In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Daniel Whelan-Shamy, a PhD student in the Digital Media Research Centre. They discuss Dan's PhD project, which looks at machine learning and the theoretical concept of simulation. Dan walks us through the changing definition of simulation over the centuries, and how it now applies to modern generative AI. Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Caroline Gardam, a PhD student in the Digital Media Research Centre. They discuss Caroline's PhD project, which looks at climate change scepticism and chemtrail conspiracy theories on the the platform Instagram. Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with Professor Daniel Angus, the Director of the Digital Media Research Centre. Recently, the DMRC responded to the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, appointed by the Australian Government. In this mini series, we will be chatting with scholars who contributed to the extensive DMRC submission. In part one, Dan provides an overview of the submission and discusses his specific work on advertising transparency on social media platforms. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sam Vilkins chats with Alice Fleerackers, a visiting postdoctoral fellow from the University of British Columbia, Canada. They discuss Alice's research, which focuses on science-based journalism. They also talk about what it means to be an interdisciplinary scholar and tips for academic conferences. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Hedvig Tønnesen, a visiting PhD student from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Sebastian and Hedvig discuss her PhD project, which explores the strategies of political parties on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter during the 2021 parliamentary election campaign in Norway. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, Sam Vilkins sits down with PhD student Kate FitzGerald to discuss conspiracy theories, particularly in the wake of the Donald Trump assassination attempt. You can read more of Kate's thoughts in her recent piece in The Conversation. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald sat down with Stephen Harrington, an Associate Professor at the Digital Media Research Centre. They discussed Stephen's recent Discovery Research Project grant from the Australian Research Council, which works to define and investigate dark political communication. They also chatted about US politics generally, the upcoming US election, and elements of dark political communication that are imported to Australian politics. Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Frederik Grønbæk Aarup, a visiting PhD student at the Digital Media Research Centre. They discuss Frederik's PhD project, which considers conspiracy theories in Denmark on Twitter. Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Tariq Choucair, a postdoctoral researcher at the the Digital Media Research Centre. This week is a double header, and Kate also had the opportunity to talk with Vinicius Ferraz, a visiting PhD candidate from Brazil. In this episode, we discussed the closure of X in Brazil, the context of this decision, and what this means for digital platforms and politics. Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sam Vilkins chats with John Cook, a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change at the University of Melbourne and visitor to the Digital Media Research Centre. They discuss John's work on challenging climate change denial and countering misinformation more broadly. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Niels G. Mede, visiting scholar and Senior Research and Teaching Associate at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), University of Zurich. Sebastian and Niels discuss his research into measuring science-related populism around the globe, and the challenges of running such large interdisciplinary and international projects. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with Professor Axel Bruns, the leader of the Digital Publics research group at the Digital Media Research Centre. Recently, the DMRC responded to the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society. In this mini series, we will be chatting with scholars who contributed to the extensive DMRC submission. In part two, Axel discusses the National Media Bargaining Code, the consequences for the Australian news media industry, and what alternatives might be available. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sam Vilkins chats with Dr Aleesha Rodriguez, a research fellow at QUT. They work within the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and research the often-overlooked demographic of children aged from birth to eight and their experiences on the internet. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Dr Sebastian Svegaard chats with Professor Axel Bruns, the leader of the Digital Publics research group at the Digital Media Research Centre. Recently, Meta shut down the online research tool, CrowdTangle. In this episode, Axel discusses the closure, what is next from Meta, and what the consequences might be for Australian researchers. Read Them Sideways is a new podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

You can read the article Sebastian referenced here:Meta just closed a vital online research tool. It’s bad news for the fight against misinformation

In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with DMRC Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Dr Ashwin Nagappa about his new project related to the Fediverse and alternative social media platforms. Ashwin takes us through what the Fediverse is, the history of alternative social media platforms, and what might be appealing about these spaces for users.

On 16th June, 2015, Donald Trump announced that he was running to be the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States. Ten years on, your host Sebastian Svegaard sits down with guests Stephen Harrington, Timothy Graham, Kateryna Kasianenko, and Kate FitzGerald to talk about the impact Trump has had on politics, both in the US, and around the globe.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, we introduce a new segment where your co-hosts Kate FitzGerald and Klaus Gröbner debunk a recent conspiracy theory or challenge misinformation. This week, we discuss the conspiracy theories that have emerged from the left side of the political aisle between the United States election and inauguration day in January 2025.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Sam Vilkins, co-host of the podcast and postdoctoral researcher at the Digital Media Research Centre. We chat about TikTok temporarily going dark, what the future holds for the platform, and where to next for TikTok users.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers and collaborators to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

Read Them Sideways is back from our summer hiatus! In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Stephen Harrington speaks with Ned Watt and Michelle Riedlinger, PhD candidate and Associate Professor at the Digital Media Research Centre, respectively. They discuss Meta's decision to stop using fact-checking in the United States, and the political and economic reasons behind this decision. They also speak to what it means for the future of Meta's platforms.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communication, digital media, internet studies, and more.

You can read the article in The Conversation by Ned, Michelle, and DMRC alum Silvia Montaña-Niño here: https://theconversation.com/meta-is-abandoning-fact-checking-this-doesnt-bode-well-for-the-fight-against-misinformation-246878.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Aljosha Karim Schapals, a Chief Investigator at the Digital Media Research Centre. They discuss the release of Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes, a significant work that Aljosha has recently co-edited. The book brings together accounts of media landscapes from 45 countries across the globe.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

If you or your institution are interested in purchasing Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes, you can do so at this link.

In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with Ned Watt about his new paper, The Art of the (Platform) Deal. In January 2025, the platform company Meta abruptly announced that it would be ending its industry-leading third-party fact-checking program starting with fact checkers in the United States. Ned and Kate chat about how this relates to his new paper and what the future of fact checking looks like under these new policy changes.

In this episode, your host Sebastian Svegaard chats with PhD candidate Vish Padinjaredath Suresh about Netflix's recent hit miniseries, Adolescence. Vish's research looks at radicalisation and the manosphere, specifically on Reddit and they share their expertise and perspective on the television show in today's episode.

A content warning for discussions of acts of gender-based violence that occur in the show. Also, of course, a spoiler warning for Netflix's Adolescence as all episodes are discussed.

In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with co-host turned guest Sam Vilkins about our analysis of Facebook and Instagram in the lead up to the Australian 2025 Federal Election. We talk about trends amongst parties and individuals, and the key themes of the election that are emerging in our data.

You can read our blog covering the campaign so far here.

You can also sign up as a 'citizen scientist' for the DMRC's TikTok data donation project at the website here.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Stephen Harrington chats with PhD researcher Carly Lubicz-Zaorski in the lead up to the 2025 Australian Federal election. They discuss the shifting discourses about climate and energy in the context of the federal election campaign, the nuclear power debate, and the strategies of delay and denial by fossil fuel lobby groups.

Show notes and further reading:

• ANU Annual Climate Update: https://iceds.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/anu-climate-update-2025-if-not-now-when
• The Carbon Club: https://www.uts.edu.au/about/uts-vision/initiatives/uts4climate/events/conversation-carbon-club-marian-wilkinson
• InfluenceMap narrative playbook: https://influencemap.org/briefing/Undermining-Progress-Investigating-the-Fossil-Fuel-Sector-s-Continual-Dominance-26562
• Discourses of Climate Delay (Lamb et al., 2020): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability/article/discourses-of-climate-delay/7B11B722E3E3454BB6212378E32985A7

Content warning: Discussions and examples of hate speech drawn from Meta's policies.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Lucinda Nelson, a PhD student in the Digital Media Research Centre, researching online misogyny. We discuss Meta's recent changes in their hate speech moderation, particularly as they relate to transgender people and other minority groups.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Dr Catherine Knight Steele. Catherine is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland - College Park. Her research focuses on race, gender, and media, with a specific emphasis on Black culture and discourse. She examines representations of marginalized communities in the media and how groups resist oppression and practice joy using online technology to create spaces of community. 

Sebastian chats with Catherine about the utility of "joy", and its relation with automation, technology, and digital feminism.

Catherine's most recent book, Digital Black Feminism, can be found at this link.

In this important episode of Read Them Sideways dedicated to the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Kateryna Kasianenko and Olga Boichak.

Kateryna is a PhD student at the Digital Media Research Centre where she researches the practices of online engagement with Russia’s war on Ukraine in Japan and globally. Olga is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney researching the role of information and communication technologies in shaping public perception and outcomes of wars.

You can read more about the North Atlantic Fella Organisation here. Kateryna and Olga recently published aresearch article about the North Atlantic Fella Organisation available here. Olga and her co-author Vadym Miskyi recently contributed a chapter on a resilient Ukrainian media ecosystem during wartime.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with William He, a machine learning engineer in the Generative AI Lab at the Digital Media Research Centre, along with Daniel Whelan-Shamy, a PhD candidate at the DMRC.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers and collaborators to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and more.

Some of the resources mentioned in this episode include:https://ainowinstitute.org/general/ai-generated-business#h-the-dream-of-agi-and-the-fully-automated-organizationhttps://darioamodei.com/on-deepseek-and-export-controls