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Cheers to a happier future... in tech

When it comes to a more positive digital future, there are many steps we must take. A few that come to mind and were talked about throughout the modules would be:

Promoting digital literacy and education

Mental health awareness and social media

Transparent algorithms & AI

In module 7 we read about digital literacy, and although I personally thought most of it was common sense, I was surprised to have found out many of my friends and relatives weren't aware of many scams and digital safeguards. It is absolutely essential to have a better digital literacy rate when moving forward with such a high-tech society, to prevent harm from being done to innocent people.

In module 5, mental health and technology was touched upon. As a society we've gotten much better at being socially aware, and more sensitive to the mental health effects caused by social media and technologies. With greater awareness and sensitivity to the topic we can create a more positive and safer digital space for the future.

Finally, in module 9 (and a bit of 5), we talked about transparency with algorithms and developments in AI. Since this is clearly where the future of tech os headed, and is already greatly involved in our current digital ecosystem, it is crucial we have access and can understand what goes in to developing these heavily relied on tools.

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Codeacademy Training

Thanks to the code academy free training courses, I learned more about AI and even tried my hand at coding!

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Cara

Well wishes to all reading this blog post. I am Colette Quinn, the chief technological officer of Cara. Cara, from the Irish meaning "friend", is an AI companion designed for individuals suffering from illness, mental illness, loneliness, or any individual in need of warm company.

Too often we see the elderly, who struggle with texting, calling or navigating other internet sites, suffering from loneliness with infrequent or no visitors at all. For individuals who would appreciate someone to talk to, ask questions, express feelings or vent to Cara provides them with such. Cara is a highly trained and intelligent virtual assistant trained to understand and interpret natural human language and responses, recognizing language indicative of sadness, anxiety, stress, anger and more. Continuously learning, Cara is trained to adapt to each user and their needs, prompting activities and empathetic responses to a user's personalized preferences.

For questions about Cara, launch date, and other information please visit:

We appreciate your support and are excited to explore the world of companionship and kindness with you all.

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5 Innovations of OpenAI

source

The fast and somewhat disruptive innovation of artificial intelligence.

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Week 7 Cybersecurity!

Nova Cybersecurity game screenshots are as follows:

In the password challenges in level 2 & 3 I just couldn't guess the opponent's passwords! Only 1 star for me, but at least my passwords were all secure!

Success! Rank 5/6 isn't too bad, champion status apparently!

Much like in our readings, the game talked a lot about phishing. The game was fun and informative, with text bubbles explaining why each "red flag" was indeed untrustworthy. The game also emphasized why Internet literacy is so important, especially for business owners- the module goes in depth about the average individual, like you and me, and what we use the internet for and what we have to watch out for. The simplicity of the game is made for the average internet user, even if they aren't starting up a company- but even a website or navigating online shopping! The third connection to the module this week would be the harassment connection. In the game, we find out the mystery password hacker was an upset insider trying to sabotage the company- which is harassment and hacking as discussed in the module

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Final project proposal by Colette Quinn and Faizal Thakor

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internet vs information: module 5

Disinformation

This is a TikTok that is spreading disinformation- flat out false information. Noah Schnapp, one of the Stranger Things actors, is currently in hot water over some comments he made regarding the Israel-Palestine war going on. Since this, Schnapp has had many fake comments and posts made about him and his coworkers, one of which being this lie that the rest of the cast unfollowed him due to his recent controversy. This never happened, and therefore is an example of disinformation. (fabricated content)

Misinformation

“using a mask incorrectly can actually make it more dangerous.”

This, in a narrow sense, is true: using anything incorrectly can be dangerous. The broader implication, however, that wearing masks is somehow “dangerous” flies in the face of new evidence complied by Yale researchers showing that wearing face masks reduces the spread of COVID-19 and saves lives.

This article lists the dangers of misinformation in relation to Coivid-19. A great source of information the past few years, many people have taken the truth of a situation and twisted it so as to scare people and fear monger. In the above quote directly pulled from the article, we see an example of people taking a true fact and twisting it so that the idea becomes negative, and the real intention/meaning is lost. Here, the centre for disease control in Australia released a statement advising proper wearing of face masks, but some people took his statement and because of the way it was worded, used a true statement to create a lie and say wearing face masks is dangerous rather than the improper use being dangerous.

Malinformation

Here is yet another TikTok, except this time being an example of malformation. The video depicts an account making fun of a trans woman on a podcast, where she was also being made the punch line of a joke. The podcast hosts criticized her for her appearance, being trans and her confidence. This particular video is unfortunately one of many harassing this woman- depicted is her introducing herself but instead of the original audio the creator put a VoiceOver of Optimus prime speaking. This, in combination with the hashtags, is clearly a hateful comment on her appearance. The ridicule she faces based on her appearance and being trans is hate speech and therefore malinformation.

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A link to my annotations of Hot Topic's website and rating its accessibility. Check it out!

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Here is unfortunately, a common example of poor netiquette. A twitter post about celebrity Selena Gomez's beauty brand "Rare Beauty" and her personal struggles with mental illness is met with lots of praise, but also hate. Gomez is open about her struggles with her mental and physical help, often being referred to as an advocate for such. The first twitter user replied to this extremely positive post celebrating Gomez with a very hateful and crude post. This poor digital etiquette comes from the increased confidence of being behind a screen, and not having to face any consequence for the abusive behaviour. Many people forget that what they post online should reflect what they would be comfortable saying in real life, or proud to have their mother hear them say. This unprofessional user’s handle lists a name, although it may not be their real one. Regardless, this woman has a picture of herself on her profile and a link tree with all of her social medias connected to it. If she were to be confronted by an employer, her hateful words would be less than favourable and she would likely have trouble finding work with such a negative digital footprint. This user's hateful and offensive words do not stop with this post, but also on all her profiles and even in her bio. As a not-so tech-savvy person, it was still extremely easy to find out much information about this person, and I'm sure any of her future employers, family and friends can do the same. The second user, however, was very positive and encouraging. Not only does this make the poster feel good, but encourages an overall positive attitude to readers. When visiting his profile, he may not have a profile picture, but he is proud to list his name as all of his posts and replies are nothing but kind words and insightful opinions backed by research. Engaging with celebrities and influencers often- which is a great social media plan and way of using the digital space to network! This second user has incredible digital hygiene, and understands that the internet is forever. If an employer were to scrub through his socials, they would be no short of impressed. If this may be advice to readers, be like the second user, and never post what you would be shocked to see on the news- it may cost you a job!