Parker Bach

🚨 Public scholarship alert! 🚨 Have you seen prediction markets in the news? In the 18 months since prediction markets on elections were legalized in the U.S., it seems like Polymarket and Kalshi can't stop making news and making money. theconversation.com/how-polling-fa…

This week, I wrote an article for The Conversation explaining the rapid rise of prediction markets and some of the questions it has raised. Consider it a sneak preview of my dissertation-in-progress. 😉

When prediction markets aren't the subject of news articles (for their surging popularity and concerns about insider trading), they are often providing forecasts about the likely odds of elections, Supreme Court decisions, military action, and more.

🚨 Public scholarship alert! 🚨 Have you seen prediction markets in the news? In the 18 months since prediction markets on elections were legalized in the U.S., it seems like Polymarket and Kalshi can't stop making news and making money. theconversation.com/how-polling-fa…

Today's empowered far right uses less ambiguity. But when they do, the best thing to do is not to let them get away with it. What are they saying? To whom? How are they trying to hide it? And what do they stand to gain? We fight ambiguity with clear-eyed analysis. End/🧵

Ambiguity is an apt tool for populists. Who are "the people"? Who are "the elites" or "the enemy"? We want "change," but what kind? Strategic ambiguity allows communicators to let audiences hear the meaning they want to hear. 4/🧵

🗣️ New Communication Theory article! With @CESchmitt and @shannimcg Communication can benefit from clarity, but what about a tactical lack of clarity? Here, e explicate "strategic ambiguity" and argue for its importance in political communication. bit.ly/StratAm 1/🧵

Please note that you need to be over >= 18 y.o. for the survey. If you have any questions, please contact us at xkcd@microsoft.com. We are happy to answer any queries you may have. Microsoft Privacy Statement available here: privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacys… (end)

Please RT & forward to others! We are not looking for a representative sample; we want to understand the wide array of thoughts folks have about xkcd. Of course, we might have a secret agenda to see which scientific/technical community has the greatest xkcd fandom 👀 (2/3)

Do you read the web comic xkcd? @zephoria and I (at Microsoft Research) are trying to understand the role that xkcd plays in the scientific/technical community, and we would greatly appreciate your thoughts in our short survey (< 10 mins). forms.office.com/r/NKxGrqvFgx (1/3)

@ftripodi So kind! Let me know if you ever want a guest speaker :)

@parkerjbach adding to my syllabus for this fall!

Returning to the hell site for some brief self-promotion for my newest paper! 🎆 🐝 The Babylon Bee is now bigger than The Onion, but too many people still think of conservative satire as an oxymoron. I aim to remedy that. doi.org/10.1080/107144…

Two more arguments: If satire can drive political information seeking and learning, why not (mis)information seeking? The Bee justifies targeting marginalized groups by claiming to critique powerful institutions. But they seem to be OK punching down... babylonbee.com/news/bruce-way…

Imo the most interesting finding is how The Bee handles Trump, namely with enough irony that it is unclear whether they are framing him as savior or buffoon. Whatever your take, the text supports it. In other work with @shannimcg and @CESchmitt, we call this strategic ambiguity.

Next is work from @parkerjbach and @dfreelon examining how nonwhite and queer conservative ⏰ers do politics on the app.

Yeah, there are people who study it, but you decided they were the Censorship Police and made their lives hell out of raw vanity.