jen forestal
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seejenspeak.bsky.social
jen forestal
@seejenspeak.bsky.social
political theorist, assoc professor at Loyola Chicago. studying digital technologies, democratic practices, (software) architecture, & civic engagement. she/her
ah, yes! I've also seen the Kirk quote from 2023 (re)circulating now, so thinking about contexts as both multiplatform and also temporally.

this does make me wonder about what is different about context collapse now vs "regular" games of telephone or gossip/hearsay that de/recontextualize.
September 11, 2025 at 8:05 PM
the collapse of (horrible) contexts on my BS feed means im not even sure which reason that is.

(im assuming Kirk. if so, yes, but what's weird is how it's revealing context collapse not as a *passive* feature, but as the result of the right-wing actively *forcing* x's context to all other spaces)
September 11, 2025 at 7:34 PM
i guess my point is that i don't know that this is a problem that "more real doctors" would fix, since it's really a question of whether people think there's a responsibility to manage the consequences of our behavior for others, and that the state has a role in doing that
September 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
no, i agree it's a problem & that parents would have a legitimate claim to have been harmed, in any reasonable world. but whether a lawsuit would matter to policymakers in this scenario is different. is there any reason to think that the FL courts would not have the same insane "you do you" logic?
September 4, 2025 at 3:00 PM
right, i mean, we kinda already know what the response is going to be, because it already happened in texas six months ago:
www.texastribune.org/2025/03/20/t...
September 4, 2025 at 4:35 AM
yeah, i think that's an insane take that's neatly captured by her refusal to call it X and acknowledge the platform is fundamentally different. I'm all for persuasion, but it's interesting (telling?) she doesn't seem to discuss the fact that journos are the ones that may be persuaded... to be nazis
August 24, 2025 at 11:47 PM
gah, *VIRALITY* not vitality! stupid autocorrect
August 24, 2025 at 11:28 PM
and while i do agree that's what's happening here, i'd probably argue that the bigger problem is not necessarily the fact of context collapse (which, as "vitality" *can* actually be quite good for democracy i think!), but that mainstream journalists view Twitter as the whole world.
August 24, 2025 at 11:23 PM
for citational clarity: while i maybe popularized (?) it for PT, "context collapse" comes from @alicetiara.bsky.social and @zephoria.bsky.social's classic essay!
August 24, 2025 at 11:21 PM
or the book version, designing for democracy, that I think complements your argument about "community" quite well! great study!
global.oup.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:51 PM
this is SO nice to hear! thank you! going to try and carry this energy into some Monday morning writing....
May 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM
ah. yeah, that's pretty similar to conversations i had this semester within my grad course (though they were more enthusiastic about decentralization/protocols). like most great classes/interesting issues, i walked away with more questions than answers.
May 5, 2025 at 9:49 PM
ah, thanks stefan! this is great to hear. what (kind of) platforms were they thinking about? i'm starting a new project on decentralized stuff; i'm curious if it's similar!
May 5, 2025 at 6:01 PM
i've been finding it (uncharacteristically!) hard lately to find any point to writing about dem. & digital platforms given... everything, esp the blatant cynicism of tech ppl who use the language of democracy as cover for authoritarian inclinations. but these essays brought me back! i'm grateful!
May 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM