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SYNOPSIS

Zanagee Artis, a climate advocate and educator with Natural Resources Defense Council, joins Rachel and Dan to talk about disinformation in arctic and coastal drilling. Zanagee describes the challenges of addressing disinformation when the time horizons of climate research spans decades. Inspired by this discussion, Rachel coins the lens of Time Feel. Dan, impressed by efforts to close the physical distance between policymakers and drilling in the arctic, suggests the lens of Distance.

STORIES OF DISINFORMATION

White House destruction photo

• Katie Harbath’s Substack

Black Death poem

• Centuries of Black Death misinformation started with a poem

INTERVIEW WITH ZANAGEE ARTIS

• Zanagee Artis
• A Kids Book About Climate Change
• Kimberly Miner’s study on alaskan arctic impacts
• Gwich’in people of Alaska
• Iñupiat people of Alaska
• Coastal Plain Caribou Alaska
• Taylor Oil Spill
• Radioactive waste water from fracking
• Oil and gas sponsoring community and social programs

LENSES

Distance

The gap between a personal context and the context of the information creates an opportunity for misinformation. (e.g. global warming isn't real when it's snowing in my town).

• How does the system help users bridge the gap between their personal context and other contexts?
• How is the information contained in the system distanced from the person consuming it? How does the system close the gap?
• How much does the system expect users to close the gap between themselves and the information?

Time Feel

In music, time feel is how the musician interprets time while playing. More than rhythm or beat, it’s how the music creates a feeling of time passing.

• How does the system treat the passage of time?
• How does the system handle time horizons and the differing perceptions of speed?
• How does this thing support or not support the potential variations in time?
• What role does urgency play in the system?

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Personnel

• Dan Brown, Host
• Rachel Price, Host
• Emily Duncan, Editor

Music

• Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot

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Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid

Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design

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CONTENT WARNING

This episode of Unchecked deals with the sensitive topic of gun violence.

SYNOPSIS

Nick Suplina, Senior VP for Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety joins Rachel and Dan to talk about the long-standing and persistent disinformation campaign by the gun lobby. Nick highlights the main messages and techniques in use, and we explore the challenges of celebrating prevention. Rachel describes the Lens of Despair and Dan digs into the Lens of Status Quo.

STORIES OF DISINFORMATION

Did moldy bread cause the Salem witch trials?

• Debunking the moldy bread theory (Salem Witch Museum)

Pushing back against disinformation

• George Stephanopolous cuts off the VP (Rolling Stone)
• Airports refuse political video at TSA checkpoint (CNN)

INTERVIEW WITH NICK SUPLINA

• Everytown for Gun Safety
• About Red Flag laws (Everytown)
• Colorado’s new assault weapons ban (CBS News)
• 2022 Safer Communities Act (Wikipedia)

LENSES

Lens of Despair

• How does the system alleviate or exacerbate or manipulate the feeling that nothing can be improved?
• How does the system create a sense of hope?
• How does the system intentionally give agency to its users?

Lens of Status Quo

• What role does status quo play in this domain? What is this system’s role relative to the status quo?
• How does the system discourage users from questioning the status quo?

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Personnel

• Dan Brown, Host
• Rachel Price, Host
• Emily Duncan, Editor

Music

• Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot

_____________________________________________________

Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid

Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design

Send us a text

SYNOPSIS

Brandon Schauer from Rare, a conservation nonprofit, talks to Rachel and Dan about ways to modify behavior to help save the planet. Climate change and its solutions are often too big for an individual person to connect with, so Brandon has developed strategies to meet people where they are. These strategies short-circuit climate misinformation altogether.

STORIES

Banana propaganda

• Annalee Newitz’s book Stories Are Weapons
• The 1954 Guatemalan Coup (Wikipedia)

NPS, the continuing saga

• National Park signage encourages the public to help erase negative stories at its sites
• National Parks Are Told to Delete Content That ‘Disparages Americans’
• This Is What Censorship Looks Like in a National Park: The First Park Sign That Came Down
• Park Service Is Ordered to Take Down Some Materials on Slavery and Tribes
• Trump moves to scrub national parks sites of signs that cast America in a 'negative light'

INTERVIEW

• Entities responsible for greenhouse gas emissions: By Country; 57 companies responsible for 80% of emissions
• Biden cites Will & Grace in endorsement of same-sex marriage
• Primetime in a warming world
• Hyperobjects is a term coined by British philosopher Timothy Morton in their book The Ecological Thought

LENSES

Social Awareness

Everyone can be part of a solution to large problems, and the ecosystem can help users understand how they may be connected to others.

• How does your system help people understand they are not alone?
• How does your system prioritize meaningful connection over gamified social metrics?

Hyperobjects

Based on the concept from Timothy Morton, hyperobjects are concepts that are so big they are difficult for people to understand them fully. Information ecosystems may be connected to or related to hyperobjects, introducing specific challenges.

• How does the structure of your system help users focus on the most relevant part of a large problem space?
• How does the structure of

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Personnel

• Dan Brown, Host
• Rachel Price, Host
• Emily Duncan, Editor

Music

• Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot

_____________________________________________________

Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid

Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design