This podcast features an interview with the keynote speaker Anja Bechmann (Aarhus University) of the conference and policy roundtable Media Platformisation and Small Nations, organized by the University of Helsinki in 2021.

The key themes include:
- What are the most crucial challenges posed to small nations by global platforms?
- What are some less discussed, less obvious problems that should be discussed in policy debates?
- Are there prospects for democratic global governance for digital platforms? How do you see the role of regional actors, most notably the EU? What is the impact of the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act?
- Can individual small nations take impactful governance measures? If so, what could those be?

The podcast is part of a collaboration with the NORDIS project https://nordishub.eu/

Prof. Anja Bechmann – Platformization Disinformation Small Nations

This podcast features an interview with the keynote speaker Steven Livingston (George Washington University, School of Media and Public Affairs) of the conference and policy roundtable Media Platformisation and Small Nations, organized by the University of Helsinki in 2021.

The key themes include:
- What are the most crucial challenges posed to small nations by global platforms?
- What are some less discussed, less obvious problems that should be discussed in policy debates?
- Are there prospects for democratic global governance for digital platforms? How do you see the role of regional actors, most notably the EU? What is the impact of the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act?
- Can individual small nations take impactful governance measures? If so, what could those be?

The podcast is part of a collaboration with the NORDIS project https://nordishub.eu/

Prof. Steven Livingson – Disinformation Moderation Gatekeeping

The volume Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Disruption
 argues that in a functioning democracy, citizens should be equally capable of making informed choices about matters of social importance.  In today's complex era of digital disruption, it is argued that it is not enough to speak about communication rights or even digital rights. We need a more comprehensive term to grasp the multifaceted challenges of the current situation to citizens, organizations, and democratic structures as a whole. The starting point for this volume is the need for 'epistemic equality.'

The podcast is based on a roundtable conversation between Lani Watson, author of The Right To Know: Epistemic rights and why we need them (2021), and the editors of this book, Minna Horowitz, Katja Lehtisaari, Hannu Nieminen, and Alessandro D'Arma. They discuss why epistemic rights are fundamental to our digital age, which institutions are central to their realization, and what issues need to be made more prominent in considering epistemic rights in academia and beyond. 

The 3 episodes:

EPISODE 1. Fundamental issues
EPISODE 2. Human rights and global dimensions
EPISODE 3. Future prospects

The volume is an open-access book, available in Winter 2023.

EPISODE 3 – Epistemic Rights: Future prospects (Roundtable, Pt. 3)

EPISODE 2 – Epistemic Rights:  Human rights and global dimensions (Roundtable, Pt. 2)

EPISODE 1 – Epistemic Rights: Fundamental issues (Roundtable, Pt. 1)

This podcast features an interview with Professor Risto Kunelius, University of Helsinki, co-director of DECA. His recent research includes work on the history and present of propaganda in the social media era, including a special journal issue, Return of Propaganda: https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/nordic-journal-media-studies/return-propaganda-vol-5-2023 .

The key themes of the interview include:
What defines propaganda?
How has digitalization changed the creation and spread of propaganda?
What are some recent developments in the research of propaganda?

The podcast is part of a collaboration with the NORDIS project https://nordishub.eu/

Prof. Risto Kunelius on Propaganda

Today, a handful of multinational platform corporations dominate global markets in social media, cloud infrastructure, digital search, digital advertising, mobile operations, and digital messaging. 

Opaque algorithms exacerbate the problem of access to trusted knowledge and increase social distrust. 

How democracies and welfare states respond to the challenges depends on their epistemic capacity: citizens’ ability to access reliable information and their right to participate in knowledge production and be recognized in public discussion. 

It also refers to the epistemic authority and accountability of key democratic institutions and their ability to provide legitimate, shared knowledge that serves decision-making and supports policy choices. 

This demands new insights on how datafied media systems and infrastructures intersect with existing societal and epistemic risks and vulnerabilities and the options and obstacles for effective policy. 

In October 2024, the Epistemic Challenges and Democratic Accountability in European Media conference brought together an interdisciplinary community of scholars and experts to assess the current challenges: new conditions of knowledge production, the responsibility of digital platforms, and the intersection of inequalities and technologies in a datafied and polarized communication landscape. https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/epistemic-challenges-and-democratic-accountability-european-media 

This two-part podcast series highlights the key insights from the four distinguished keynote speakers of the conference.

Episode 1: 
Prof. Hilde van den Bulck (Drexel University) and 
Associate Prof. Mike Annany  (University of Southern California=

Episode 2:
Prof. Eugenia Siapera (University College Dublin) and
Prof. Tarlach McGonagle (University of Amsterdam) 





DECA – Episode 1 Van den Bulck_Ananny

The Democratic Epistemic Capacities in the Age of Algorithms (DECA) project explores the systems, practices and issues related to the use of information at the various levels of society (individuals, institutions and digital infrastructures).  The research is funded by the Strategic Research Council. https://www.decatutkimus.fi/

DECA – Episode 1 Van den Bulck_Ananny

DECA project

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