The BBC looks at YouTube with help from our lab

Last week, the BBC published a fantastic dive into the YouTube research led by our head data honcho Ryan McGrady and lab alum Kevin Zheng, shining a spotlight on Kevin’s TubeStats project as well. Ryan and Ethan are quoted extensively in the piece. Maybe needless to say, but it feels really meaningful to get a spotlight on this work from one of the best public media organizations in the world.

And back in January, the BBC also quoted Ryan in a piece on the implications of the TikTok ban for users and cybersecurity.

BBC, if you're reading this, just know we could make you an incredible Essential Mix with songs from our random YouTube sampling.

Liz Pelly talks Mood Machine at UMass

Journalist and longtime DIY music scene maker Liz Pelly recently a published a years-in-the-making investigation of Spotify and how it has shaped music called Mood Machine. This coming Thursday, February 20th, she's coming to campus to talk about this truly wonderful book. The event is organized by our friends at the Responsible Technology Coalition—who is also leading a book club around the book—and Mike is introducing Liz. Find an RSVP here.

Liz is a longtime friend of the lab, and appeared on the seventh episode of Reimagining the Internet. If you're in southern New England, Liz and Mike will also be discussing an the book at an event at Lost Bag in Providence later that day on 2/20. That event will also feature a pop-up, local music streaming server filled with music from the local Providence scene and only accessible at Lost Bag.

Freq beta is rolling

Request an invite to the Freq beta! It’s a great place to post what you’re listening to, find other users’ favorite music, and catalog albums, tracks, artists, and DJ mixes any which way you please. And the vibe is nice.

While it's still private for now, basically anyone who requests an invite at this point gets access within a month or so. People are posting all sorts of cool stuff from gorgeous ragas to mind bending K-Pop music videos to djent.

And we're in Tech Policy Press

Ethan, Ryan, and lab alum Kevin Zheng published a piece in Tech Policy Press on the unpermissioned research and the fallout of AI companies' data collection practices.

More Reimagining to come

It's been quiet in the podcast studio recently, but we're recording some killer episodes in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.