In this week's episode, your host Kate FitzGerald chats with special guests and friends of the Digital Media Research Centre, Ariel Bogle and Cameron Wilson about their new book Conspiracy Nation. This book focuses on conspiracy theory communities specifically in Australia.

Through new investigations and first-hand accounts, Conspiracy Nation takes readers to the rallies, homes, courtrooms, secret chat rooms and $2000 Byron Bay luxury retreats where Australia’s conspiracy theories spread.

Ariel Bogle is a reporter with a focus on technology, law and the internet.  Cam Wilson is a Walkley Award-nominated reporter whose work covers the intersection between internet culture, online extremism and politics.You can purchase Conspiracy Nation here or wherever you purchase your books.

In this episode, your host Klaus Groebner speaks with PhD candidate Lynrose Genon. Lynrose speaks about the history and provides a political context of the Philippines, particularly the autonomous region of Mindanao, and what digital peacebuilding looks like in the nation. Lynrose has twice spoken to the United Nations about young women leaders' use of social media to build peace in the Philippines.

In this episode, your host Sebastian Svegaard speaks with PhD candidate Jasper Vermeulen. Jasper's work looks at human and robot interaction, and how both can collaborate. Jasper focuses specifically on human-robot collaboration in surgery, and how robots can augment human skillsets.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers and collaborators to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.

In this episode, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with DMRC Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Dr Ashwin Nagappa about his new project related to the Fediverse and alternative social media platforms. Ashwin takes us through what the Fediverse is, the history of alternative social media platforms, and what might be appealing about these spaces for users.

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 on, your host Sebastian Svegaard sits down with guests Stephen Harrington, Timothy Graham, Kateryna Kasianenko, and Kate FitzGerald to talk about the impact Trump has had on politics, both in the US, and around the globe.

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 company Meta abruptly announced that it would be ending its industry-leading third-party fact-checking program starting with fact checkers in the United States. Ned and Kate chat about how this relates to his new paper and what the future of fact checking looks like under these new policy changes.

In this episode, your host Sebastian Svegaard chats with PhD candidate Vish Padinjaredath Suresh about Netflix's recent hit miniseries, Adolescence. Vish's research looks at radicalisation and the manosphere, specifically on Reddit and they share their expertise and perspective on the television show in today's episode.

A content warning for discussions of acts of gender-based violence that occur in the show. Also, of course, a spoiler warning for Netflix's Adolescence as all episodes are discussed.

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 the Australian 2025 Federal Election. We talk about trends amongst parties and individuals, and the key themes of the election that are emerging in our data.

You can read our blog covering the campaign so far here.

You can also sign up as a 'citizen scientist' for the DMRC's TikTok data donation project at the website here.

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 Australian Federal election. They discuss the shifting discourses about climate and energy in the context of the federal election campaign, the nuclear power debate, and the strategies of delay and denial by fossil fuel lobby groups.

Show notes and further reading:

• ANU Annual Climate Update: https://iceds.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/anu-climate-update-2025-if-not-now-when
• The Carbon Club: https://www.uts.edu.au/about/uts-vision/initiatives/uts4climate/events/conversation-carbon-club-marian-wilkinson
• InfluenceMap narrative playbook: https://influencemap.org/briefing/Undermining-Progress-Investigating-the-Fossil-Fuel-Sector-s-Continual-Dominance-26562
• Discourses of Climate Delay (Lamb et al., 2020): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability/article/discourses-of-climate-delay/7B11B722E3E3454BB6212378E32985A7

Content warning: Discussions and examples of hate speech drawn from Meta's policies.

In this episode of Read Them Sideways, your host Kate FitzGerald speaks with Lucinda Nelson, a PhD student in the Digital Media Research Centre, researching online misogyny. We discuss Meta's recent changes in their hate speech moderation, particularly as they relate to transgender people and other minority groups.

Read Them Sideways is a podcast series from the Digital Media Research Centre, bringing our researchers to the spotlight to discuss issues that relate to communications, digital media, internet studies, and much more.