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Publications

Major published works include:

  • You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape (MIT Press 2021), co-authored with Ryan Milner
  • “The Oxygen of Amplification: Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators Online.” Data & Society, 2018
  • The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online (Polity Press 2017), co-authored with Ryan M. Milner
  • This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture (MIT Press 2015). 

Book chapters, articles, and cultural critiques include:

  • W. Phillips, M. Brockway and A. Ohlheiser. 2022. "January 6th, Trump, and the Rise of America's Dangerous Shadow Gospel." NBC. 
  • W. Phillips and C. Wardle. 2021. “Disinformation Goes to Hollywood: Four Lessons from Journalism.” First Draft News.
  • W. Phillips. 2021. “Whose Anger Counts? ” Boston Review, January.
  • W. Phillips. 2020. “Light Disinfects: A Cultural History and Critique.’” Georgetown Law Technology Review, Special Issue on Network Ecologies.
  • W. Phillips. 2019. “It Wasn’t Just the Trolls: Early Internet Culture, ‘Fun,’ and the Fires of Exclusionary Laughter.” Social Media and Society’s 2K. April.  
  • W. Phillips. 2018. “Am I Why I Can’t Have Nice Things?: A Reflection on Personal Trauma, Collective Play, and Ethical Sight.” In A Networked Self and Love, ed. Zizi Papacharissi. London: Routledge.
  • W. Phillips and R.M. Milner. 2018. “Ghosts in the Machines: How Centuries of Technological Play with Death Has Helped Make Sense of Life.” In A Networked Self: Birth, Life, and Death, ed. Zizi Papacharissi. London: Routledge.