valhart320

[valhart320]

Week 13 Blog Post (Due 11/18)

This app will allow uses to share recipes. There will be 4 ways to find recipes. Users can either search from a recipe, a country, heavy/light meals or snack/dessert, and based on available ingredients. People will be able to add videos or written directions to their recipes. Users will be able to leave comments and likes on a recipe, as well as save recipes for future use.

What will you measure? To create an account, the users: - name, - birthdate, - gender, - location (country), - and phone # or email will be required. If the user does not wish to share their real name, they can either selected create alias, or hide name. If alias I checked, another box will appear to create an alias. If hide box is chosen, a name will not appear under your username.

While using the app: - Search results/ key words - past results, - and post that have high engagement will be collected to promote similar accounts.

How will you weight these factors? It is important to collect user’s name and email/number, so they can log back into their account. Birthdate, gender, and location will be used to gather information on which demographics primarily use the app and how they interact with it. Based on peoples demographics similar content can be recommended. Users search history and how they interact with the app will be used to promote similar recipes.

What factors will not be measured? Although location is being used when signing up for the app, current location will not be required. It is important that authentic recipes are able to not be overshadowed by white-washed versions, but we are unsure if collecting data on users race/ethnicity would help since some people prefer cooking a variety of cultural foods.

How will the model learn or adapt to new information? During the beginning stages of it release, there will be more constant updates to fix any bugs. When peoples data is being collected it is important that it will not be shared outside of the apps usage or be sold. Information will be stored in the system.

What biases will be built into the model? How will this change the algorithm’s outcome? Recipes and accounts that receive higher interaction/likes will have a higher chance of being promoted. Users will be able to show their face and body on the app, so we will limit certain words and also give users the option to forbid certain words. Recipes that have less common ingredients or that are seen as visually appealing maybe less likely to be promoted.

How will the model live out the (un)ethical practices we have discussed To protect users, personal information will not be sold. The information that has been collected will be used to help user experience, but will be removed once the account is deleted. To also ensure this users will not be able to use google or Facebook to create an account, by linking their accounts.

[valhart320]

Blog Post: Week 12 Due (11/11)

Should schools be allowed to hand over student's personal information?

Law enforcement can be given students names, email addresses, phones number, height and weight, date of birth, birthplace, and field of study. Even if the student is a resident on the campus, the amount of information given without a court order is alarming. Although some information can be protected like citizenship status, SSN, student ID numbers, or ethnicity, race, or gender, a university should better protect their students' information.

How much privacy do we have? 

While there are benefits of improved technologies, it has created privacy issues. Surveillance has improved but is also not the most trustworthy, as it has proven not to be as accurate when distinguishing POC and women. This can become dangerous as people of color have been misidentified in previous cases. With facial recognition technology, there isn't much privacy. While there are benefits to being able to use programs like DARPA that can track people based on their environment, it is not likely that the benefits would out way the intrusion of privacy.

Does law enforcement and corporations have too much power?

Madison had used Twitter to help with the G20 summit by verifying information for protestors and medics to post. After posting bail, police officers broke into his home without serving a warrant and leaving severe damage done to the apartment. Although everything Madison did was legal, he was treated as if the laws and procedures did not apply to him. In another case, Steven Donziger, a lawyer that took on Chevron for ruining the rain forest, has been detained in his home since 2019. After winning the case on behalf of the people of Ecuador, when returning to the US, he was found guilty of racketeering. His computer and cellphone were seized, and he was liable for Chevron's lawsuit costs. Although it was known the judge had links with Chevron, nothing was done.

What is the point of surveillance? And What role do individuals play in surveillance?

Surveillance allows for the government and companies to track people's movements and analyze them. People's shopping habits are monitored to promote the best advertisements; it can help track where someone last spent money or potentially spotted and more. Along with AI and algorithms, social media also plays a role in monitoring people. A post can be made tagging a friend from their vacation. During the BLM protests, protesters would film activists holding the line against police, which also helped arrest them. Since activists' faces were not blurred out, individuals were able to be identified and arrested. The Gabby Petito case was due to a vlogger filming their van that helped the investigation. Although we may not be aware of it, what we post can play a role in surveillance.

Parenti, C. (2004). The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from slavery to the War on Terror. Basic Books.

Power, M. (2010, March 11). How your twitter account could land you in jail. Mother Jones. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/police-twitter-riots-social-media-activists/.

[valhart320]

Blog Post Week 10 (10/28)

In what ways can trolling be used?

Trolling can be used to bring social media users together to complete a particular goal, tell stories, mock/belittle people, and more. In the case of Grandpa Willy, a user shared "personal" stories with its uses. Some followers were unaware that it was a troll account and felt betrayed. (Duggan, 2020) Trolls have also been able to join Facebook groups where they intend to laugh at groups members. This can commonly be seen with flat earthers. Users who join the Facebook group act as part of the group and then purposefully poke fun of the member's beliefs. Although there is little harm in this, it can be degrading for the members. In another case a Reddit community called WallStreetBets worked together to short GameStop stock and made investment management companies take some losses. Users worked together to troll large corporations. This, unlike other trolling, did cause some harm to large businesses, but most users lost money due to being forced to sell their stock.

Why are trolls a problem?

While trolling can be harmless in some cases, it can also "[undermine] the integrity of the community, thereby making a fool of all involved" (Phillips, 2015). These trolls will infiltrate communities where they first aim to gain the groups trust by participating in discussions and sharing their own experience. These trolls will threaten the "utopian dream" that these communities built, where they can freely express thoughts. These trolls purposefully create conflict, so they can entertain themselves or share it with a following. This can become highly problematic when trolls pretend to be a minority race or gender.

How has the internet allowed cyberbullying?

When Leslie Jones's account was hacked and posted personal information and racial comments, Twitter did nothing.  Although she is a well-known comedian with a decent following, nothing was done to stop the hacker. Twitter can prevent users like Trump from having a platform but is somehow unable to prevent nudes and racial slurs from being shared. Anna Mayer, unfortunately, had a similar experience where unknown users were sharing personal information on the web and making up lies. Although we have freedom of speech, search engines are owned by private companies and reserve the right to regulate what can be posted. (Silman, 2016)

Does the internet/social media need to be regulated?

Fake profiles have been made of women offering sexual services. A woman's ex-husband in Maryland had posted a Craigslist offering sex with her and their children. Men started showing up at their home and harassing them. Photos later appeared on other domains and refused to remove their pictures. She had to pull her children out of school and move (Citron, 2014). Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for doxing and explicit photos to be shared without the owner's consent. Both the woman and children's safety were put into jeopardy, and nothing was done about it. Although it may be hard to regulate everything posted, it is possible to put measures in place to prevent nudes, addresses, and malicious comments from being posted.

Citron, D. K. (2014). Introduction. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674735613.intro

Duggan, M. (2020, August 17). Online harassment. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/10/22/online-harassment/.

Phillips, W. (2015). Defining terms: The origins and evolution of subcultural trolling. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, 55–87. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10288.003.0004

Silman, A. (2016, August 24). A Timeline of Leslie Jones's Horrific Online Abuse. The Cut. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/a-timeline-of-leslie-joness-horrific-online-abuse.html.

[valhart320]

Blog Post #7 (Due 10/14)

How has white supremacy shifted as society progresses?

Although white supremacy has become less prevalent as interracial couples and queer sexuality is becoming more widely accepted, that is not the case. Although white supremacists can accept interracial couples, they have a tendency to be along the lines of a white Hispanic and someone of European descent. These relationships work within the bounds of white supremacy since whiteness has not been diminished.

How do white women uphold white supremacy?

White women have been portrayed as weak and innocent. “Lesbian-Jewish feminists were represented as threats to the purity of white womanhood as temptresses” who would indoctrinate white women with feminist beliefs, like gender equality (Daniels). This perception of white women can be very dangerous as it is not true. Cases like Ed Johnson, a black man who was falsely accused of raping a white woman, was unjustly lynched many years ago. Although this was back in the day, incidents of white women creating their scenario have not changed. Over a year ago, a video went viral of a woman recording a black man and crying out that he was trying to assault her. If it was not for him recording the conversation, things could have ended up differently. Another way white women have continued to hold up white supremacy is by ignoring the importance of intersectionality. Specifically in Texas’s women’s march, black women were invited to participate after a lousy encounter the previous year. They were ignored and pushed to the back even after being invited, invalidating their efforts and experiences.

How can media celebrities manipulate consumers?

As media platforms become more popular and influences gain more recognition, their followers' control also increases. Influencers share their lives online, creating a false sense of closeness between them and their followers. Followers become the consumers. They watch videos and ads, like and share posts, and even purchase merch and their advertised products.  Influencers give their followers a sneak peek of their life at home; you can “meet” some of their friends and see what they eat daily. It is almost like you get to know who these people are on a more personal level. “Consumers form emotional, psychological, and physical relationships with media celebrities (Riordan).” Followers can then have a sense of closeness that allows them to influence their followers.

What can cyborg imagery help with?

Cyborg imagery can help us escape a realm of dualism where we have explained our bodies and our tools to ourselves. Some of the troubling dualisms people face are mind/body, market/made, and right/wrong, which has allowed for the domination of women, POC and nature.

O’Riordan, K. (2006). Gender, Technology, and Visual Cyberculture. Critical Cyberculture Studies. New York University Press.

Daniels, J. (2009). Gender, White Supremacy, and the Internet. Cyber Racism: White Supremacy Online and the New Attack on Civil Rights. Rowman & Littlefield

Haraway, D. (1991). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.

[valhart320]

Blog Post #6 (Due 9/30)

In what ways do games reflect the inequalities in the real world?

Many games require either a game console or for the game to be purchased. This expense can keep certain players from joining the game. Even games that are considered free allow players to buy special packs that can give them an advantage. The gaming community does not accurately represent the population as it has limited access to the games and has ways of keeping others who could afford to play out. While games may not accurately represent the real world, their actions can very much so reflect how lower-income, POC, and women are often treated and underrepresented. When women play games dominated explicitly by men, they can usually deal with unwanted attention and harassment. Many of my friends, when playing games, would have male players constantly trying to message them while they were just playing a game. Many players will also use misogynistic or racial slurs during the game, making it an unwelcoming environment. (Fickle, 2019)

How are anonymous are online profiles?

Although we like to think that everyone can be completely anonymous online, that is not always the case. To create a profile, certain identifiers may be needed, like email, name, or an avatar, can be created (Kolko, 2000). Also, it can be difficult to separate yourself from your online self, your speech patterns, social or political topics, and more. Unless an account is created deliberately to deceive or antagonize others, it can be hard to be completely anonymous since it's common to have to link personal information to those accounts. Dean Browning, a Pennsylvania politician, had posted a tweet stating he was a gay Black Trump supporter on his main account. This led many to speculate that he had created another online personality pretending to be a conservative Black man. While this was a simple mistake, it led people to find Dan Purdy's account, who was speculated to be Browning.

How have online games contributed to people's violence against others?

Online games can be created to reflect a different reality. Shadow Warrior was a game that allowed players to openly express their racism towards Asians (Ow,  2003). Players were able to make their way through the game, terrorizing the communities along the way. Also, the game combined all Asian cultures into one, which can be very harmful since many Americans like to generalize foreigners from a certain region, like how "all Asians look the same." Promoting violent games against certain demographics allows people to validate their racism and bigotry since it is a game.

What keeps people from recreating what they see in games?

Online games have often been known for influencing younger children and can be seen as very dangerous. Many children that go onto these multiplayer games are put into an environment where players will openly make age-inappropriate comments. While these comments are not okay, children don't always know better and will often repeat these words since they are not in a regulated environment. While this is can also be seen in the real world by kids repeating bad words that their parents repeat. When my friend first moved to the United States, she would repeat some curse words, not knowing why they were bad, but teachers often corrected her since she was in school. Unless adults supervise their kids' games, they will go unchecked in these communities and further spread hateful ideas or speech without completely understanding what they are saying. (Fickle, 2019)

 Kolko, B., Nakamura, L., & Rodman, G. (2000). Race in Cyberspace. Taylor & Francis Group.

 Ow, J. A. (2003). The revenge of the yellowfaced cyborg terminator: The rape of digital geishas and the colonization of cyber-coolies in 3D realms' Shadow Warrior. In Asian America.Net: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace (pp. 249–266). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203957349

 Fickle, T. (2019). The race card : from gaming technologies to model minorities . New York University Press.

[valhart320]

Blog Post Week 4 (due 9/16)

Has the United States sexualized people of color and children? The United States has allowed for harmful stereotypes to be pushed about people of color. The hyper-sexualization of minorities led to google searches, back in 2010, showing porn sites when 'black girl' was googled, along with other minorities  (Noble, 2018). Even though "girl" was specified, inappropriate cites were still recommended. The United States has allowed for the sexualization of people of color by allowing these websites to be up and continuing harmful stereotypes.

Since social media is known for connecting loved ones, is it also doubling as a platform to connect people with similar views?

Social media has been able to connect family and friends across the world instantaneously, but it can also connect people with similar views. Although freedom of speech is highly encouraged in the U.S., it can become harmful as it allows "racist and sexist harassment to run rampant in the digital public square" (Benjamin, 2019). While some social media platforms "try their best" to take down those types of posts and comments, they rarely are. Platforms like Parler used by the alt-right have been able to connect many people across the nation and allowed them to freely express their hateful view, promoting antisemitism, racism, sexism, and more.

How has personal bias made it into the algorithm and contributed to people of color being not being unable to have the same advantages using the internet?

Algorithms are coded by people who have biases. Google at one point, had African Americans tagged as 'apes' and 'animals' when they used facial recognition software (Noble, 2018). This shows how media platforms have proven that they can promote racist views and begs the question of what other ways they do this. Many black creators have faced issues like shadow banning, where their content is not being pushed to the masses, while a white creator doing the same will become viral. Since social media has become a stream of income for some content creators, when black creators' videos are put under review or not promoted, they are prevented from relying on that potential income.

How have white people tried to push African Americans out of their space? African Americans have had to build their own spaces and are often being pushed out or rebranded as something new. This can be seen with many music genres like R&B, rap, and more. In an SNL skit, they discussed how many white rappers didn't understand the importance and history of rap to the black community. Then the white "rappers" performed the same words strung together in a different order than had no meaning, making it a song. The rap they created was supposed to poke fun of white rappers. Even though it was a skit, the song went viral since people liked the white comedian and actor, asking for a full version. While it was a funny skit, people had taken it too far, showing how easy it was to push African Americans out of these spaces they had created ( Everett, 2002).

Everett, A. (2002). The Revolution Will Be Digitized. Social Text, 20(2), 125–146. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-20-2_71-125

Benjamin, R. (2019). Race after technology : abolitionist tools for the New Jim Code . Polity.

 Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression : how search engines reinforce racism . New York University Press.

[valhart320]

Blog Post #3 (due 9/9)

How has bias led to an intrusive and degrading (undermining) system? Biases have led to an intrusive system by allowing government officials to humiliate people who need Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. While it is normal for shopping to be monitored on cards, officials took their financial records and broke it down even further to the specific type of shops, for example, smoke shops, liquor stores, and out-of-state locations. (Automating) Incomplete data was then published to anger and further pushed a notion of low-income people. While these purchases only made up ".03 percent of the 1.1 million cash withdrawals", it made the public outraged (Eubanks, 2019). Lower-income people tend to be treated less than because of their socio-economic standing. There tends to be a perception that being low-income means you don't work hard and just rely on other's taxes. This bias only becomes reaffirmed when misinformation is used further negative stereotypes.

Has the internet created a safe space for women, and in what ways? Women from around the world have benefited from using the internet to find and communicate with others. However, everyone's environment might not always be the most welcoming. The "Internet [became] a tool for creating a communicative space that when embedded in a political reality can be an empowering mechanism for women" (Daniels, 2009). Young Iranian women have been able to use the internet as a safe space to feel empowered and liberated.

To what extent has the internet contributed to feminism or has it only benefitted people with an advantage? Cyberfeminism has allowed many women to express themselves and find a safe space away from the physical world. It has connected people worldwide, helping movements gain recognition on movements like the femicide happening in Mexico. Although they were able to gain recognition, the internet is a "tool" for the affluent global North to address gender inequality (Daniels, 2009). Women in industrial nations have greater access to the internet, leaving a divide among those that have computer access and those that don't. This doesn't mean that women from developing countries don't also benefit from the rise of cyberfeminism. Still, there is a 'digital divide' that prevents them from participating and gaining all the benefits. They cannot have that safe space where they can freely express themselves and safely express their thoughts.

Has an intrusive system led to bias? Algorithms were created to help the business and users but have also shown biases in society. Brown discussed how insurance companies found white people to be at higher risk due to them being the primary insured group. Their algorithm reflected what was happening in society. Due to inequalities, people of color were less ensured. There have also been issues with surveillance footage. Since most data is based on white males, facial recognition software has a higher error rate when it comes to people of color and different gender. They found a 35% error rate when it came to dark-skinned women (Brown, 2020). Such a high error rate indicates how little diversity they have when creating these algorithms and who is centered during research.

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

 Eubanks, V. (2019). Automating inequality : how high-tech tools profile, police, and punish thepoor  (First Picador edition.). Picador.

Brown, N. (2020, September 8). Race and Technology [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8uiAjigKy8

[valhart320]

Blog Post #2 (due 09/2)

How have social media platforms promoted an exploitative nature? Although there have been benefits in the ways media has been able to connect people worldwide, it also exploits its users. Companies like Facebook have made profits off their user's information while also wiping out the competition (Fuchs 2021). As user's data is sold, Facebook gains the capital to buy out smaller companies on the rise while not giving anything back to their patrons. Along with collecting user information, it has also become another platform that larger companies and celebrities can use to take advantage of smaller users without ever giving recognition. Companies will use smaller business owners' work without giving credit "believing" that they are "helping" the small business since the larger company has more recognition.

Has the way media portrayed minorities come full circle? Media was first used as a divisive form of spreading information. Racial prejudices were pushed to continue and "reinforcing racial ignorance" (González & Torres 2012). Pushing these fears allowed for higher sales in newspapers and broadcast ratings (González & Torres 2012). As there was a rise in advertisers, news networks began to use less divisive language to gain more funding.  Although the language may not be as direct today, networks can use certain terms to continue this divide. Many news networks may broadcast the same story, but the way they are framed differs to fit their viewer base. An example could be how the white shooters are seen as mentally ill, confused, or pushed to the edge, trying to gain sympathy from the public. In contrast, non-white shooters are villainized and used to continue harmful stereotypes and rhetoric. Even both did something equally as wrong, that is not how it is told.

In what ways was media used for whites to maintain dominance? Media has always been dominated by white people, limiting the perspectives that can be given. It was found that in 2005, that although 33% of the population was Black, Latino, Native-American, and Asian-American, only 7.7% of commercial radio and 3.2% of commercial television were owned by minorities (González & Torres 2012). The impact media has by continuing divisive racial language has contributed to the injustices today. People like to think that since time has passed, racial biases no longer exist. However, the media continues to perpetuate these stereotypes without understanding how these injustices came to be and why they persist. Since slavery and segregation have ended, white people like to think that black people should now be able to prosper, although they are continuously dealing with the years of stereotypes they have had to deal with. Along with stereotypes, they played a role in keeping minorities down. They are also at a disadvantage since they were never able to build wealth. Since specific communities were only for white people, non-whites had to live in less desirable areas that were unable to gain wealth since higher-paying jobs were located far from them and transportation was underdeveloped. Instead of bringing light to minorities' situations, the media's portrayal of them has contributed to white people feeling superior.

In what ways has capitalism seeped its way into media? Capitalism can be viewed as the same item but in different packaging, and that's precisely what happens in the media, the consumer becomes "an instrument for economic profit" (Fuchs 2021). Horrific events that occurred in someone's life are reported on and then commoditized by the media. This can be seen on true crime podcasts/ videos, where the host will bring up crimes without taking the proper cautions and ignoring that these still affect people to this day. While they profit off other's misfortunes/ misery, they repackage the same story and make it more palatable for people to listen to by making muck bangs or making snarky remarks.

Citations:

González Juan, and Joseph Torres. News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, Verso, 2012, pp. 2–6.

  Fuchs, Christian. Social Media: A Critical Introduction, SAGE, 2021.

[valhart320]

Blog Post: Week 1 (8/27)

A time technology did not live up to the hype.

Although technology has improved over the years, there was a time my family put too much fate into our GPS. We were coming home from a road trip using our GPS that plugged into the cigarette lighter. Taking the quickest route home soon led to us spending a little more time on the road. After making a quick stop on the side of the road for some fresh fruit, we headed back on the road through the mountains. Fifteen minutes in, we realized that we would have some problems as the GPS kept losing the signal. Following the route as best as we could, primarily due to there being one main road for most of the ride back, we could make it back home. Due to the uncertainty of the GPS, my mom was concerned about how long it could take to get home. Although technology can be beneficial, there are times where it does fail. This was around ten years ago, but there are still times where I have no signal and wouldn't have known where to drive if it wasn't for a friend.