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Week #13

How can digital footprint leave a lasting impact?

Digital footprint has become harder and harder to erase as the internet continues to evolve due to the everlasting updates and the ignorance of what we as a society put out into the digital space. This being so, it can lead to negative effects if one wants to erase what they previously posted onto the internet. Conversely, not only does it affect the users footprint, but it will also be consumed by anyone in the world. In the article, “How Your Twitter Could Land You in Jail”, the users of twitter posted something leading to a protest the government was trying to stop. The integrity of a digital footprint led to a riot even when the users of the tweet were stopped by police forces.

How can cyberspace become a safer place ?

I personally don’t think cyberspace will ever become a “safe” space, only ways to manage your personal safety. I relate it to society, where there will always be crime since there are always loopholes to be played. Similarly to crime, where it is surfaced due to people “having” to commit crimes because of their financial state, or they are just imbeciles, digital crime such as scams are relevant because it pays the people committing them. To make it a safer space, is to educate people to identify crimes and how to avoid them.

How did TIPS reveal the ignorance of modern society?

TIPS, which is Terriorism information prevention systems, was a program for civilians to report any suspicious activity they see going on in public or private. I believe the concept was beneficial but, people in society are never going to be 100% honest and reasonable. We live in a time where we have been fighting racism for over a hundred years, meaning people can report others just by the color of their skin or certain wardrobe choices. This program was then ripped to the ground due to the lack of authenticity, created by the fear of terrorist attacks. Although it is not unreasonable to rather be safe than sorry, the concept of this program backfired due to fear and carelessness.

What is the line to draw between too much surveillance from just enough?

The concept of privacy in cyberspace has basically become irrelevant since your information will eventually fall into someone else's hands. Either it is to the government or a stranger, this doesn’t change the fact that your information is not yours anymore. I think surveillance being abused is intolerable because it ruins a human right to live their own life. However, some people, for example criminals, are surveilled due to their unpredictable behaviors. I personally think surveillance should be used to protect citizens, whereas it shouldn’t be used to gather information to improve their technology without our permission. 

“How your Twitter Account could Land you in Jail” by Mother Jones

“Fear as Institution: 9/11 and Surveillance Triumphant” by C. Parenti

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Week #12

How are black people limited in a professional space?

In the article, “Virtual Homespace”, Lee tells a story of how a business woman was told to cut her dreadlocks due to the unprofessional look of them. Her hair which took 10 years to grow was now a “distraction”, leaving her with a decision of cutting her hair or risk losing her job. This is unjust since hair can be very meaningful to some people, especially if it takes multiple years of your life to grow and care for. This suffocates the ability for certain people to restrict their ability to express themselves.

Are online communities involved enough to be equivalent to in person communities?

No, online communities will never suffice in person communities. I think this is because of the true connection one can make while talking to one another in person. Also, in online communities they can support people from all over the world, meaning you will most likely never see these people in person. I'm also led to believe that in person communities are more genuine, since it is a lot easier to lie in online communities. This can lead to connections being superficial, while connections in person can lead to true deep connections.

Why is the loss of privacy in the modern era not being discussed further on a day to day basis?

I suppose the loss of everyone's privacy isn’t being talked about enough because we don’t see it affecting our day to day life. The most conflict we get with losing our information is most likely scam calls, but in reality lots of our information is up for grabs for anyone to take and steal. In the documentary, “Surveillance”, they mention how the government has all the tools to monitor our every movement, yet the citizens do not seem to care. The reason can be split between because we are clueless of their abilities and because we have no control to stop them. To be able to keep our information safe, we are restricting a lot of assets we use on a day to day basis, such as our phone or any other electronic device.

How can we protect our online identity?

There are simple steps to protecting information online, such as using a VPN, or to not save passwords on the cloud. Once information is on the cloud, anyone can access your information, this meaning we should be more old school and write things down on a piece of paper. Adding on, one should use multiple passwords for different emails and different accounts such as for banks and credit cards. This limits the ability for information to be stolen throughout multiple apps.

McLaine, S. (2001). Ethnic Online Communities: Between Profit and Purpose. In D. Gauntlett (Ed.), Web.Studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the Digital Age. Arnold Publishers.

Hathaway, J. (2014, October 10). What is Gamergate, and why? An explainer for non-geeks. Gawker.

O'Neill, M., & Peltz, P. (Directors). (2020). Surveilled [Film]. HBO Documentary Films.

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Week #11

Is it possible for social media to be scaled to a real credible news source?

Personally, social media is my my news source since I do not watch the news on the television, lots of news is being fed through my feed. Although the credibility can be questionable, if one follows mainstream news media outlets, the information will most likely be authentic. I think social media can be transitioned to be the main source of news for society as lots of people already have social media. The only downside is the decision for people to follow news on social media or from other outlets. If one does choose so I think social media can be a credible news source for people to use.

Since social media is so actively used, how can this negatively affect someone?

 Firstly, I believe that the weak minded can be easily influenced by social media and that means negatively. Circumstances include believing in fake news, or just following a trend because it is popular without having much of their own input. Social media movements can influence the people who don’t have a strong opinion for themselves and this can lead to them supporting something they don’t have much information on, or following something they shouldn’t. Lots of social media movements are also developed by soft leaders, which can be anyone who can speak on a subject for their own opinion. This mean news could be spread by someone who doesn’t have much credentials, specifically about credibility. 

How are movements started by social media?

Movements can be easily started by social leaders, or anyone if the word spreads. It can be easier to grow in size because of the mass amount of people using social media, and because of the availability of the whole world through the internet. It can also be easier to update members of a movement through just one single post or story since everyone who follows the movement will see the message. It is a less labor intensive way to start of movement because of the accessibility of the internet.

How do communities form and develop through social media?

X or formerly known as twitter is amongst one of the most popular social media apps. Knowing so a vast variety of races use this app, while being able to form communities within itself. Twitter was once referred to as black twitter because of the black community making up majority of the users. This allowed them to bond with specific posts, such as memes or even news. This type of community can be formed through social events that happen, an example could be the death of George Floyd which aggravated the community, coming together to help protest against the unjust action of the police officer.

Deschine Parkhurst, Nicholet A. “Disruptions: Indigenous Social Media.” 9 Apr. 2025. 

Fuchs, C. Communication Power in the Arab Spring and The Occupy Movement, 2012. 

Vegh, S. “Classifying Forms of Online Activism: The Case of Cyber-Protests Against the World Bank.” 

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Week #9

What purpose do protesters serve?

 I always saw protesters as silly, standing there chanting away in the hot sun. But the phrase, “the exercise of the right of protest is the civil equivalent to lifting weights”, drew the picture for me. They rely on the first amendment for protection, then speak what they think is hurting our society. Whether that is laws being passed, or a horrible leader in charge, but they speak for the people who are too scared to speak for themselves, trying to do the right thing. It also shows they are politically active and up to date what is going on politically which is good since that means they are involved in their community, and want it to become a better place.

What are other benefits of protestors? 

Another benefit of protesting , can be creating a sense of community. It does so since people are gathering to support similar beliefs making it easier for people to relate to each other. This sense of community can branch off into other benefits such as growing the group and awareness of whatever they are trying to promote. Since protesters usually gather in big groups it can allow for people to be curious of what they are protesting about, sparking conversation and interest in whatever movement they are promoting. 

What are examples of the internet strengthening the connections between like minded people?

In Daniels, “White supremacist Social Movements”, he mentions how the internet can strengthen connections between like minded people, doing so by allowing a space where anyone can speak their mind and intentions. This was shown most recently in the BLM movement where I believe anyone who had social media has seen the video of the police brutally attacking George Floyd. This eventually led to many protests and even songs written to showcase police brutality, all throughout the pandemic where the internet was the main use of communication due to the lockdown. Other examples include LGBTQ communities or even fandoms including the ones created in reddit where people can join a community and post what they want to.

how is white supremacy correlated to the founding fathers?

Firstly, they both support the belief that other races are inferior to them, creating a power trip. Online white supremacy then takes in the ideologies of the founding fathers, including such as referencing freedom , liberty, and American Identity to hide their beliefs in legitimacy. They also use the founding fathers as a scapegoat of modern racism due to their similar beliefs.           

Daniels, Jessie. (2009). White Supremacist Social Movements Online and in a Global Context. essay. Retrieved March 20, 2025,.

Elin, L. (2003). The Radicalization of Zeke Spier. story. Retrieved March 20, 2025,.

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Week #8

How has our modern world adapted to modern machinery as time progressed?

We as a human society have become so reliant on modern machinery that we have evolved to become cyborgs. Cyborgs being the fusion of human and machine, have become normalized in today’s society. For example, most people today are glued to their phones, even while doing tasks that don’t require it such as driving, doing work or even spending time with family. By definition a cyborg should be a “hybrid of machine and organism”( Harrway 354), but reliance on such technology has led to poor downsides in modern day living. Personally I feel the heavy toll it extracts on my mental health and the addicting habits of always using my phone or computer.

Why do we create artificial systems to interact with us humans?

Although there are many benefits of AI, the ones created to stimulate a real person confuses me. Even the thought of talking to AI like chat gpt is crazy, but adding on a relationship towards AI seems blasphemous. There are little to no benefits of talking to something artificial. After reading the article, “Gender, Technology, and Visual Cyberculture”, the purpose of a “Ananova” was to imitate a real relationship. It seems the creators of this technology wants us to create relationships with AI just so they get the benefits of profitability from the interactions. This is similar to what O’ Riordan has to say about movie stars who act as an artificial superhero to reel in the attention of the consumers, we call fans. These interactions are purely for entertainment and benefits of the creators, casting a puppet effect through something that isn’t even real.

Why is gender so stereotyped in cyberspace?

One of the reasons why gender is so stereotyped is because it is to reel in the consumers who often perceive what they say with a concept called “The male gaze”. ( O’ Riordan) This is a concept to explain the perception of a female’s body or aroma, through a male perspective. So they cater their makings through what a regular “man” would look for when seeing a female. Furthermore, the algorithms that create cyberspace are made from patterns that occur in society, such as gender stereotypes of women being caregivers and teachers, while men are always doing the dirty work of making money or protecting their family.

Should we fear the evolution of technology?

Technology has shaped the world we know as of today, but it does have its downsides. Fear is an overstatement but we cannot let it control us. Technology has consumed me and many around me but it is purely because of the fact we let it. In Haraway’s article, she mentions “refusing an anti-science metaphysics”, meaning we shouldn’t fear technology. We can’t fear technology since it has gotten us so far, but we cannot let it consume us as humans, losing our ways of social interaction is something we cannot let technology do. 

Daniels, Jesse. (2019). Gender, White Supremacy, and the Internet. 

Haraway, D. (2019). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781912453269

Jones, Jazmin. Seeking Mavis Beacon. (2024). [Film]. United States. 

O’Riordan, K. (2022). Gender, Technology, and Visual Cyberculture. Critical Cyberculture Studies, 243–254. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814708903.003.0025

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Week #7

How does a merit system affect the authenticity of a society?

Based on the short film we watched in class, a merit system greatly decreases the authenticity of interactions with one another in a society. A merit system makes people focus on the point system or whatever is the result of having good merit. This makes people build fake reputations and personalities just to fit the criteria of being “good” in the merit system. It also downplays the true intentions of people were anger will degrade one's merit status even though it is an emotion that everyone has but it doesn’t seem well in a merit system. This then sweeps the true emotions under the rug so everything can seem like a utopia in the merit system.

How is social media related to a merit system?

Social media is similar to a merit system since likes are related to merits, where more likes gives one a higher social status. Just like the short film, where merits opens the door to certain privileges, more likes on social media allows more opportunities to either grow a following for more merit or other benefits like sponsorships. Just like a merit system, it is possible to lose merits or likes due to poor behavior. If a social media influencer with a big following says something offensive towards a specific group, their following will take a hit just like a merit system.

Can emotions alter the meaning behind conversations revolving around racism?

Yes, for example if one person had a bad interaction with a certain race, and specified they were angry. The receivers of this message might assume that the person has hatred or anger towards everyone of this certain race. Adding to that humor can change the true intentions of what one has to say. Humor can come across as disrespectful or heartless if addressing race. 

Why has cyber racism been swept under the rug and now a norm?

Several reasons attach to this problem of the internet, but the main reason why it has been accustomed to our everyday living is because of the anonymity of using the internet. People all over the world can use the internet without having to specify race or gender making it easier for cyber racism to spread without severe consequences due to the anonymity of a user.

Hunsinger, J., & Senft, T. M. (2015). The Social Media Handbook. Routledge.

Schur, M., & Jones, R. (2016, October 21). Black Mirror: Nosedive. Netflix. episode.

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Week #6

How do video games and modern American society correlate with each other?

In the article, “ Ludo-Orientalism and the Gamification of Race”, the term procedural meritocracy was mentioned. The meaning of it simplifies to be a progressional system based on how an individual performs. This can be related to video games, for example, where one has to improve certain skills in the game to pass a certain level. The term also reflects the hierarchy of modern American society, where hypothetically, an individual can work a regular office job as a base level employee but can eventually work their way up to a high level executive. 

How is meritocracy exemplified by race?

Asian Americans are considered a “model minority”, in the article “ Ludo-Orientalism and the Gamification of Race”. This is because of their culture, constantly pushed by the importance of academics. This then follows the typical “path” of success, where one gets a degree and gets a stable job hoping to climb the ranks the job has to offer. Although meritocracy pushes the insignificance of race, gender, or social status, some people may be less fortunate than others, allowing them to not receive as many tools to succeed as someone who does.

Who holds responsibilities for the poor ethics of AI?

I believe the creators of AI should be held responsible for their poor algorithm. One can only blame the program so much, since it is created by the human hand. An example of poor ethics from AI, includes the misjudgment of facial recognition. There have been multiple cases where AI has mistaken one person for another, especially those who are of color. AI has developed an algorithm that biases’ people of color, due to the hands of the creators. 

How can stereotypes be applied into entertainment?

Comparing cyborgs, which are supposed to be robots with no sex specifications, stereotypes are still prominent. For example, the terminator, a strong destructive robot played by a man is portrayed as emotionless, protective, and physically strong which are typical stereotypes for a man. Where is the robot in the new movie “Subservience”, where the robot was created to be a woman, she had typical jobs such as cleaning,cooking, and caregiving, which are stereotypes applied to a woman. 

Kolko, B. E., Nakamura, L., & Rodman, G. B. (2013). Race in Cyberspace: An Introduction. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203949696 

Ow, J. A. (2003). The Revenge of the Yellow Faced Cyborg Terminator. 

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Week #4

Why are white and blacks so segregated to the point that even the names are vastly different and how does this affect society as a whole?

Due to the history of segregation in the past, it eventually trickled into modern day. In the article “Race After Technology”, the author describes how in our society we perceive white people as the “norm” due to their blandness in their culture and names. Because of this, they inherit some sort of “immunity” resulting from “invisibility”, helping them in situations such as interactions with the law. In African American culture, they tend to have “made up names”, which leads to noticeable differences further separating them from other societies. This counteracts the origins of a name, where it is made up and unique. This leads to stereotypes of each culture, how someone named “Alice Tang” may be more scholarly inclined or someone named “Tyrone Jackson” will be more focused on survival. 

Is it reasonable to blame AI for following algorithms that were created by humans?

Since Artificial Intelligence is created by humans, it learns off what we do. It scours the internet for every piece of information possible, including things we post or search up. Knowing this, can we blame AI for racist remarks, even though it originated from humans and it is only a reflection of what society has become. As the article, “Algorithms of Oppression”, mentions how google results in African Americans with searches such as “gorilla”. To what extent can we shift the blame to AI or are we as a society going to sweep racism under the rug? I believe that we shouldn’t blame AI for racist remarks since it is only learning from how we humans are always at war with one another

Does invasion of privacy from the government lead to benefits to a community or is it just an excuse to invade privacy?

I believe that the government watches our every move and blames a certain group of people such as African American and Latinos, so it can seem more reasonable for them to track us. There are around 40,000 African Americans in the CalGang database and around 130,000 Latinos according to the article, “TrackandTrapped”. I believe they use this information for the benefits of society but for them to be able to do this they would have to track innocent civilians too, resulting in an unfair result for both groups. I do believe that tracking criminals is important to modern society, but it is a result of tracking innocent civilians too, leading to collateral damage on society as a whole. 

How does gender affect the knowledge society receives?

In the Ted Talk by Kimberle Creshaw, she does an exercise listing names of people who were killed by police. If the crowd recognizes the name they will sit down, and during the first portion of naming male names most people stayed standing up. Eventually she heard female names and the majority of the audience sat down. I can relate this to my own knowledge, where I only remember the name of African American Males that have lost their life and not one female who has lost their life due to racial reasons. It is obvious the media focuses attention on males who are dealing with racial hardships but never the females. It makes me question why, especially if they are the same racial group, how does gender affect the attention of the media?

Benjamin, R. (2020). Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity. 

Crenshaw, K. (2016, December 7). The Urgency of Intersectionality. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o 

Everett, A. (2002). The Revolution Will Be Digitized. Duke University Press. https://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/20/2%20(71)/125/32619/The-Revolution-Will-Be-DigitizedAFROCENTRICITY-AND?redirectedFrom=fulltext 

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Week #2

It was an uneventful night as a highschool student with no homework to do. I hit up a friend who also had nothing to do, so I picked her up and we ended up at a park around 10 pm. At this point in my life, I had a highschool crush that I would romanticize my life around. When my friend and I arrived at the park, we were having fun swinging on swings and catching up with each other since we haven't seen each other in a while. While we were hanging out, I heard noise coming from my phone in my pocket. Unfortunately for me, it was my crush and I froze, slurring my words not knowing what to say. Embarrassingly I admitted I butt dialed and ended the call. It threw me off the rest of the night, dropping my friend off early since I didn't want to deal with the embarrassment. For the whole ride back home I was overthinking everything, wondering if she thinks I’m weird, or if I ruined my chances with her. The next day I went to school and we usually sat at the same table since we were in the same friend group. Even though we were both introverts, usually not saying much to each other, I could tell something was off. We were both dead silent, glancing at each other from time to time, but no word came out of our mouths. At that point, I knew I ruined my chances and I believed she thought I was weird. That day I went home, and removed her on all my socials since due to me being clumsy and butt dialing my crush. Even though we could’ve clarified what happened, the embarrassment I felt was too much for me to bare, so I just threw our friendship away. 

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Week #3

Does the internet help expose the downsides of a traditional hierarchy?

 Through the article, “ Rethinking Cyberfeminism”, it proposed the idea of how women can have different gender and racial norms. Our government, before only classified by two genders, was overturned due to the amount of buzz, we, as a society collectively informed the government there were more than one gender. Cyberfeminism then counteracts how society has centered around a traditional white middle class woman. They did this by advocating to be more open to different racial cultures or classes on the internet.

How should we interpret which jobs can be replaced by AI and what jobs shouldn’t be?

Following the article “automating inequality”, an article describing the story of a wife fighting against the absence of help from their new assurance. The AI system recognized a false fraud and did not allow the company to help the narrator out, even through relentless calls the people helping her behind the phone kept referring to the “system said”, rather then checking on her documents themselves. I believe some jobs such as a cashier at a fast food chain are easily replaceable with AI with little to no consequences. But, dealing with more serious jobs such as insurance, where lots of money is involved, I believe humans should still be the priority operator while AI is only used to assist them.

Does artificial intelligence do more harm or good?

With two articles including stories of the impracticality of artificial intelligence, it urges one to debate whether it is beneficial or not to society. I believe it does do more good than harm even though it can be misleading sometimes. For example, in the article “Flawed Facial Recognition Leads to Arrest and Jail for New Jersey Man”, there were two incidents mentioned where facial recognition flaws lead to wrongful arrest. Although from time to time there are errors in AI systems, I believe the benefits of it, such as collecting data and security from attackers, outweigh the mistakes it makes. 

How does the lack of social understanding about AI affect the lower and middle class?

As mentioned in “Automating inequality”, the narrator explains how “poor and working-class people are targeted by new tools of digital poverty management.” This was new to me since I didn’t know there was a specific group of people being observed more frequently by AI than others. This then leads to them being the primary targets of night invasion, or invasive surveillance, which personally I did not know of, and I believe many others didn’t. The lack of general knowledge about our day to day being tracked invades our privacy and many other effects we probably can’t even determine is legal or not.

Daniels, J. (2009). Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender, and Embodiment. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, 37(1–2), 101–124. https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.0.0158 

Eubanks, V. (2021, July 20). Automating Inequality. Macmillan Publishers. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250074317/automatinginequality/