ICAT Playdate: Too Small to Fail: Social Networks and Community Groups in the Digital Age

Term: Fall 2026

Date: November 6th, 2026

Time: 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

Location: Community Assembly in the Creativity + Innovation District Living-Learning Community 

Instructors: Phyllis Newbill & Jennifer Lancaster,

Presented By: Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT)

Description:

Broad civic and political participation is critical to democratic societies. How has the use of the Internet and artificial intelligence affected participation? This talk takes a long view of the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) on participation in the US, especially at the community level (towns and city neighborhoods). Newspapers have traditionally been essential to keeping the citizenry informed and engaged politically. However, as sponsors have shifted their ad revenues to other online sites, most newspapers have disappeared; some moved online, but in recent years, citizens use social media for news not news organization sites. Many users do not follow news closely, but rather are merely exposed to short news clips on TikTok, Facebook or YouTube, among others. Artificial intelligence automates local news gathering and information delivery in e-newsletters with only two or three headlines from existing local news sites and many ads.

At the same time, AI has been a boon to news organizations, especially small newsrooms at the local level, where three or four journalists and staff are assisted by AI with many newsroom operations at low cost. For citizens, the Internet has made group formation easy both virtually and in geographic communities. The proliferation of groups has included growth in watchdog organizations that are essential to holding elected officials and corporate powers accountable. The early values of community network initiatives – build community, support social interaction, and facilitate civic engagement are coming full circle today with new initiatives. Public media are collaborating with other local organizations to provide not only aggregated news but also general information and community conversations. The vision is that public media organizations with assistance from AI expand their role beyond news delivery to become a central hub for news, general information, and social interaction. Community conversations hosted by public media websites are an alternative to social media where conversations can quickly be overwhelmed by hostile postings which discourages further participation. Several prominent examples of these recent innovations in civic technology design and social affordances are examined. The talk is based on a forthcoming book by the presenter with Cambridge University Press.

 

Speakers:

Andrea Kavanaugh, Associate Director Center for Human/Computer Interaction