Published: June 14, 2017 by Anna Maloney

Over the past few years, several MARA and iSchool students have had the opportunity to spend a semester completing a research-oriented internship with the InterPARES Trust, “a multi-national, interdisciplinary research project exploring issues concerning digital records and data entrusted to the Internet.”

In the spring 2017 semester, MARA students Jami Dobretz and Krysten Hanson worked with Dr. Pat Franks to research the intersection between federal government policies, social media, and privacy. They presented the culmination of their work to iSchool students and faculty members in the webcast, “Federal Government Social Media Use: The Balance between Freedom of Information and Privacy.” Their presentation provides an in-depth look at federal social media use in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, commenting on the maturity of the de facto and de jure policies that govern social media use, as well as the advantages of disadvantages of using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to convey messages to citizens.

While the Internet certainly exposes people to content they may have not seen in their day-to-day life, one concern highlighted by Hanson is that web 3.0 blurs the lines between public and private life, and may still not be doing enough to reach constituents who live in areas without access to high-speed Internet. Dobretz’s portion of the presentation focused specifically on the state of privacy at the federal level, and draws a distinction between the expectations and reality when it comes to the security of personal data and information.

MARA students past, present, and future are invited to enjoy this and other on-demand iSchool webcasts, and to reflect on their experiences with social media and government.