Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
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svegaard.bsky.social
Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
@svegaard.bsky.social
Post-doc in polarisation, populism, fandom, identity and all the feels with @snurb at QUT DMRC.
🇩🇰 in 🇦🇺, residing on Turrbal and Yugara country.
QaF.
Plant🪴dad. Once and future cat person.
he/him
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Today, under the cover of the Liberals tearing each other down, Labor has approved another coal mine extension.

Extending Middlemount to 2044 means Labor has now approved 35 fossil fuel projects.

In the middle of the climate crisis, they're approving more coal & gas.
February 13, 2026 at 12:32 AM
The opposite of “just good friends”… and even more damaging.
February 13, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
I’ve said it before I’ll say it again

I’ve been genuinely astounded at how quickly & effectively RFK Jr & his allies—Drs Prasad, Bhattacharya, Makary, Høeg, Oz, & Kulldorff—have been able to dismantle the US vaccination system, including vaccine R&D

I thought guardrails might slow them, but nope
In terms of what cures are being lost:

- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
February 13, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
🚨CALL FOR CHAPTERS!🚨

@amaramarasingam.bsky.social and I are putting together an edited collection looking at the use of pseudoscientific ideas by extremist movements. If you are interested, please send us your abstracts at this link: forms.gle/mAUtpDGNEj9i...
forms.gle
February 11, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Really delighted to see my university make this move. There could be no more appropriate place for the journal. 📔
‘A cultural icon’: axed Australian literary journal Meanjin finds new life in Queensland
The 85-year-old magazine will return to the city for which it was named after a successful bid by Queensland University of Technology
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Happy seventh annual Laura Dern Day, please be reminded that you are LEGALLY OBLIGATED to watch this masterpiece *at least* once today!
February 9, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Best. Concept. Art. EVAR. :)
My favorite artifact in the "you don't need AI to do art" discourse is, of course, screenwriter Dan O'Bannon's sketch of the facehugger to explain it to Giger.
February 7, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
NEW PUBLICATION!

In a new article in Journalism and Media, the DMRC's Aljosha Karim Schapals and colleagues consider communicative traits young people prefer in a "newsfluencer".

Available to read in open access here:
“Talk to Me as a Friend!”: How Teenagers Prefer Their Newsfluencers on Social Media
This study investigates how Portuguese teenagers (aged 13–18) perceive and prefer the communication characteristics of so-called “newsfluencers” on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Through 20 semi-structured interviews, the research explores how verbal and non-verbal traits shape adolescents’ engagement with news in a media ecosystem increasingly dominated by digital intermediaries. Drawing on literature on brand journalism, the study categorizes preferences into four key elements: character, tone, language, and purpose. The findings reveal that teenagers favor newsfluencers who are inspiring and friendly (character), are honest and direct (tone), use simple and fun speech (language), and aim to educate and inform (purpose). Participants express a desire for journalists who “talk to me as a friend”, emphasizing authenticity, emotional proximity, and conversational clarity over traditional, formal modes of reporting. These insights suggest that effective youth-oriented journalism on social media must balance factual accuracy and emotional engagement, blending education with entertainment. The research contributes to emerging scholarship on social media journalism and youth news consumption by highlighting how relational and affective communication strategies can enhance young audiences’ trust, understanding, and participation in news.
www.mdpi.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
PhD scholarship applications are open for a project investigating how public opinion is formed in online spaces, with a focus on the deliberative quality of discussions, social influence dynamics, and platform affordances and governance across major digital platforms.

www.qut.edu.au/study/fees-a...
QUT - Strengthening Public Opinion Formation Amid Digital Threats (PhD scholarship)
www.qut.edu.au
February 4, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
I don't know who needs to hear this but you need to listen to music (more).

I somehow forgot about music. The world is in major suck mode right now and I listen to news every free minute to make sense of the insanity.

If that's you, please listen to music more. It's good for your soul. Take care.
February 5, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Played Ghost of Yōtei? Please check out my research study on character identification! Please click this link depaul.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
to participate or find out more info!
@icagames.bsky.social @scmsfaas.bsky.social @scmsvideogames.bsky.social
February 3, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Lars Erslev Andersen, 1956-2026. R.I.P.
Lars Erslev Andersen er gået bort
Det er en stor sorg for alle os på DIIS, at seniorforsker Lars Erslev Andersen gik bort i går morges. Hans Lucht, enhedsleder for Lars Erslev, har skrevet dette mindeord.
www.diis.dk
February 3, 2026 at 10:03 PM
And no animals needed either - just a farmer poking his head out going “yep, it’s cold!” ;)
February 2, 2026 at 9:36 PM
An old Danish saying is that if Candlemas is cold then winter is over. “Ved Kyndelmisse knude er vinteren ude.” It continues that if it’s mild the winter will last. But I forgot the original rhyme for that :D (and my book of old almanak sayings is in another country.)
February 2, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
I had a chat with @pardisyarahmadi.bsky.social about the situation in Iran, and the horrors hidden behind and by the digital blackout. If you'd like to know more about the context and how you can help, have a listen.
The Read Them Sideways podcast is back from summer hiatus! Our first episode of 2026 welcomes Ehsan Dehghan and Pardis Yarahmadi to discuss the ongoing Iranian digital blackout, its implications, and how digital activism can assist. An important listen for your Monday!
The Iranian digital blackout, and how you can help (#37)
Read Them Sideways · Episode
open.spotify.com
February 2, 2026 at 4:10 AM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
I'm working on a single graphic that illustrates how participatory propaganda becomes policy in the second Trump administration, particularly around the case of "They're Eating the Pets".

Still hoping we'll get to take that last label away before those ?s resolve.
February 1, 2026 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
I read the abstract and yeah, leave this one with me.
February 1, 2026 at 4:14 AM
Sounds like she’s listening to a classic :) Smooth Criminal?
February 1, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Sure send it my way. I’ll have a look at the abstract and see if I can do it - maybe recommend someone else if not.
February 1, 2026 at 12:07 AM
What is happening in Iran is horrifying. And the silence is deafening. The people of Iran deserve to have their fight and plight seen and heard - at the very least.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Catching up on stories from this week...
"...the killings bore the hallmarks of executions. Medical workers..described receiving bodies with close-range gunshot wounds to the head that had been transferred from hospital morgues while still attached to catheters...
Disappeared bodies, mass burials and ‘30,000 dead’: what is the truth of Iran’s death toll?
Testimony from medics, morgue and graveyard staff reveals huge state effort to conceal systematic killing of protesters
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Chris Rufo is so upset about the Minneapolis protests that he is resorting to anti-Nordic racism christopherrufo.com/p/the-curse-...
January 30, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Sebastian F. K. Svegaard 🏳️‍🌈
Just started doing new data analysis and I know I keep saying this, but: I really, really don't think people appreciate how much this moral panic was a deliberate and extremely expensive invention.
January 28, 2026 at 3:12 AM
The day after Holocaust Memorial Day it does hit very hard.
January 28, 2026 at 10:48 AM