When a chatbot’s words *are* its interface, how do we see the aesthetics of engagement they activate—and the politics they conceal? New article w/ @spold --> https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3744169.3744194

New paper, co-written with @spold and presented at Computing [X] Crisis in Aarhus last week. We introduce new methods of critique for the linguistic interfaces of genAI chatbots, theorize one of ChatGPT's central engagement mechanics as the "praise/prompt envelope," and preview two artworks that attune user senses to consciously see/feel the platform's aesthetics of engagement. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3744169.3744194

inspired by @pluralistic 's construction with enshittification, I think we need a new word to describe the ideological evolutions of Twitter/Facebook/TikTok due to their pandering CEOs and rightward shifts. entrumpification?

I expect when/if TikTok comes back up in the US, it will (be required to) insert endless videos by Trump into everyone's "For You" feed—regardless of whether the user wants that or not (just as X does with Elon's).

Whether or not TikTok goes dark in the US this Sunday, the looming shutdown exposes just how fragile and controlled our access to software has become.

Whether or not TikTok gets a reprieve, what the looming ban makes most palpable is how important it is to get (what feels to many like) public culture out of private big tech platforms.

for those newly reading an older post of mine calling for radical experimentation in social media, here's one of my own such experiments--> Minus is a finite social network where users get only 100 posts—for life. Try it at https://minus.social

we would not have Trump without algorithmic growth-obsessed big tech social media

the NY Times has figured out that misleading pro-Trump headlines and stories not only enrage its readership but ramp up engagement. so the trend is more and more of that.