LK Bertram | Instascholars: Making good data go viral in the disinformation age

Presented at the 2023 Toronto Public Tech Workshop, co-hosted by the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
Speaker: LK Bertram (Department of History, University of Toronto)
Paper title: “Instascholars: Making good data go viral in the disinformation age”
Abstract:
How do we make accurate data go viral? Outside of my work as an associate professor at the University of Toronto, I am also an anonymous “instaprof” who runs a large-scale open history class on Instagram. My work is driven by this question and is the focus of a new SSHRC-funded project on high-yield knowledge mobilization strategies for video-based social media algorithms. My paper offers an overview of some of the digital and algorithmic literacy that scholars need to produce high-engagement or “viral” content, endemic issues with bias, censorship, and safety on video-based social media platforms, and the opportunities for university communities to create new, steady streams of accessible, accurate content for these big digital publics.
Amid the early rise of the COVID-19 pandemic the World Health Organization argued that it was also facing a twin “infodemic,” or the widespread public distribution of “false or misleading information in digital environments.” While social media platforms have shouldered much of the blame for the infodemic, the WHO cautions us that the success of both misinformation and disinformation campaigns have only been made possible by a corresponding vacuum of quality data online. Indeed, most scientists and scholars largely avoid social media platforms. Though some have developed a presence on text-based platforms like Twitter, very few circulate research on the biggest video-based platforms like TikTok and Instagram, in spite of their intense popularity. This absence is problematic. A 2021 study revealed that 86% of North Americans turn to video-based content on social media as a news source. The collective academic avoidance of these massive audiences and their unchecked, largely unchallenged growth have made some of the biggest digital publics in the world easy prey for misinformation and disinformation campaigns with troubling agendas, from anti-transgender legislation to curriculum bans on topics like slavery.
Rather than simply providing an overview of the problem, this paper also offers attendees a discussion of some of the future possibilities and directions that can support stronger public access to academic research through video-based social medial platforms. It describes the benefits of stronger algorithmic literacy campaigns for academics and ways to prioritize and defend equity, safety, and sustainability in an unequal digital landscape. It closes with a step-by-step introduction to the five qualities of high-engagement (viral) content for attendees who are interested in building their own knowledge mobilization campaigns for TikTok and Instagram.
About the speaker
LK Bertram is a faculty member in the Department of History at the University of Toronto specializing in the delivery of critical historical data through social media algorithms and the history of migration, gender, sexuality, and colonialism in the 19th century North American West. She is the author of The Viking Immigrants: Icelandic North Americans (UTP 2020, Winner: CHA Clio Prize), and is currently finishing a book on the financial lives of sex workers in the 19th century West. Bertram's newest work focuses on how scholars can more effectively combat digital disinformation campaigns. As the anonymous curator of a large-scale public history campaign that hit 9 million views, she focuses on high-yield data packaging strategies for larger-scale publics using video-based algorithms. This new SSHRC-funded project asks: “How do we make good data go viral in the disinformation age?” Follow the project at @socialforscholars.
About the Toronto Public Tech Workshop
The Toronto Public Tech Workshop enables researchers from a wide range of disciplines to present new work that explores the use of technology for public purposes. Presenters will share and discuss ideas on how to leverage new and existing technologies for public purposes, integrate policy and governance considerations, and build successful partnerships that engage with democratic institutions and public values.
About the Schwartz Reisman Institute
Located at the University of Toronto, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society’s mission is to deepen our knowledge of technologies, societies, and what it means to be human by integrating research across traditional boundaries and building human-centred solutions that really make a difference.
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