Bill Dutton had a productive and challenging week in Europe speaking about the Quello Center’s work on search and politics. The findings of our project, called ‘The Part Played by Search in Shaping Public Opinion’, suggested that concerns over fake news, echo chambers, and filter bubbles is ‘overhyped and underresearched’. The project was supported by Google, and the findings and methodology are publicly available online (see references), along with the slides I adapted for each of the particular talks. The slides are posted here: https://www.slideshare.net/WHDutton/search-and-politics-fake-news-echo-chambers-and-filter-bubbles-july2017 In Paris, on the 10th and 11th, Bill was able to speak at a UNESCO […]
As the Euro crisis enters a new high-risk phase pregnant with opportunity for either long-awaited progress or regrettable and widespread harm, I find myself pondering the value of research focused on how traditional and online/social media are treating the crisis and their role in easing or exacerbating its risks. Such a study might include how media coverage and social media dynamics vary across countries, media types and specific media channels, and how these correlate with public opinion in different countries and key decisions, events and outcomes related to the unfolding situation. There’s certainly a lot at stake in the crisis, […]
