Reimagining the Internet

Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure

Reimagining the Internet is a production of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at UMass Amherst, asking scholars, activists, journalists, and artists what is broken on the internet and how to fix it.

  1. 07/30/2025

    117. Alondra Nelson, Biden’s Head of Science and Technology Policy, talks AI, Trump’s research funding cuts, and how memes replaced Happy Days

    Alondra Nelson is arguably the most important sociologist of science in America. She isn’t just a brilliant researcher of how race and racism has shaped public health in America, nor just a thoughtful, savvy tech policy maker. She is also someone with a gift for communicating research and ideas on these huge, important matters in […]

    53 min

  2. 06/25/2025

    116. How should governments use technology? To build trust, says Eric Gordon

    Eric Gordon has spent his career as an social scientists trying to understand how city governments can use technology to better engage their citizens. But he’s learned that technology doesn’t matter if governments aren’t willing to listen and citizens don’t feel listened to. Add to surveillance technology to the mix, and technology doesn’t seem to […]

    44 min

  3. 05/15/2025

    113. Deleting Everything with Dan Saltman

    Dan Saltman is the founder of Redact, one of the very few tools that lets you delete data across many of your social media accounts. So why are there so few projects that put users in control of their data, like Dan’s? This week on Reimagining, we talk about the legal, technical, and market obstacles […]

    46 min

  4. 04/30/2025

    112. Governing the Fediverse: Erin Kissane talks her groundbreaking study into how Mastodon is run (Part 2)

    Part two of our interview with Erin Kissane is a deep dive into her work on the Fediverse. Why do people use it, how do they govern, and how can you, dear listener, get your own healthy Fediverse community going? Plus Erin talks about Blue Sky a lot. Erin Kissane runs wreckage/salvage, helmed the COVID […]

    35 min

  5. 04/21/2025

    111. How Facebook Stoked Civil War in Myanmar, with Erin Kissane

    In part one of our interview with researcher, designer and, in her own words, “ancient Internet person” Erin Kissane, we look at what happens when a platform swallows a whole society’s media landscape but abdicates all responsibility to the people using it. In this case, we’re talking about Myanmar but it’s understandable if your mind […]

    34 min

  6. 04/02/2025

    110. Is there hope for democracy in a social media-driven world? Nathan Schneider sees it every day.

    Nathan Schneider has spent roughly 15 years as a journalist and academic trying to understand democracy in the 21st century through Occupy Wall Street, cooperatives, the blockchain, and currently, federated social media. This week on Reimagining, Nathan explains how poor democracy on major social media platforms has eroded our actual democratic governance, and how practicing […]

    49 min

  7. 03/20/2025

    109. Evelyn Douek, please tell us what is going on with the First Amendment and social media

    The TikTok ban decision passed down by the Supreme Court late last year is a clear violation of First Amendment precedent, but President Trump’s refusal to enact it as law is a constitutional crisis in the making. We brought Stanford Law professor, rising First Amendment star scholar, and Moderated Content host Evelyn Douek on the […]

    44 min

  8. 12/19/2024

    108. Internet of Gifts: The 5th Annual Reimagining Holiday Special

    Ho ho ho, five years of Reimagining the Internet holiday specials! For this year’s edition we’re spreading holiday cheer by showering our dear listeners with gifts. From good Wikipedia rabbit holes to the gift of network effects, everyone here at iDPI is offering something from the heart. Links to some gifts mentioned in this episode: […]

    29 min
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About

Reimagining the Internet is a production of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at UMass Amherst, asking scholars, activists, journalists, and artists what is broken on the internet and how to fix it.

Information

  • Creator
    Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    129
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2021 Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure
  • Show Website
    Reimagining the Internet