What is the information environment?
The information environment is where human and machine cognition intersect to make sense of the world. It encompasses technology such as printing presses, cell phones, the web, and augmented reality, as well as content like books, videos, status updates, and online articles. These outputs move through multiple channels, such as television, radio, gaming platforms, social media, and in person. The information environment adapts to new social norms and technologies.
What is the goal of the Accelerator?
The Accelerator aims to speed the pace of knowledge development on how the modern information environment affects democratic society by creating shared scientific infrastructure.
What research tools will the Accelerator build?
The Accelerator plans to develop various tools that could benefit the research community, such as samples of typical behavior on key platforms across multiple countries, standard sets of labeled data on different types of content, and a standard image-featurization pipeline to enable high-end image analysis by all scholars with basic skills in natural language processing.
How is the Accelerator funded?
The Accelerator has been generously funded by Princeton University, Microsoft, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Craig Newmark Philanthropies and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation also supported the exploratory studies.
What if social media platforms refuse to share their data?
The Accelerator recognizes that many aspects of the information environment require study beyond the large social media platforms, including how misinformation spreads through mainstream media and websites, the ad tech ecosystem’s role in enabling the spread of low-quality content, and the networks of authors that support conspiracy theories. The Accelerator is not about one type of media but about identifying where we can speed science by investing in shared infrastructure.
Who gets access to what the Accelerator is building?
This is another perennial challenge for large-scale scientific endeavors. Our exploratory studies have taught us that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Different fields, and even different instruments within fields, use different access models. We are working to determine the best ways to manage access to what will be a limited resource. We are guided by the core principles of equity, peer review, and transparency.
How will the Accelerator decide what to research?
The Accelerator will not have a top-down research agenda. Instead, we aim to build a hub of scientific resources that support existing and developing efforts. Scholars will determine what to research.
What is the relationship between the Accelerator and other initiatives in the community?
The Accelerator shares a common objective with other initiatives in the community to enable evidence-based policymaking on the information environment. We are committed to supporting existing and developing efforts while fulfilling a unique need in the community. For more on this, see our About page.