Increasingly, our eyes and ears are being bombarded from conflicting sources vying for our attention. An obvious question is who can you trust? But a question with more depth is who should be leading online discourses in the first place? The slight distinction here is that perhaps the most trustworthy people haven’t even joined the conversation.
From unreal influencers to cyber-doomsayers artificial intelligence serves as a good example. Since the launch of generative AI (gen AI) in the form of chatbots and text-to-image generators there has been endless speculation and utopian/dystopian visions.
Very reasonable concerns have been raised.
So how can we, as a society, be better equipped to understand a strange future that is unfolding by the second?
What Dr Declan Humphrey’s, a lecturer and researcher in cyber security, finds most fulfilling is sharing knowledge. His end goal is "to get messages out there and to change public perceptions". But Humphrey’s isn’t your average cyber security scholar. He credits his philosophy studies for this mission.
“I work in technology now… but my background’s in philosophy. And a lot of philosophy is trying to get people to think through situations and problems and issues with, you know, a bit more critical thinking. And I think that’s not something that should be limited to academia and academic circles. That’s something that the public needs to know… I’m a big proponent of, of kind of pushing education and research out to as many people as possible.”
Considering the traditional aim of an academic career, to publish in high ranking journals and building your reputation among scholars,
“For me, I don’t feel that that’s as fulfilling as getting the knowledge out there. You know, we’re teaching as well and we’re researching. So we’re getting this information out to students, but then the rest of the information goes out to an academic community which is often quite small. So there’s this huge, huge population who would like to know about this information that we’re providing but then don’t have the opportunity.”
Within his field, his research explores the intersections between new technologies and society, Humphrey’s believes there is a need for greater scholarly rigour in the online discourse. Perhaps, the intensity of popular voices is not in line with their expertise.
“With AI there’s just so much information and stuff out there that isn’t vetted… its maybe slickly produced on YouTube, or something like that, but it doesn’t have any real value.”
It’s clear that there’s an opportunity, and I would argue an obligation, for scholars to engage with society at large. And Humphrey’s agrees, “There’s such a market there and such an audience. People learn so many different ways and through so many different media now”. He continues, “they’re definitely not reading academic journals."
“There are obviously a lot of people who are just going to YouTube or short videos on social media, and the voices behind the content that’s being shared so much, I think, need to be… talking from the discipline and really coming from an education perspective. Being able to translate research into messages that get across to people.”
Even beyond the scholars in his discipline, Humphrey’s isn’t your average academic. Unsure of whether the traditional academic path was right for him, in the early stages of his career, thanks in part to his background in radio and television, Humphrey’s developed a loose media strategy “to see that that side of the knowledge transfer is a plan.”
Starting with is own fantastic blog ethics.exe, Humphrey’s vision for his public scholarship includes podcasts and video content.
This presents an opportunity for a content development exercise. Let’s examine Humphrey’s introduction to ethics.exe:
Here you find musings on different areas related to technology, ethics, philosophy and AI, cybersecurity. Anywhere there is a mix of of modern technology and philosophical ideas.
Before making any content, we need to understand who Humphrey’s audience is or audiences are. And in cyber security, the audience spectrum’s poles couldn’t be further apart.
At one extreme we have hackers: white, grey, and black hatters. When it comes to their domain they won’t suffer fools. And at the other, we have people who have no idea about the technology itself - they’re just interested in how technology might change their life.
Is it possible to balance the needs of these two disparate audiences?
Like any profession that prides itself on excellence, engaging with industry experts (in this case, hackers) will require authenticity and authority. In other words don’t be a poser. And bring legitimately interesting, evidence based, perspectives to the table.
Hardcore hackers might not be Humphrey’s primary audience, but as a cyber security scholar it will be beneficial if is his work is respected.
As for the other end, the biggest challenge (outside of competing with thousands of other sources of information) is distilling highly technical concepts and the resulting social ramifications in a way that will move audiences on an emotional level.
Humphrey’s does already have a good understanding of his primary audience.
“There are a lot of cyber security podcasts or blogs or whatever that are very technical focussed. You know, and all of the cyber security companies come out with blogs about their research where they’re actually going into networks and hacking and things like that. But mine’s, you know, much broader. Of people who are interested in technology and people who are interested in philosophy without, necessarily, the technical background.”
Also,
“Because I’m not from, you know, a super technical computer science background I’m not aiming at that very technical level… More, I think I’m aiming at quite a broader audience who are interested in AI and the things that are coming out. Interested in the research, but also how that impacts different areas of life.”
This gives us a pretty solid foundation to start developing ideas upon.
More things to think about before actually creating content: what is Humphrey’s tone of voice? Another way of thinking about this is the vibe of his content, and how he wants to position his brand1.
Returning to Humphrey’s own introduction (“Here you find musings on”), according to Cambridge Dictionary musing is
“to think about something carefully and for a long time”.
This aligns well with Humphrey’s training as a philosopher, and offers a point of distinction between Humphrey’s and many other content creators and media outlets. In what is a saturated media landscape, scholars like Humphrey’s can offer unique and informed perspectives.
For Humphrey’s tone of voice, I’d suggest he lean into the cyber security philosopher. Because, even though he may not be able to compete on the technical front, he possesses a deep intellect and capacity for critical thinking, synthesis and interpretation.
The line to traverse is delicate, being both smart and relatable. Your vibe can be formal or informal, but it’s critical to be approachable2.
People don’t always like to think about having a brand. But, whether you like it or not, we’ve all got one. And it’s actually pretty easy. Your brand is what you stand for and how you present yourself. A simple exercise might be to come up with three to five brand pillars3.
Think about:
What are the values by which you live your life?
What are the character traits you want others to see in you?
While this kind of exercise is useful you might already have a strong sense of self, and purpose. If you do a lot of public speaking or teach or run workshops, you’ll have likely crafted something of a persona that works for you and your audience. If this is the case, stick with it.
But, all the same, it can’t hurt to give some thought to your creative persona.
Now it’s time to start developing some content. First, identify your niche. Humphrey’s has already done this:
a mix of of modern technology and philosophical ideas
Then identify areas within this niche that are worth exploring.
Here, Humphrey talks about his niche.
“What I’m researching is a lot about AI and ethics. And I think there’s this huge gap at the moment… obviously AI has become a massive topic everywhere over the last year… but there’s still a disconnect, I think, between the ethics side of things and the AI side of things. Because there are so many unknowns. There’s just so many new technologies that are coming out, where nobody knows the consequences of them. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen. People are applying these technologies without really thinking it through.”
We can pick apart a few keywords here which will guide the subject matter, the point of view, and the tone.
Broadly speaking, the subject matter is AI and ethics.
Humphrey’s point of view is that there are so many unknowns when it comes to new technologies, how they are applied, and what impact this might have on society.
And for Humphrey’s tone, we already know that he advocates for more educated voices - not just those profiting from these new technologies. People are applying these technologies without really thinking it through. It’s philosophers like Humphrey’s that are left to do the thinking. So Humphrey’s tone is one of a public intellectual in stark opposition to the popular alternative, the influencer.
From Humphrey’s blog, we know that his subject matter arises at the intersections of technology and society. Where these often opposing forces collide:
Generative AI - breaking or fixing democracy? The Impossible Quest for Politically Neutral AI
Ethics shopping and digital sweatshops - is the "AI Ethics Boom" just for show?
Humphrey’s blog forms a solid foundation upon which to build further content4. But his blog topics also illustrate how any scholar might approach this kind of research engagement.
On developing blog topics.
“The way I work is, find something that’s kind of topical in the news, I have a few Google alerts setup. Then I find a couple of research papers, really recent cutting edge ones, look at that and that’s what I write on… I want to combing the research side of things with the public interest things.”
So find a topic that’s of either broad public or niche audience interest, particularly topics that might be contentious or misunderstood, and give a bold opinion.
How you turn these ideas into creative content such as videos, though a graphic novel would be cool5, is going to depend on the resources at your disposal. The video below is a selection of my own creative work in cyber security, for education and the corporate sector.
Technology, cyber security and artificial intelligence are aesthetically rich fields of discourse. Think about films, music, artwork and books that inspire. Be open to the creative possibilities, and where inspiration might strike. Take either of the Blade Runner films as abstract examples. Both of these films, breathtaking in their creative abundance, are fantastic aesthetic starting points. But, you may be surprised to hear, you don’t need a big budget to pull off Blade Runner inspired vibes for your online content.
And that’s something that, hopefully, Humphrey’s and I will explore together as we embark on an ethics.exe creative project.
To close in Humphrey’s own words,
“The very end goal of academia, I think… is to broaden public understanding… That’s the ultimate, grand, idealistic goal.”
And I just want to make it cool along the way.
For more cybersecurity reading, check out Cybersecurity is boring and What if the audience is spies and hackers?
Check this out if you’re interested in making better research videos.
If you’re not sure of your tone of voice, vibe or brand, check out Making better research videos and follow the exercise in part one to better understand your creative persona.
The internet is already full of enough egos.
As we consider the value of Humphrey’s broader engagement, he considers his blog writing a kind of research training and development. His blog posts are “micro-research snapshots”. One quite pragmatic purpose of Humphrey’s blog, which aligns well with traditional academic objectives, is “to build a collection of ideas.”.
“It’s this kind of reflective practice… a spark for ideas… I can come across ideas which I hadn’t thought of before, and then they can build into articles.”
He continue “It’s a training thing. You’re getting better at getting your ideas across… which then leads back into research papers… it’s really valuable in that way”.