<p>In this special episode of <em>Digital Gardening</em>, Paul and Adam sit down with <a href="https://mediaeducationlab.com/about/renee-hobbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Renee Hobbs</a>, Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Rhode Island and Founding Director of the <a href="https://mediaeducationlab.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Media Education Lab</a> at URI&#39;s Harrington School of Communication. Dr. Hobbs&#39; current project, <a href="https://www.courageousri.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Courageous RI</a>, focuses on violence prevention via community-led discussions on such topics as &quot;Feelings and Facts,&quot; &quot;Conflict Entrepreneurs,&quot; and &quot;Preventing Violent Extremism.&quot; All Courageous RI events are free, online, and open to the public. </p> <p>Our conversation in this episode spans several timely topics. We talk about the role of universities and colleges in repairing the epistemic divide and mitigating the hyper-polarization of our current moment, even as institutions of higher education (like all knowledge-producing institutions) are experiencing a crisis of confidence and lack of trust from the publics they serve. We discuss the rise of influencers and the concomitant decline in expert knowledge. And we explore the future of higher education and what must change--in terms of disciplinary siloing and incentive structures--for higher education to truly seize the gravity of our current postdigital moment. </p> <p>Thank you for listening to <em>Digital Gardening</em>. We hope you enjoy this podcast. Please reach out to us with your questions, feedback, and fan mail. You can reach us at [email protected]. </p>