Read Them Sideways
Episodes
TikTok recommender systems and the 'For You' project w/ Patrik Wikstrom (#43)
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, the Digital Media Research Centre hosts a week-long Summer School filled with symposiums, workshops, and networking. This week's episod...
Rethinking contemporary public communication spaces w/ Axel Bruns (#42)
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, the Digital Media Research Centre hosts a week-long Summer School filled with symposiums, workshops, and networking. This week's episod...
20 Years of Twitter Roundtable (#41)
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On the 21st of March, 2006, Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet: "just setting up my twttr". This was the start of a significant social network...
Investigating media diets in the 21st century w/ Amanda Lotz & Gabriela Lunardi (#40)
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, the Digital Media Research Centre hosts a week-long Summer School filled with symposiums, workshops, and networking. This week's episod...
Misinformation on Climate Change and Energy w/ Caroline Gardam & Carly Lubicz-Zaorski
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 2025, the Australian Government appointed a committee to investigate the prevalence and impacts of misinformation and disinformation which relates ...
Brazilian elections and the impact of social media with Bruna Paroni (#38)
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with DMRC visiting fellow, Bruna Paroni. Bruna discusses her PhD project, the social media climat...
The Iranian digital blackout, and how you can help (#37)
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Read Them Sideways is back for 2026 with a critically important discussion between Dr Ehsan Dehghan and PhD student Pardis Yarahmadi. In this episode,...
The social media ban: how we got here and what to expect (#37)
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Australian Government's social media ban comes into effect on the 10th of December, 2025. Digital Media Research Centre director, Daniel Angus...
The DMRC, 10 Years On (Or: How to Build a Research Centre)
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Digital Media Research Centre! Featuring interviews with Distinguished Professor ...
Episode 34: Responding to the children's social media ban controversy (DMRC Summer School Panel)
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
REGISTER FOR SUMMER SCHOOL 2026 BY CLICKING HERE!The Summer School promotes a culture of supportive research, and informed and stimulating engagement ...
Episode 33: Fandom and Politics with Sebastian Svegaard
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Sebastian Svegaard about the intersection between fan studies and politics. Sebastian, along wi...
Episode 32: The Discursive-Digital Link with Ehsan Dehghan
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Klaus Groebner spoke with Dr Ehsan Dehghan, a Chief Investigator at the Digital Media Research Centre about his newly published book ...
Episode 31: Conspiracy Nation Book Launch with Ariel Bogle and Cameron Wilson
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with special guests and friends of the Digital Media Research Centre, Ariel Bogle and Came...
Episode 30: Digital Peacebuilding in the Philippines with Lynrose Genon
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Klaus Groebner speaks with PhD candidate Lynrose Genon. Lynrose speaks about the history and provides a political context o...
Episode 29: Human and Robot Collaboration with Jasper Vermeulen
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with PhD candidate Jasper Vermeulen. Jasper's work looks at human and robot interaction, and ...
Episode 28: The Fediverse and alternative social media platforms with Ashwin Nagappa
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with DMRC Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Dr Ashwin Nagappa about his new project related to the Fedi...
Episode 27: Ten Years of Trumpism DMRC Roundtable
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On 16th June, 2015, Donald Trump announced that he was running to be the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States. Ten years ...
Episode 26: The Art of the Platform Deal with Ned Watt
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with Ned Watt about his new paper, The Art of the (Platform) Deal. In January 2025, the platform comp...
Episode 25: The Manosphere and Netflix's "Adolescence" with Vish Padinjaredath Suresh
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Sebastian Svegaard chats with PhD candidate Vish Padinjaredath Suresh about Netflix's recent hit miniseries, Adolescenc...
Episode 24: Social Media Trends During the Australian Federal Election Campaign with Sam Vilkins
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with co-host turned guest Sam Vilkins about our analysis of Facebook and Instagram in the lead up to ...
Episode 23: Debating Energy and Climate in the Australian Election with Carly Lubicz-Zaorski
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Stephen Harrington chats with PhD researcher Carly Lubicz-Zaorski in the lead up to the 2025 Australi...
Episode 22: Meta hate speech policy changes with Lucinda Nelson
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Content warning: Discussions and examples of hate speech drawn from Meta's policies.In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGera...
Episode 21: Digital Black Feminism with Catherine Knight Steele
08 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Dr Catherine Knight Steele. Catherine is an Associate Professor of Com...
Episode 20: The third anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine with Kateryna Kasianenko and Olga Boichak
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this important episode of Read Them Sideways dedicated to the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, your host Sebastian ...
Episode 19: What does DeepSeek mean for the tech industry with William He and Daniel Whelan-Shamy
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with William He, a machine learning engineer in the Generative AI Lab at the D...
Episode 18: Debunking election conspiracy theories with Kate FitzGerald and Klaus Gröbner
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, we introduce a new segment where your co-hosts Kate FitzGerald and Klaus Gröbner debunk a recent conspiracy th...
Episode 17: TikTok Goes Dark with Sam Vilkins
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Sam Vilkins, co-host of the podcast and postdoctoral researcher at the Di...
Episode 16: Changes to Meta Fact Checking Policies with Ned Watt and Michelle Riedlinger
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Read Them Sideways is back from our summer hiatus! In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Stephen Harrington speaks with Ned Watt and Michel...
Episode 15: International media landscapes with Aljosha Karim Schapals
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Aljosha Karim Schapals, a Chief Investigator at the Digital Media Rese...
Episode 14: Machine learning and simulation with Daniel Whelan-Shamy
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Daniel Whelan-Shamy, a PhD student in the Digital Media Research Centre. ...
Episode 13: Researching climate change scepticism with Caroline Gardam
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Caroline Gardam, a PhD student in the Digital Media Research Centre. They...
Episode 12: United States politics and dark political communication with Stephen Harrington
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald sat down with Stephen Harrington, an Associate Professor at the Digital Media Researc...
Episode 11: Conspiracy theories on Danish Twitter with Frederik Grønbæk Aarup
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Frederik Grønbæk Aarup, a visiting PhD student at the Digital Media ...
Episode 10: The closure of X in Brazil with Tariq Choucair and Vinicius Ferraz
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Tariq Choucair, a postdoctoral researcher at the the Digital Media Resear...
Episode 9: Challenging climate change denial with John Cook
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sam Vilkins chats with John Cook, a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Chan...
Episode 8: Science-related populism with Niels Mede
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Niels G. Mede, visiting scholar and Senior Research and Teaching Assoc...
Episode 7: The Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society Mini Series # 2 with Axel Bruns
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with Professor Axel Bruns, the leader of the Digital Publics research group at ...
Episode 6: Creating a better children’s internet with Aleesha Rodriguez
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sam Vilkins chats with Dr Aleesha Rodriguez, a research fellow at QUT. They work within the ARC Centr...
Episode 5: CrowdTangle closure and what it means for researchers with Axel Bruns
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Dr Sebastian Svegaard chats with Professor Axel Bruns, the leader of the Digital Publics research gro...
Episode 4: The Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society Mini Series # 1 with Daniel Angus
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with Professor Daniel Angus, the Director of the Digital Media Research Centre....
Episode 3: Science-based journalism and what it means to be interdisciplinary with Alice Fleerackers
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sam Vilkins chats with Alice Fleerackers, a visiting postdoctoral fellow from the University of Briti...
Episode 2: Social media strategies during the Norwegian general election with Hedvig Tønnesen
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with Hedvig Tønnesen, a visiting PhD student from the Norwegian University...
Episode 1: Conspiracy theories in United States politics with Kate FitzGerald
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Read Them Sideways, Sam Vilkins sits down with PhD student Kate FitzGerald to discuss conspiracy theories, particularly in the wak...