Reimagining the Internet

Hosted by Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure

Technology Education

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Episodes

129

Latest episode

Jul 2025

Language

EN-US

About the show

Reimagining the Internet is a production of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at UMass Amherst, asking scholars, activists, journalists, and artists what is broken on the internet and how to fix it.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

July 30, 202552 min

117. Alondra Nelson, Biden’s Head of Science and Technology Policy, talks AI, Trump’s research funding cuts, and how memes replaced Happy Days

Alondra Nelson is arguably the most important sociologist of science in America. She isn’t just a brilliant researcher of how race and racism has shaped public health in America, nor just a thoughtful, savvy tech policy maker. She is also someone with a gift for communicating research and ideas on these huge, important matters in […]

June 25, 202544 min

116. How should governments use technology? To build trust, says Eric Gordon

Eric Gordon has spent his career as an social scientists trying to understand how city governments can use technology to better engage their citizens. But he’s learned that technology doesn’t matter if governments aren’t willing to listen and citizens don’t feel listened to. Add to surveillance technology to the mix, and technology doesn’t seem to […]

May 15, 202546 min

113. Deleting Everything with Dan Saltman

Dan Saltman is the founder of Redact, one of the very few tools that lets you delete data across many of your social media accounts. So why are there so few projects that put users in control of their data, like Dan’s? This week on Reimagining, we talk about the legal, technical, and market obstacles […]

April 30, 202535 min

112. Governing the Fediverse: Erin Kissane talks her groundbreaking study into how Mastodon is run (Part 2)

Part two of our interview with Erin Kissane is a deep dive into her work on the Fediverse. Why do people use it, how do they govern, and how can you, dear listener, get your own healthy Fediverse community going? Plus Erin talks about Blue Sky a lot. Erin Kissane runs wreckage/salvage, helmed the COVID […]

April 21, 202533 min

111. How Facebook Stoked Civil War in Myanmar, with Erin Kissane

In part one of our interview with researcher, designer and, in her own words, “ancient Internet person” Erin Kissane, we look at what happens when a platform swallows a whole society’s media landscape but abdicates all responsibility to the people using it. In this case, we’re talking about Myanmar but it’s understandable if your mind […]

April 2, 202548 min

110. Is there hope for democracy in a social media-driven world? Nathan Schneider sees it every day.

Nathan Schneider has spent roughly 15 years as a journalist and academic trying to understand democracy in the 21st century through Occupy Wall Street, cooperatives, the blockchain, and currently, federated social media. This week on Reimagining, Nathan explains how poor democracy on major social media platforms has eroded our actual democratic governance, and how practicing […]

March 20, 202544 min

109. Evelyn Douek, please tell us what is going on with the First Amendment and social media

The TikTok ban decision passed down by the Supreme Court late last year is a clear violation of First Amendment precedent, but President Trump’s refusal to enact it as law is a constitutional crisis in the making. We brought Stanford Law professor, rising First Amendment star scholar, and Moderated Content host Evelyn Douek on the […]

December 19, 202428 min

108. Internet of Gifts: The 5th Annual Reimagining Holiday Special

Ho ho ho, five years of Reimagining the Internet holiday specials! For this year’s edition we’re spreading holiday cheer by showering our dear listeners with gifts. From good Wikipedia rabbit holes to the gift of network effects, everyone here at iDPI is offering something from the heart. Links to some gifts mentioned in this episode: […]

August 21, 202443 min

107. How could a PBS of the Internet cultivate a more human web? Laurel Schwulst on a lighter weight Internet (Good Web)

For the final episode of our Good Web series, artist, designer, and educator Laurel Schwulst joins Mike to talk through her proposal for a PBS of the Internet. She describes how a PBS-like body that intentionally crafts the spaces, software, and information for a public good could crucial for creating an environment that rewards curisoity […]

August 7, 202447 min

106. What You Need to Know About Web Accessibility with Lola Odelola (Good Web)

Building a Good Web doesn’t just mean making the current Internet a nicer place, but making an Internet that everyone can use. This week Lola Odelola (Lola’s Lab, formerly of Bocoup) joins the Good Web series to talk about the fundamentals of web accessibility and the fascinating process the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) uses […]