The Computer Room

Katherine and Steff are joined by Perry Abbasi, a Chicago-based lawyer whose Twitter presence recently "made headlines" -- in other words, revealed just how reliant on Twitter modern-day journalists are. Katherine has also, once again, fucked with the theme. Someone help her.Pieces cited:Police district candidate’s social media full of racist and misogynist postsHow the Online Right gave up on reality

A little stroll through the history of the Internet's favorite gossip sites: Pretty Ugly Little Liars, KiwiFarms, The Dirty, lolcow.farm, Perez Hilton, and Lipstick Alley. And of course...honorable mention, the Encyclopedia Dramatica. This was recorded weeks before Katherine had her moment of enlightenment about random Internet strangers.Theme: Computer Love, covered by Envelope Generator 

Two of two in a series about Adam Lanza’s digital footprint. This has some overlap with episode one, and they don’t need to be listened to in order. Follow Gio on Twitter here and on YouTube here.Theme: Beehive Days by Locust Toybox

André Brock, professor and author of Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures, popped by the show to talk about the origins of Black Twitter, the importance of writing about digital subcultures as they’re developing, digital whiteflight, and the first Black social networking site, BlackPlanet.com.Find André’s work here and on Twitter here.Articles referenced:How Black people use Twitter, Farhad ManjooYou Can Tweet Like This, Or You Can Tweet Like That, Or You Can Tweet Like Us, Post BourgieWhat Were Black People Talking About on Twitter Last Night?, Choire SichaMicah’s “Black people on Twitter” theory, Nick DouglasFrom the Blackhand Side: Twitter as a Cultural Conversation, André Brock…and the research on Black Twitter conducted by Deen Freelon, Meredith Clark, and Charleton McIlwain

Author and prolific #WitchToker Chaweon Koo stopped by the pod to talk about technomancy, eco-philosophy, quantum leaping, the demons of TikTok, and some spicy, now six month old drama.Themes:No Escape from Dreamland by Son of PerditionIt’s Out There and It’s Gonna Get You by Paper Chase

Overworked, overpaid, and probably undertaxed: today, we dive into the world of /r/overemployed.  

Happy New Year! Steff and Katherine the wonderful world of Internet fad diets: keto, paleo, carnivore, frugivore, Bulletproof Diet, Ana Boot Camp, Ray Peatism, Raw Egg Nationalism, and Whole30.Correction: At some point, Katherine incorrectly states Susun Weed was pro-raw veganism! Susun Weed merely debated raw vegans. Stuff gets fuzzy that far back.Link:Salo Forum ArchiveTheme: Computer Love, covered by Envelope Generator (This is the final, static theme. I promise.)

While Kat is in Colombia having a mental health episode, Steff interviews Alex Perez, "the Iowa Pariah," whose controversial interview with editor and writer Elizabeth Ellen inspired the entire staff of Hobart Magazine to resign. Read the interview here. Outro: "Guantanamera" by The Sandpipers 

Default Friend is joined by a new cohost, Poetry Grifter, to talk about two digitally native pieces of literature, Finally, Some Good News and Bronze Age Mindset. The Rise and Fall of the Alt Right:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n887xDKppmE&ab_channel=BlitheringGenius Finally, Some Good News:https://www.amazon.com/Finally-Some-Good-Delicious-Tacos/dp/1790356229 Bronze Age Mindset:https://www.amazon.com/Bronze-Age-Mindset-Pervert-ebook/dp/B07DJQ89TD 

Joshua Citarella is an artist and researcher whose work focuses on the fringe political groups developing in cyberspace. I love his work, partially because it’s a reminder to me that there’s more to Internet politics than the Dissident Right. In fact, talking to Joshua was good reminder in general of the vastness of cyberspace. For me, I always think of it through the lenses of Twitter, Tumblr, and TikTok. Certain podcasts. Journalists.But there’s a whole other ecosystem on YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.It got me thinking about two things: Fans don’t always mean influence, and influence doesn’t always mean fans. Influence and fans don’t always mean you’ll be familiar with either group.We talked about a lot, more than just the terrain of online life. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much I did.Theme: The Robots by KraftworkProduced by Will Kraus