This week’s reading focused on crowdsourcing, using algorithms for social policy, and e-waste in Ghana. The increase of crowdsourcing, especially in countries like India and China, have multiple consequences. The first, taking jobs away from the U.S., and with taking away the concept of full time employment and the benefits and stability that comes with it (health care, retirement funding, etc.) For me, this reading was hard to understand conceptually, as neither of my parents had traditional full time jobs. My mom was an assembly line manufacturing before she got laid off in 2008, and my father has always worked odd jobs in the community. Neither of my parents were ever secure in their professions, and so for me, the concept of not having these full time benefits doesn’t too consequential.
The other two readings, in my opinion are focused on how new systems of technology have intensified already existing inequalities. The first lecture focused on the U.S. welfare system, and how the algorithm that will greater persecute already vulnerable communities of people. This, however, is a result of the structure of the U.S. welfare system, and our ideas that there are people “deserving” of being poor. Especially as those who are in poverty try to “cheat the system” to gain as high of a score as possible. Structural bias is automated.
The readings for Thursday revolve around the growing concern of e-waste in Ghana. Again, the manufacturing of technology has worsened already bad conditions of global warming and the divide between the global north and south. Countries in the global south are forced to live with the byproducts of the global north. Their mere survival--attempts at creating a market, economy, or education--are seen as a positive that makes them in debt to the global north even though these opportunities were created by the local community.
Gray, M. (2016) Your Job is About to Get Taskified Los Angeles Times
Watch video: Virginia Eubanks (2018) Automating Inequality https://datasociety.net/events/databite-no-106-automating-inequality-virginia-eubanks-in-conversation-with-alondra-nelson-and-julia-angwin/
Jackson, S. J. (2014). 11 Rethinking Repair. Media technologies: Essays on communication, materiality, and society, 221-39.
Watch video: SBS Dateline, E-waste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd_ZttK3PuM
This week’s reading centered around growing privacy concerns in regard to data mining and location tracking. In her keynote speech, Shoshana Zuboff elaborated on the economic and social conditions which allowed for surveillance capitalism. She argues that internet typhoons have created a market good--in this case, behavior--out of nothing. This good is “unnatural”, and exists only in the market between other goliath companies. We are not the producers nor the consumers, as Zuboff compares individuals to elephants hunted for their ivory tusks. She drives the issue home, insinuating that our children are becoming the main targets, and that the behavioral data collected will be used to further mold our behavior, tapping into our deepest insecurities and fears in order to draw a profit.
Heavy parallels are drawn to Orwell’s 1984, as she names the data mining companies, “The Big Other”. This parallel is further drawn through Greenwald’s article, ““Edward Snowden, The Whistle-blower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations.” Edward Snowden can be seen as a modern day Wintston Smith, the only “morally aware” man in his party. His testimony shows that, even in time periods when the administration is considered to be “liberal”, warrantless mass surveillance of citizens can, and still does, ensue. Yet, Snowden is only one man, and the incident itself occurred over 6 years ago. Imagine what has happened within those six years, and what other acts of invasion have occured.
The article by the New York Times took this topic to a personal level by showcasing specific tracking and data mining of one individual in particular, and the mundane apps she uses. The detailed and accurate access companies have to her, despite the ordinariness of her life and of her situation, is terrifying. She has no protection against these corporations. Many would say that she should simply stop using these apps, or leave her phone behind during the day. Yet, that is not the problem. Even if you stop using your phone, you still have to live in a world where everyone else using their phone. Apps like these have become a necessity. We have, in the words of Shoshana Zuboff, “traded our security and independence for convenience.”
This week’s readings are especially topical due to the recent FaceApp controversy. And yet, while I understand the outrage, I cannot help but feel subdued. I know consciously that this invasion of privacy is morally wrong, but I also feel numb to it. There is no sense of surprise.
Forum Privatheit 2018: Shoshana Zuboff keynote speech on surveillance capitalism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeaSxCN2uw8
Greenwald, G. (June 9, 2013) “Edward Snowden, The Whistle-blower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations.” The Guardian.
Jennifer Valentino-Devries, Natasha Singer, Michael h. Keller and Aaron Krolik. 2018. Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret. New York Times.
Reflection: The html self-portrait forced me to look at computer science through a more creative and artistic lens. As someone who is friends with a lot of cs majors, I rarely get to hear or see this side of CS. I mostly just hear crying. It was difficult to grasp at first(it took me 40 minutes to try to add a button on top of an image before I just gave up), but also rewarding to work around problems with your own solutions.
At first, I wanted to create a slideshow that would be snapshots of parts of my life. I didn’t want it to make sense or be organized, because I felt like that was more true to me as a person. After receiving feedback, I thought it would be better to have a more structured approach. A divided my website into three subsections (family, dance, art), with visuals in each section. I had some trouble including a video in my code (it kept saying that it was not supported by my browser), and instead settled for a link to a youtube video of my team dancing.
In the end, I created something that (in my opinion) still needed a lot of work. I was mildly frustrated and disappointed in myself, but was uplifted after sharing it to one of my CS buddies. They admitted that front end was difficult, even for them, and that as a product of my first attempt at coding, my html was actually really good and something to be proud of.
The project also tied in with our reading assignments, specifically the article about wikipedia and common knowledge. Coding often seems like an intimidating subject (a lot of my CS friends can also vouch for this), yet resources to learn are so abundantly available on the internet. My sister’s boyfriend, who originally majored in Chemistry, is now a data scientist after he completed an online boot camp in coding. There was a fee, but it was far cheaper than attaining a college degree, and even the free resources a can help a person get their foot in the door. Not just with CS, but with all subjects of interest.
It is also the case (in my own experiences), that online instructional resources are superior to traditional ones. Traditional educational resources do have their perks, they can be better customized to the student (ex. One-on-one teaching sessions). What is special about the internet, however, is that it not only provides educational content, but also presents this content in different frameworks. This helps accommodate to a diversity of learning styles.
This week’s readings focused on the accessibility of information online.
The need for storing large quantities of data was a product of World War , as explained in “As We May Think.” Scientific research was incredibly active during this time period, and the general public demanded that these findings be accessible to all. Not only that, but scientists themselves needed faster, more accurate methods to share and store their data. This lead to the higher quality cameras and film processes, more complex calculators, and the invention of “associative indexing”, where any item can be selected immediately and automatically select another.
In “Information Management: A Proposal,” Berners-Lee, the “web” as we know it was created in order to develop a system of information organization. This “web” would link nodes and keywords to each other. In the display, this web would be presented through hypertext, hypermedia, and hotspots. These definitions and importance of these terms are explored through “What Hypertext Is”. As defined by Ted Nelson, hypertext can access a branch/perform on the request of the user. Hypermedia is the branching or performance of a request, but in nontext form (pictures, videos, etc.). A hotspot is an icon that appears when one hovers over hypertext/hypermedia, usually giving a description of what is being presented. Hypertext has become the foundation of web display: accessible from different systems and able to update live.
“The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface” goes into depth on online search. The article emphasizes, “the more different strategies searchers can use an information store, the more retrieval effectiveness and efficiency is possible.” Thus, allowing for a diversity of search methods make the search process feel more natural to the user.
These readings have shown us how the internet has become a wealth of knowledge. This development has many possible ramifications on the future of education, as the internet is making resources more affordable and accessible. In “Computer Lib/Dream Machines”, the authors postulates on how computer assisted instruction (CAI) can be improved.
CAI models closely follow existing educational apps today. Duolingo, for example, organizes the learning process into different subjects, testing the student in mandatory quizes, and heavily relies on repetition and positive reinforcement (in the form of dialogue or points). A critique of this model is that the student is purely result-driven, diminishing their initial curiosity or passion for learning. These flaws all stem from a lack of control on the students part. The learning process should be designed in such a way where the student is in control of what they learn, what they are tested on, and to what extent. This optimizes learning on their own terms.
A key line in this piece that I strongly identify with is, ““Repetition and reinforcement are not important if the student hates what they are doing.” Technology cannot improve lives if it is modeled on the flawed systems of reality. The internet offers a unique capacity to overcome structural flaws in our educational system.
Bush, V. (1948). “As we may think.: The Atlantic Monthly, 101-108. Nelson, T.H. (2003 [1974]). Excerpts from “Computer Lib/Dream Machines.” In N. Wardrip- Fruin and N. Montfort (Eds.), The New Media Reader, pp. 303-338. Bates, M. (1989) “The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface” Berners-Lee, T. (1989) “Information management: A proposal.” Wardrip-Fruin, N. (2004) “What Hyer-text is”
Conversations around technology and media today emphasize the unprecedented growth of it all. It is completely true, the world is more connected than ever before, breaking news stories and viral videos can leave us completely captivated one day and apathetic the next. There is a general feeling of novelty and fear and excitement. While the technology that inspires those feelings is new, the feelings themselves are not.
Tuesday’s readings broke down “the cycle” of new technologies. First, they were innovated as a direct result of existing technologies, to challenge existing structures. Wu explains, “that which is centralized becomes a target for assault.” These innovations were designed to be as “open” and accessible as possible. Society conditioned these advancements to be seen as a public good. Although owned by a private entity, the monopolistic market structure would allow for the most effective and efficient distribution of the new service. In centralizing this entity, some users were inevitably marginalized.
The world wide web, with all of its grandiosity and potential is no different. The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires argues that this cycle will repeat itself and that the internet will become centralized. The author uses the AT&T as model for this cycle, paying particular focus on then-owner Theodore Vail, and his great hopes of unity and connectivity. We see this today as well. Today, the role of a tech CEO philanthropist with an eccentric vision of the future is Elon Musk. In framing technology through the lens of a cycle, Wu also insinuates that the centralization of the internet may not result in the end of the world. It is a cycle, it will repeat, and new inventions will come to take the internet’s place.
This cycle arguable starts with the telegraph. In Technology and Ideology: The Case of the Telegraph, Carey describes how the invention of the telegraph fundamentally changed the way society envisioned communication, transformation, business, time, and space. All technologies created afterwards only intensified these effects.
The field of journalism, for example, was forcibly standardized through the use of the telegraph. Articles were written as succinctly and factually as possible in order to reach a broad audience in order to maximize revenue. Any trace of “local flavor” was lost. This style of journalism remains with us today. The telegraph shaped language in a way very similar to tweets/memes do today, the latter of which relying heavily on visuals with as little words as possible as to be understood as quickly as possible. This helps the post go viral, and gain monetization.