The Information Animal

Alicia Wanless
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  • Technology

A podcast exploring the human relationship to the information environment drawing on the book of the same name.

Episodes

  1. Oct 20

    Claire Wardle on The Information Animal Podcast

    Dr. Claire Wardle, Associate Professor of Communication at Cornell University, was thinking about the information environment as a system long before most people were. In this episode she and Alicia talk about why that systemic view still gets lost, and what it costs us. We also cover: Why public service broadcasters like the BBC and CBC are struggling to reach a fragmented audienceThe harm of a constant “drip, drip, drip” of content that never crosses any single legal thresholdPaywalls, AI scraping, and who actually pays for local newsWhy polarization feels like a crisis nationally but much less so at the dog parkAnd Claire’s argument that conspiracy theorists often listen better than institutions doClaire is a leader in the field of misinformation, verification and user generated content. In 2015, Claire co-founded the non-profit First Draft, a pioneer in innovation, research and practice in the field of misinformation. She went on to co-found the Information Futures Lab at Brown University’s School of Public Health. Over the past decade she has developed an organization-wide training program for the BBC on eyewitness media, verification and misinformation, led social media policy at UNHCR, been a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and been the Research Director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Claire also happens to be a collaborator on our work assessing national information ecosystems. About The Information Animal Podcast The Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from a book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series covers concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment. The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality. Watch past episodes.

  2. Sep 28

    Heidi Tworek on The Information Animal Podcast

    This episode Dr. Heidi Tworek joins us to explain why "unprecedented" is often the wrong word for today's information challenges, and why infrastructure and business models matter as much as content. Heidi is a Canada Research Chair, professor of history and public policy at the University of British Columbia, and director of UBC's Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Heidi's research traces how new communications technologies have shaped democracy, from German efforts to use radio to influence global politics across the Kaiserreich, Weimar, and Nazi eras, to today's debates over platforms, submarine cables, and digital sovereignty. They discuss: Why a historical lens lowers the rhetorical temperature and pushes policymakers to think in decades, not election cyclesHow government structures shaped whether the UK and US saw German propaganda as a broadcasting problem or an espionage problem, and what that means for siloed mandates todayThe limits of awareness-raising as a response to foreign interferenceWhy most of what we "know" about technology and elections comes from a handful of English-speaking democracies, and what South Korea, Brazil, and Japan reveal insteadThe difficulty of establishing causality in communicationsPaper books, digital formats, and whether the historical record will surviveThe Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from a book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series covers concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment.  The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is also the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality published by Hurst and OUP.

  3. Aug 17

    David Scales on The Information Animal Podcast

    Dr. David Scales from Weill Cornell Medicine joins The Information Animal podcast to discuss the importance of information to humans and society, and how Information Science can help us understand these relationships. David is an internal medicine hospitalist whose training in sociology, epidemiology, and medicine grounds his work on how structural factors shape health information environments. In addition to serving on the board of Questscope and providing medical assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan, he co-founded a CHW program in the Levant, now serving as its research and program advisor. The Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from a book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series covers concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment.  The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: HumanThe Information Animal podcast to discuss the importance of information to humans and society, and how Information Science can help us understand these relationships.

  4. Jul 6

    Libby Hemphill on The Information Animal Podcast

    Dr. Libby Hemphill from the University of Michigan joins The Information Animal podcast to discuss the importance of information to humans and society, and how Information Science can help us understand these relationships. The Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from a book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series covers concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment.  The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality. Watch past episodes.

  5. Apr 17

    Information Competition and the American Civil War

    What if the cracks we're seeing in today's information environment aren't unprecedented — but part of a pattern? This episode of the Information Animal Podcast examines how escalating information competition between two communities and differently changing conditions in the information ecosystem helped pull the United States toward civil war in the 19th century. The Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from the book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series covers concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment. The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality.

    Information Competition and the American Civil War

  6. Mar 23

    What is an information ecosystem?

    Information ecosystems have existed as long as humans have been able to communicate, yet they remain poorly understood. It’s one of those terms that is often used, but seldom defined, and when it is, it can mean something slightly different with each mention. Each field sees information ecosystems through its own lens. This episode explores the concept, using Canada as an example, and asking how sovereign is the Canadian information ecosystem? The Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from a book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series will cover concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment. This episode also draws on and mentions several other articles including: Canada needs a national strategy for the information ecosystem—not just its parts: https://www.hilltimes.com/2026/01/26/canada-needs-a-national-strategy-for-the-information-ecosystem-not-just-its-parts/488864/ The truth about the CBC in Northern Canada by L.E. Fox https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/the-truth-about-the-cbc-in-northern-canada/ The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality.

    What is an information ecosystem?

  7. Feb 4

    How can physical ecology help us understand the information environment?

    This episode offers up sad dad jokes and definitions - what more could anyone want? But seriously, join us in an exploration of how approaches from physical ecology can help build a field of information ecology fit for understanding the information environment and find solutions for problems within ecosystems. The Information Animal Podcast draws on ideas from a book of the same name, exploring modern and historic information ecosystems. This limited series will cover concepts like information competition and how an emerging field of information ecology can help us understand the human relationship to the modern information environment. The series is hosted by Dr. Alicia Wanless, who is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking for the governance of national information ecosystems. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality.

    How can physical ecology help us understand the information environment?

  8. Jan 12

    So Cavalier: The Early Modern English Information Ecosystem

    This episode of The Information Animal Podcast jumps back to the early 1600s in England and its near abroad, exploring why the English information ecosystem was such a challenge for King Charles I - and more importantly, why the changes happening within it matter today. Bonus points for any viewers who find the parallels with our current situation. The podcast draws on the book The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality.

    So Cavalier: The Early Modern English Information Ecosystem
  • 8 Episodes

About

A podcast exploring the human relationship to the information environment drawing on the book of the same name.

Information

  • Creator
    Alicia Wanless
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    8
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Alicia Wanless
  • Show Website
    The Information Animal