the past few months of work on it, and has undergone necessary evolutions in response to rapid developments in social media-related conversations, and public pushback… Continue reading CCM in the Atlantic connects phenomenon to key questions of democracy

WIRED Publishes Piece on Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) in Philippines; US

After many months of anticipation, journalist Adrian Chen's piece on commercial content moderation as practiced in BPO (business process outsourcing) sites in the Philippines is out in WIRED magazine today. In it, Chen focuses on the employees of a US firm, TaskUs, whose employees are laboring on behalf of Silicon Valley social media startup Whisper and… Continue reading WIRED Publishes Piece on Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) in Philippines; US