Welcome to the Trust in Tech podcast, a project by the Integrity Institute — a community driven think tank which advances the theory and practice of protecting the social internet, powered by our community of integrity professionals.

In this sixth episode, Integrity Institute member Alice Hunsberger and Community Advisor Cassandra Marketos discuss digital spaces and community building. They discuss how to live in a world where community is not the default; whether being anonymous in online spaces is a good thing; and how product design and perception can influence the legitimacy of the content and community of a product. 

Cassandra “Cass” Marketos has a varied background and a diverse range of skills. She started out as a product manager for the music label Insound. Then she was the first employee at Kickstarter, where she worked on everything related to editorial and community. After her time there, Cass was deputy director of digital outbound during the Obama administration. And now she serves as Community Advisor on the Integrity Institute staff, making our community at the Integrity Institute feel like home. Cass has launched several non-profits including Dollar a Day, and now builds her local community with compost.

Timestamps:

0:00: Intro

0:50 What is community

2:30: Business and Community

11:00: Being Idealistic and Realistic

12:50: Is Discord the future?

19:50: Anonymity in Online Spaces

25:00: Universal ToS is Impossible

31:20: Social Media as Road Rage

34:10: Building Community in Real and Online life

46:00: Urban Dictionary and Product Design Legitimizing Content

51:20: Having a Community Advocate on your Team

Credits:

Trust in Tech is hosted by Alice Hunsberger, and produced by Talha Baig.

Edited by Alice Hunsberger.

Music by Zhao Shen. 

Special thanks to Sahar Massachi, Cass Marketos, Rachel Fagen and Sean Wang.