What We Are Learning This Week with Instructor Dakoda Trithara!

February 27, 2023 in POLI 502 Advanced Topics Seminar in Politics: Platform Governance

Instructor Dakoda Trithara is exploring the governance challenges presented by online election content.

 

Can you tell us a little more about this topic?

Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of democracy. In today’s world, all political campaigns engage with the digital environment to reach voters and spread their message. There are also concerns about ‘fake news’ and disinformation operations. This week focuses on how governments and platforms address these challenges, particularly how to build effective institutions focused on bolstering transparency and public participation.

What else do you cover in your course?

This course explores the emerging phenomenon of platform governance, which is a concept focused on the governance relationships between key actors in today’s platform society. This includes social media platforms, users, advertisers, governments, and civil society organizations. Drawing on an interdisciplinary set of readings from fields including political science, law, communication & media, and surveillance studies, students critically engage with governance challenges related to online harms, private authority, election content, disinformation, democracy, and digital dictators.

What do you love about teaching this course?

What I love teaching about this course is seeing students connect with the readings. We discuss recent scholarship and topics that every student in class has engaged with in some way. What are the governance challenges presented by ChatGPT? How do geopolitics influence a state’s decision to ban TikTok? Why do companies such as Meta establish self-regulatory governance mechanisms like the Oversight Board? Students are responding in an overwhelmingly positive manner because they see a direct connection between the material we cover and the world around them.

Finally, what other courses would you recommend for students interested this topic?

While this course draws on an interdisciplinary collection of texts, there are several related political science courses that students can take if they are interested in this topic. This includes International Law, International Organizations, Global Political Economy, The Politics of Human Rights, and Selected Topics in International Law and Organizations (Private Power).

 

Our Thanks to Instructor Dakoda Trithara for sharing your course with us!

Follow Instructor Trithara on Twitter @dtrithara