Dr Agata Stepnik
@dragatastepnik.bsky.social
Post-doc researcher of social media users, algorithms, and the news. Eater of vegan noms. Connoisseur of 🐈 memes. University of Sydney.
Reposted by Dr Agata Stepnik
This is what peak masculinity looks like in 2025
January 25, 2025 at 11:09 PM
This is what peak masculinity looks like in 2025
Reposted by Dr Agata Stepnik
My first ever paper, in Royal Society Open Science shows how large language models can cluster short text more effectively than traditional methods—letting researchers condense massive social media corpora into easy-to-digest groups.
Check it out: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Check it out: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Human-interpretable clustering of short text using large language models | Royal Society Open Science
Clustering short text is a difficult problem, owing to the low word co-occurrence
between short text documents. This work shows that large language models (LLMs) can
overcome the limitations of tradit...
royalsocietypublishing.org
January 26, 2025 at 6:00 AM
My first ever paper, in Royal Society Open Science shows how large language models can cluster short text more effectively than traditional methods—letting researchers condense massive social media corpora into easy-to-digest groups.
Check it out: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Check it out: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
I lined up for over two hours last night to see #putricia.
Was she really that stinky? Honestly… not really. Somehow familiar and sweeter than I expected. Kinda Parmesan-y, with a side of fruit that’s been left inside a hot car.
Was it worth it?
Yes, of course ☺️
Was she really that stinky? Honestly… not really. Somehow familiar and sweeter than I expected. Kinda Parmesan-y, with a side of fruit that’s been left inside a hot car.
Was it worth it?
Yes, of course ☺️
January 24, 2025 at 12:43 AM
I lined up for over two hours last night to see #putricia.
Was she really that stinky? Honestly… not really. Somehow familiar and sweeter than I expected. Kinda Parmesan-y, with a side of fruit that’s been left inside a hot car.
Was it worth it?
Yes, of course ☺️
Was she really that stinky? Honestly… not really. Somehow familiar and sweeter than I expected. Kinda Parmesan-y, with a side of fruit that’s been left inside a hot car.
Was it worth it?
Yes, of course ☺️
The front row at the inauguration... Pretty telling sign of what's to come over the next 4 years. If like me you're trying to get your head around what this means for comms and media scholars, consider joining #ICA25 our pre-conference on Media, Trust & Technology at CU Boulder on June 11th.
January 20, 2025 at 11:37 PM
The front row at the inauguration... Pretty telling sign of what's to come over the next 4 years. If like me you're trying to get your head around what this means for comms and media scholars, consider joining #ICA25 our pre-conference on Media, Trust & Technology at CU Boulder on June 11th.
Reposted by Dr Agata Stepnik
Yes it's obviously bad Facebook is getting rid of fact checkers, but no amount of Meta-funded fact checkers would address the real problem of the entire digital commons and all forms of public socialising and communication being captured by and dependent on for-profit tech companies.
January 8, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Yes it's obviously bad Facebook is getting rid of fact checkers, but no amount of Meta-funded fact checkers would address the real problem of the entire digital commons and all forms of public socialising and communication being captured by and dependent on for-profit tech companies.
Reposted by Dr Agata Stepnik
Don't get me wrong. A tax on Big Tech to support journalism is a solid idea, but this "negotiate or else" setup is broken. It shouldn’t be a backstop for failed deals; it should be the system! A transparent, fair tax with clear quality benchmarks would serve the public far better than backroom deals
December 12, 2024 at 6:50 AM
Don't get me wrong. A tax on Big Tech to support journalism is a solid idea, but this "negotiate or else" setup is broken. It shouldn’t be a backstop for failed deals; it should be the system! A transparent, fair tax with clear quality benchmarks would serve the public far better than backroom deals
Reposted by Dr Agata Stepnik
I was given about 35 seconds to write a quick update for The Conversation on the news media bargaining code and what is essentially the Albanese govt trying to force Meta back to the bargaining table with a a fully offset levy. You can read about it here: theconversation.com/news-bargain...
News bargaining incentive: the latest move in the government’s ‘four-dimensional chess’ battle with Meta
The government has been playing ‘four-dimensional chess’ to work out how to drag big tech back to the bargaining table with news publishers. So, will this new scheme work?
theconversation.com
December 12, 2024 at 7:54 PM
I was given about 35 seconds to write a quick update for The Conversation on the news media bargaining code and what is essentially the Albanese govt trying to force Meta back to the bargaining table with a a fully offset levy. You can read about it here: theconversation.com/news-bargain...
Realising you haven't posted in 12 months... probably time to **post something**
So, here's my article for the AANZCA 2023 special issue of Communication Research and Practice - I probably didn't need to wait for the issue to come out to share, but still!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
So, here's my article for the AANZCA 2023 special issue of Communication Research and Practice - I probably didn't need to wait for the issue to come out to share, but still!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Four provocations for rich digital ethnographic research situated in social media networks
Scholars engaging in social media research involving direct observation of users draw from a range of research methods, each with their own benefits and challenges. From an ethical perspective, res...
www.tandfonline.com
December 12, 2024 at 4:58 AM
Realising you haven't posted in 12 months... probably time to **post something**
So, here's my article for the AANZCA 2023 special issue of Communication Research and Practice - I probably didn't need to wait for the issue to come out to share, but still!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
So, here's my article for the AANZCA 2023 special issue of Communication Research and Practice - I probably didn't need to wait for the issue to come out to share, but still!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
We somehow managed to sneak in a second publication before the end of the year! It was a genuine pleasure working with Terry Flew, Petrie Iosifidis, and @jammh.bsky.social on “Digital platforms and the future of news: regulating publisher-platform relations in Australia and Canada”
doi.org
December 13, 2023 at 10:11 PM
We somehow managed to sneak in a second publication before the end of the year! It was a genuine pleasure working with Terry Flew, Petrie Iosifidis, and @jammh.bsky.social on “Digital platforms and the future of news: regulating publisher-platform relations in Australia and Canada”
The last bit of my PhD journey happened Friday 8th Dec 2023. It was an honour to stand up with these awesome humans who helped me get all the way to the end (pic 1 L-R: @dhutchman.bsky.social, me, Mama Stepnik, Assoc Prof Fiona Martin, Dr Olga Boichak). Dr Jo Gray was there in spirit too. 🎓🎉
December 13, 2023 at 10:05 PM
The last bit of my PhD journey happened Friday 8th Dec 2023. It was an honour to stand up with these awesome humans who helped me get all the way to the end (pic 1 L-R: @dhutchman.bsky.social, me, Mama Stepnik, Assoc Prof Fiona Martin, Dr Olga Boichak). Dr Jo Gray was there in spirit too. 🎓🎉
@svegaard.bsky.social hey! We have a booking at Beach Babylon for 18:30 - see you there? I realise this is public… but, well, yay?
November 24, 2023 at 3:48 AM
@svegaard.bsky.social hey! We have a booking at Beach Babylon for 18:30 - see you there? I realise this is public… but, well, yay?
Heading to Wellington for #ANZCA2023 to present on the ethical considerations for social media research, and on the value of news. First time in NZ too 😊 - will I see anyone here over there? #ANZCA23
November 19, 2023 at 9:09 PM
Heading to Wellington for #ANZCA2023 to present on the ethical considerations for social media research, and on the value of news. First time in NZ too 😊 - will I see anyone here over there? #ANZCA23
Ok so apparently I was conferred 2 days ago…
September 7, 2023 at 12:29 PM
Ok so apparently I was conferred 2 days ago…
My thesis was awarded on Monday 4th September, 2023.
Yes, that *is* surreal.
And while I can't use the title "Dr" until it's officially conferred, I can share my thesis now!
So, for anyone curious and wanting a very, very, VERY long and dense read... here it is :)
Yes, that *is* surreal.
And while I can't use the title "Dr" until it's officially conferred, I can share my thesis now!
So, for anyone curious and wanting a very, very, VERY long and dense read... here it is :)
Active Curation: algorithmic awareness for cultural commentary on social media platforms
ses.library.usyd.edu.au
September 7, 2023 at 2:36 AM
My thesis was awarded on Monday 4th September, 2023.
Yes, that *is* surreal.
And while I can't use the title "Dr" until it's officially conferred, I can share my thesis now!
So, for anyone curious and wanting a very, very, VERY long and dense read... here it is :)
Yes, that *is* surreal.
And while I can't use the title "Dr" until it's officially conferred, I can share my thesis now!
So, for anyone curious and wanting a very, very, VERY long and dense read... here it is :)