iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

iDPI at UMass Amherst @idpiumass.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

The BBC just published an excellent dive into Ryan's (@antisomniac.bsky.social), Kevin's (@ze.vin), and Ethan's (@ethanz.bsky.social) random sampling work on YouTube, with visualizations based on data pulled from from Kevin's fantastic TubeStats project. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

bbc.com

How a computer that 'drunk dials' videos is exposing YouTube's secrets

YouTube is about to turn 20. An unusual research method is unveiling statistics about the platform that Google would rather keep secret.

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Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

Ryan McGrady @antisomniac.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Really happy with this piece about the social media scraping crackdown, effects on research, bipartisan importance of ensuring such research is possible, & permissioned vs. unpermissioned research. @techpolicypress.bsky.social (with @ethanz.bsky.social & @ze.vin) www.techpolicy.press/ai-companies...

techpolicy.press

AI Companies Threaten Independent Social Media Research | TechPolicy.Press

UMass Amherst researchers argue that researcher access to social media data should be one of the rare things all political factions in the US can agree on.

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Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Researchers Ryan McGrady, Ethan Zuckerman, and Kevin Zheng argue that if we want responsible policy about social media, it begins with making it possible for American researchers to answer fundamental questions about how social media is shaping our public discourse. buff.ly/4hglUdV.

buff.ly

AI Companies Threaten Independent Social Media Research | TechPolicy.Press

UMass Amherst researchers argue that researcher access to social media data should be one of the rare things all political factions in the US can agree on.

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 25/12/2024

my favorite albums of 2024 — featuring lizzy mcalpine, charli xcx, clairo, katy kirby, carol ades, maude latour, and more! (full list in alt text)

a 5x5 grid of the following album covers:
1. Lizzy McAlpine - Older (and Wiser)
2. Charli xcx - Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat
3. Clairo - Charm
4. Katy Kirby - Blue Raspberry
5. Carol Ades - Late Start
6. Maude Latour - Sugar Water
7. Rachel Chinouriri - What A Devastating Turn of Events
8. Abby Holliday - CRACK A SMILE COME ON STAY A WHILE
9. Madi Diaz - Weird Faith
10. Jordana - Lively Premonition
11. Katie Gavin - What a Relief
12. Michelle - Songs About You Specifically
13. Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet
14. Remi Wolf - Big Ideas
15. Trella - expiration date
16. Grace Enger - The Alchemist
17. The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy
18. Annika Bennett - Live From Mother Earth
19. Melt - If There’s a Heaven
20. Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs a Hero
21. Odie Leigh - Carrier Pigeon
22. Sammy Rae & The Friends - Something for Everybody
23. Bonny Light Horseman - Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free
24. Caity Krone - Nose Job
25. Jo Hill - girlhood.

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 18/12/2024

TubeStats.org, our platform transparency dashboard for YouTube developed at @idpiumass.bsky.social, was referenced in @washingtonpost.com! www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

screenshot of an excerpt of the linked article on The Washington Post's website

Kevin Zheng, a researcher at the University of Michigan, co-founded TubeStats.org, a website that tracks YouTube content statistics. With his collaborators, he published an academic article that tried to quantify the percentage of YouTube videos with small audiences. The paper found that there is "another" YouTube apart from the most popular accounts and videos — one where people "store video or share content with a small audience (from classroom assignments to video greetings for friends to simulcast religious services)" — and that this part of YouTube is more common than the ones that aim for virality.

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 15/12/2024

happy to have helped with organizing this workers’ inquiry into “ai” at umich (graphic design is my passion 😌) I’m excited to see what workers at other universities/workplaces can come up with when they work together to counter narratives of “ai” inevitability and address algorithmic harms at work!

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Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

Edward Ongweso Jr @edwardongwesojr.com · 21/11/2024

For the December issue of The New Republic, I reviewed AI SNAKE OIL. For those learning about AI, it offers a lot: exegesis of technical details, a taxonomy to sift through different algorithmic systems, and a depoliticized history that taints the book’s analysis. newrepublic.com/article/1883...

newrepublic.com

AI Scams Are the Point

Propaganda and deceit are a feature of AI, not its downfall.

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 21/11/2024

i'm back on bluesky...with more friends this time! check out this starter pack of all my awesome information phd colleagues at umich!! go.bsky.app/QcSqJrU

go.bsky.app

school of information, university of michigan

Join the conversation

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 21/12/2023

Our team's paper, "Dialing for Videos: A Random Sample of YouTube," is out now in @journalqd.bsky.social. We analyzed 10,000 random YouTube videos through metadata analysis, a spoken language identification model, and hand-coding. Here are our 5 main takeaways:

journalqd.org

Dialing for Videos: A Random Sample of YouTube | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digi...

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Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 11/05/2023

VERY excited to delve into: loud men talking loudly report on exclusionary cultures of internet governance – corinne cath. www.criticalinfralab.net/wp-content…

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Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

Read the book Read Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) @jphillll.bsky.social · 07/05/2023

waking up and checking bluesky immediately

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 07/05/2023

went to gay church (muna show) last night 🤠

muna performing at the roadrunner in boston

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 04/05/2023

this past weekend in dc, i learned that the smithsonian was named after some british guy named smithson??? and he’s entombed in this castle???

view of the smithsonian castle from the national mall on a partly cloudy day

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Reposted by kevin zheng 🍯

merritt @merrittk.com · 03/05/2023

This morning, I ground some roasted beans then irrigated them with water. I drank the resulting liquid. And you won’t guess what happened next. I experienced higher levels of energy and productivity. And I want to share this experience with you. Are you ready to join me on this journey?

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 28/04/2023

me and my best friend (my roommate’s dog Bourbon) love to look wistfully out the window

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 20/04/2023

saw caroline polachek in boston and her voice is incredible 😍

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 12/04/2023

what should i get from costco today

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kevin zheng 🍯 @ze.vin · 12/04/2023

wearing blue pants in honor of joining blue sky (not planned)

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