Social Media &

Environmentalism
ENV 361

We’ll get started at 10:10am


In the meantime, make yourself comfortable 

and review your notes from the readings
Social Media &
Environmentalism
ENV 361
 Today’s Agenda
• Prof Easterbrook’s guest lecture postponed (date tbd)

• Polarization and Misinformation

• Introduction to Design Continued

• Peer Feedback on Design Ideas and Stakeholders

 Course Overview
Foundations

Class Overview

Introduction to Social Computing and Design Research

Causes for Concern


Environmental Consequences of Computing

Polarization and Disinformation

From Persuasion to Addiction

Sources of Hope

Sharing Knowledge

Collaboration

Activism

Ways Forward

Designing Pro-Social Media

Governing the Internet Commons

Dismantling and Withdrawal
Polarization and Misinformation
Influencers & Power Laws
Influencers & Power Laws

Influencers

Long tail
 The Attention Economy - Polarization for Profit?
“If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold”

Social media platforms funded by: Influencers rewarded by:

- Advertising (clicks and views)
- Advertising fees from platform (based on
clicks and views)

- Aggregate data about (your) online behavior
(used to improve advertising)
- Brand partnerships

- Users paying to avoid advertising - Renown and popularity (used to sell you
stuff)
 The Attention Economy - Polarization for Profit?
“If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold”

Social media platforms funded by: Influencers rewarded by:

- Advertising (clicks and views)
- Advertising fees from platform (based on
clicks and views)

- Aggregate data about (your) online behavior
(used to improve advertising)
- Brand partnerships

- Users paying to avoid advertising - Renown and popularity (used to sell you
stuff)

Content that is inflammatory, provocative, or 


emotional tends to attract more attention!


How often do you come across
conspiracy theories or other kinds
of misinformation online?
1. Hardly ever
2. Sometimes
3. Every time I look at the computer
Confirmation Bias Filter Bubbles


How often do you seek out
information from other points of view?
1. Hardly ever
2. Sometimes
3. Every time I look at the computer
 Bots and Climate Debates Online

Marlow et al 2021,: Bots and online climate discourses: Twitter discourse on President Trump’s announcement of U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
Overlapping Conspiracies
Where does this lead us?
Where does this lead us?
 Technological Determinism?
Belief that
innovations in
technology
are the main
factors that
drive history,
social change,
the economy,
and politics
5 minute break

Fiji - Shavika Maharaj

Design
What is design?
“Ontological design is the design discipline concerned with
designing human experience. It does so by operating under
one essential assumption: that by designing objects, spaces,
tools and experiences, we are in fact designing the human
being itself. And the ability to design human beings is going
to be central to survive the technological shifts of the coming
decades with even a semblance of agency.”

- Daniel Frega, Ontological Design Manifesto

Research through design

research that employs the methods, practices, and processes of design practice
with the intention of generating new knowledge.

- Zimmerman and Forlizzi - 2014

Expert vs User-Centered Design
Source: 2014 Design Council
 Design Ideas
• New social media platform
• Change to interface or rules of an existing
platform
• Communications campaign aimed at
addressing environmental issues
 Stakeholders
• Primary stakeholders
People / groups directly affected, in
a positive or negative way by your
design
• Secondary stakeholders
people / groups indirectly affected,
either positively or negatively
• Key stakeholders
Have power / resources to enable
or prevent success
(might not belong to either group
above)
 Goals

Why questions

How questions
Assignment 1: Social Media Design
• Brainstorm and choose a design idea - Flare
• Clarify your design goal - Focus
• Brainstorm stakeholders & their goals - Flare
• Create Personas - Focus
• Brainstorm and create Storyboards - Flare
• Critically evaluate your design - Focus
Personas
 What Makes a Good Persona?
• Realistic
• Enough detail to be interesting
• Understanding of goals and motivations
• Reflective of important user groups
Storyboarding
Storyboarding
Low-Tech Storyboarding
 Critical Reflections
• What are the strengths and weakness of your design?
• What else would be needed to complete the design
and implement it?
• How successful do you think it would be in
accomplishing your goals?
• What did you learn about the problem space as a
result of this design process?
2 Minute Break

Creme Brûlée by Nina Shing Yi Ma

Peer Feedback on Design Ideas and Stakeholders
Further Reading
 Next Week
• From Persuasion to AddicSon
• No Reading Responses
• Assignment 1 (DraU) Due!
• No Tutorial
Social Media &
Environmentalism
ENV 361