Dean’s Lecture Series
David Plotz, 9/28/23 Speaker (Photo Credit: Steve McFarland)
The University of Maryland College of Information Studies (INFO) Dean’s Lecture Series brings together leaders in information and technology with community members to foster dialogue about critical issues at the intersection of people, information, and technology.
This series is an integral part of the college’s mission to promote learning, stimulate curiosity, spark innovative research, and create connections that increase our ability to improve lives and opportunities for people through information.
These free events are open to faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members interested in information science.
Upcoming Events
10/30/2024: Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality; a Dean’s Lecture Discussion with Renée DiResta
Renée DiResta
In Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality, Renée DiResta shifts our understanding of propaganda and influence in the digital age by focusing on the bottom-up dynamics of influencers and online crowds in shaping public opinion. She explores creator and platform incentives, as well as the struggles of institutions to understand and adapt to a networked communication ecosystem. This is not an abstract issue: DiResta covers her own experience with splintering realities and conspiracy theories, describing how online influencers turned her into a main character of an alternate reality that did not stay online, but was leveraged by Congressmen to further their own political power.
Join us for this talk as DiResta uses her work observing viral rumors during the 2020 election to explain how “invisible rulers” thrive today, and call attention to what this means for our collective understanding of truth and reality in a hyperconnected world.
Brought to you by the Deans of the UMD College of Information and the UMD Philip Merrill College of Journalism.