Rural broadband illustration

Public Media and the Infrastructure of Democracy

Federal support for broadband expansion reflects the understanding that communication is as vital as roadways to the republic.
Flat vector illustration created from paper cut elements, hand drawn doodles and textures depicting mass surveillance and thin line between privacy and security concept.

Aspymmetrical Powers: Economic and Cyber Espionage

The lack of global governance over some acts of economic and cyber espionage is likely an intentional choice, one with varying benefits for state actors.
Mark Zuckerberg

Who Wants the Metaverse?

What exactly is the “metaverse,” and what could it be, beyond an overused, hyper-trendy prompt in marketing copy?
A computer screen with an old Wikipedia logo

Whatever Happened to the Open Internet?

There may be a way out of corporate control of the internet, but it probably starts with money.
Slender Man

The Horror!

If Dracula represented the collective fears of his day, what do the likes of Slender Man and other internet monsters tell us about the zeitgeist of right now?
A computer-generated image of the Project CyberSyn operations room

The Chilean Wide Web?

Salvador Allende’s attempt to network the national economy mirrored his government’s struggle to balance centralization and decentralization.
A hand holding a smartphone with a tumblr logo

How Tumblr Helps Youth Continue to Be Seen And Heard

Tumblr may be obsolete for the first generation or two of Internet users, but Gen Z has taken it on as a platform for representation online.
Pensive Caucasian man sitting on sofa near window

How the Internet Changed Chronic Illness

Online communities show that isolation doesn't have to define the experience of having a chronic disease.
Meme of woman laughing with the tagline, "Laughs with Sorrow in Spanish," just below her face

How to Meme What You Say

The linguistic theories behind what we're trying to say when we adapt and share internet memes.
A man looking at Reddit on a laptop

AITA for Being Obsessed with Ethics in Pop Culture?

Reddit's popular AITA forum lets readers post and weigh in on everyday ethical questions. But it isn't the first public venue for those discussions.