Bias & Algorithms – NetNarr 2020: Net Mirror

Bias & Algorithms

Modern people are overwhelmed with information. It comes from a variety of sources, and it becomes rather difficult to discern if it comes from a credible source or not. Therefore, the impact of companies that control distribution of data of any kind on public opinion is tremendous these days. The best method to deliver the required information to the target audience is to own the media channels. In most dictatorship countries, ideology is propagated using media as the primary source of information for population, isolated usually from any other independent sources of data. However, there is more elegant ways to manipulate public opinion, even without such intent. Search engines pose the greatest threat to the objectiveness and credibility of information these days.

The article of Safiya Umoja Noble and Sarah T. Roberts discusses the current situation in the internet as the major channel of distributing data to people around the world. Additionally, they provide their thoughts about the influence that Google’s search engine algorithm has on the result of any search. The podcast of Lauren Shiller that invited Safiya Umoja Noble to discuss the same topic adds insights and personal opinion of Dr. Noble regarding this alarming issue. Safiya presented her book, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism that talks about this problem (Shiller). The speakers talked about the negative stereotyping, racism, and oppression created by the modern search engines companies, and especially Google that position themselves as strictly technological enterprises that do not shape media politics.

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The thoughts and ideas in the article and the podcast are rather feminized and raise concerns regarding the negative influence on the image of women mostly that belong the ethnic and racial groups different from the whites. However, the problematics discussed by the authors has significant impact on the life of all people. The major problem is that the value of information is diminished and discredited to the greatest extent, considering the politics of the companies (or company) that provide search services on the internet. Automation of the process is based on algorithm that has nothing to do with credibility of the provided information and its relevance in each given case. Thus, Safiya Noble and Sarah Roberts clearly state that Google’s search engine is based on the concept of providing the most popular or cited sources. The authors are correct in their concerns regarding such approach as the quality of the provided results appears to be rather questionable. Therefore, the entire effort to find credible sources of information with valuable data that can be used is pointless.

The most significant concern in this situation is the power of search engine companies that can be used very differently. Moreover, considering the fact that these enterprises represents interests of the groups that shape their policies and, apparently, positions regarding different political, social, economic, and other issues, the influence on public opinion is controlled by the biased entities. It means that such power can be used in personal interests of certain political circles, agencies, private parties, and others. The situation has to be changed as the current technologies are not safe for people. The authors’ endeavor to create a new search engine based on completely different algorithm that should consider relevance of the provided data and its credibility is worth of attention.

The technologies to control public opinion are not new. However, today they became tremendously dangerous, distorting the initial idea of the free access to information granted by the global network. Safiya Noble and Sarah Roberts have tried to draw public attention to the significant problem of the quality of modern information people consume every day.

Works Cited

Noble, Umoja Safiya and Sarah T. Roberts. “Engine Failure: Safiya Umoja Noble and Sarah T. Roberts on the Problems of Platform Capitalism.” Logic, vol. 3, 1 Dec. 2017, logicmag.io/justice/safiya-umoja-noble-and-sarah-t-roberts/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.

Shiller, Lauren. “Algorithms of Oppression” – Dr. Safiya Noble on the embedded misogyny and racism of search engines.” PlayerFM, 2019, player.fm/series/inflection-point-with-lauren-schiller-1468054/algorithms-of-oppression-dr-safiya-noble-on-the-embedded-misogyny-and-racism-of-search-engines. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.

Announcements

The Net Mirror homestretch May 9, 2020 11:34 am

In the Net Mirror, we are now on the homestretch. As we look to this last week, and the completion of your work for this special class, it comes with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the semester has been a true roller coaster as we have faced many challenges both individually and together as a small community. And so it will feel like a relief to make it to the proverbial finish line. Regardless, in many meaningful ways, our group (and our weekly discussions) has meant so much to me. Our standing appointment to gather together on-screen has been a weekly high note during this lockdown. I will sincerely miss you all, and our tangible connection. Our work will continue of course (in either the summer or certainly in the Fall), but still, it makes me whistful thinking about how I will miss our #NetNarr hangouts and our Net Mirror conversations. Wrapping up Your final projects are all in “full swing” and our last hangout-workshop discussion covered much ground, from how to publish in the Arganee Journal, to making memes and refining your story concepts. Your blog post for this final week should be a quick progress report about your final project work, and your plan for presenting your concept on Thursday during our class hangout. Some dates to remember: On Thursday, May 14 we will have our final class wherein you will be invited to present your story concept work. Your formal deadline for publishing your story concept into the Arganee Journal is Friday, May 15th. You are welcome to publish it earlier (i.e. before Thursday hangout) if you would like, but the final deadline is on Friday. The final step in Net Mirror is the self-assessment narrative, which should be written in a google doc (we agreed that it will not be a blog), and sent to both Prof. Levine and me via email. The self-assessment is due by midnight on Sunday, May 17th. See you all for our grand finale on Thursday! xo, Dr. Zamora

Silly Media in Narrative Space May 7, 2020 2:18 am

I don’t have to explain often what a meme image or animated GIF is; we see them flying in social media, we reach for ones to express a reaction or an emotion. But for some time I’ve suggested there is a space to subvert the usual, throw-away and just-repeat-what-exists aspect this media for serious or perhaps narrative purpose. https://cog.dog/show/2019/03/20/silly-media/ See a conference talk I made out of this topic! For your final Net Mirror Story Concepts we are asking you to use this typical form of media differently, to weave it into your narrative. In the last session, we reviewed that extracting of small portions of film as an animated GIF– for your project, the task is to use this as a means of suggesting/showing how your imagined surveillance technology might work. The same approach for using giphy to isolate a scene from a Screening Surveillance film can be used to make a GIF from any video. In my ongoing demos, I am dealing with the Anonymous creatures in Google Docs that are taking over my writing. They animals are in control. This was my Story Treatment for last week’s Net Mirror Writers’ Room: I am so lost in my narrative I imagine that there really is a typing wombat! This is maybe not super technical, but it is my story. In my narrative, this would be woven into the flow of my writing. In the next segment, maybe I am trying to gain control back of my resume. https://giphy.com/gifs/wombat-netmirror-RNcctSIddbb0dkKCOr We are also asking you to make meme images a part of the narrative too. There are hundreds or more tools to do this, it’s mainly putting text atop an image, and you are welcome too to create them in any image editing software. When we teach Memes in NetNarr, we typically use the imgflip memegenerator. Like most meme making tools, they offer you a lot of popular based images to use, but you can also upload any image to build a meme image. For details on this process, see some of our previous activities; again, the steps are the same even though these were for different types of assignments: Most Fascinating Subject in the World MemeNosedive MemeA Meme to Counteract the Internet Darkness For your story concept, we are asking you to go beyond the simple, typical meme, and create a series of four or more that might represent a conversation or inner dialogue in your story. You can use any graphics software/site/app to make these, you will just need to create them as image files you can eventually add to he publishing site. For a really simple tool to add text to images, meme style and more, try PicFont https://picfont.com/ That was how I made this conversation: This is not the most scintillating dialogue, but it’s just a demo. Play with the form. The very last thing we’d like you to include is a true meme image, one that uses a commonly used image and message type (maybe it will be Oprah Everybody Gets a Car or Batman Slapping Robin), but bend it to be the cliff hanger for your plot or a closing commentary. Tp dp this, use imgflip memegenerator (or another) to find the meme’s “name” and research it on the Know Your Meme Database. This will help understand the meme’s origin and way it is used. This was the approach for the Memes That Meme Themself assignment. So I might try the Distracted Boyfriend because it’s so versatile. Hopefully by experimenting with this media forms, and creating your own content, you can expand the media limits of just writing to be writing with Silly Media. Image Credit Meme image generated from Grandma Finds the Internet.

Building your story concept May 2, 2020 8:03 am

In the “Net Mirror”, we close our time together with the composition of speculative fiction(s) in order to help synthesize our complex feelings (anxieties ?) regarding our relationship with technology. Each story will grapple with the reality of our data-driven society and the omnipresence of data surveillance. In the process of building unique story concepts, we hope to confront the possible consequences of new technologies that are inherently shaping our lives. In our last class meeting, I shared the plan for your Final Project for the Net Mirror: the development of both a “story treatment” and a “story concept” for our Net Mirror Story Collection. You have already developed a story treatment this past week, which is designed from a template that includes an image, a title, a plot synopsis, and credit. In the coming two weeks you will develop further details in a “story concept” that will include the following elements: Setting A description of setting and accompanying imagery: Where is your story taking place? What mood does it capture? What’s the ambiance- natural light, dark alley, fluorescent offices? What are the furnishings, the objects that make it seem real? Think of the apartment, the coffee shop, the riverside scenes from Frames and the Jai’s home, the doctor’s office, the street scenes from Blaxites. The setting is both the time and geographic location within a narrative, and it helps initiate the main backdrop and mood for a story. Elements of your setting may include culture, historical period, geography, and hour. When selecting multimodal artifacts or imagery to share a sense of your setting, look for specific visual/textual references that capture the aesthetic style of your story environment. Characterization List the main characters in your story. Name them, describe their physical traits and age, describe their personalities, give them a back story. What are their strengths and flaws? What makes them memorable? What motivates them? What is their relationship to the main character? Consider in Frames the neighbors in the elevator, the people on the bus, the strangers in the park. Or from Blaxites, what are the characters of the doctor, Jai’s friend, the staff in the special center? Plot Map What happens in your story? A plot map or storyboard allows writers to visualize the key features and key moments in a narrative. Give an overview/outline of the events that unfold in your story. Highlight key decision moments in your story concept. Look for moments in other video stories that match key moments in your story development, that you might be able to use as reference points. Sketch out and describe the important (turning-point) moments of your story. Media Your story concept will be written in a blog/journal style, but you will also be required to include at least the following media: Your story treatment (from the “Net Mirror” template)An overall metaphorical image to serve as a cover image for your conceptA screenshot / exported image of your NetMirror Writers’ Room plot summaryFive+ images of settings/scenesAt least two tweets (they can be your own) that may be used as plot points in your story (these can be embedded into your published concept).At least one original created animated gif representing the surveillance technology in your story.At least four original (self-created) meme images playing out a dialogue scene in your story, plus one to leave as a teaser for what happens next. Your to-do list: This week, make some progress on your story concept by working on the setting, the characterization, and your plot map. Also, tinker with gif making and build up your selection of media to be inserted into your story concept (you can keep all of this development material in a google doc which serves as a draft space). Next week in class we will workshop your story concepts further by discussing how they are developing and offering feedback. Prof. Levine will also conduct a meme making workshop (similar to this week’s gif workshop), and we will go over the details of how to publish your piece in the Arganee Journal. Your blog this week should be a brief reflection or progress report on how that development process is going. Some dates to keep in mind: On May 14 (our final class “hangout”) you will share your story concepts with each other in presentation-mode. The submission of your final Net Mirror story will be published in the Arganee Journal, and this submission is formally due on Friday, May 15. Reminder: Your final self-assessment blog is the last submission for Net Mirror class and should be posted no later than Sunday, May 17. Take care, and have a safe (and creative) week. Sincerely, Dr. Zamora

Looking closely into the Net Mirror April 24, 2020 4:34 pm

This week we had a great (virtual) class and I can feel the intellectual and creative energy that you all are contributing. I can’t believe we are nearing the end of the semester, and despite the fact that this has been an extraordinarily difficult time, I am starting to realize how much I will miss our weekly connections once the semester comes to a close. But we still have about 3 weeks in which to savor our learning together, and of course, the learning doesn’t end just because the Spring semester is winding down. Kean University Research Days 2020 As you all know, we were originally slated to design and host an interactive outreach installation at the Kean University Research Days forum on campus. This campus-wide event was obviously canceled due to our quarantine, but at least we were able to summarize our advocacy work with a brief Net Mirror data literacy advocacy video shared here: https://youtu.be/eE5XPqJQpqU Your Final Project These final three weeks of class will be devoted to developing a “story treatment” and a “story concept” for the final Net Mirror story collection. We have discussed that the reason why “Screening Surveillance” and “Black Mirror” are so compelling. They often build upon our existing anxieties about technology and push them just a step farther. In Net Mirror, we take a final turn now to speculative fiction(s) to help synthesize our concerns/wisdom/fears regarding our relationship with technology. We will think through the possible consequences of new technology by creating a collection of stories that push are imagination one step further. This week we shared with you the first step in this work, by prompting you to create a story treatment. We want you all to brainstorm a near future data surveillance technology based on a present-day experience of your own choice. It should be close enough that it seems like a plausible future. What are the potential social implications and/or ethical issues and/or regulatory challenges with this technology? What are the potential social implications and/or ethical issues and/or regulatory challenges with this technology? Your to-do list: When you browse and surf in current streaming services like Netflix, you can check out content by reading a brief “cover page” synopsis of the viewing selection. We invite you now to create a story treatment for our forthcoming Net Mirror Story Collection. In creating your story treatment this week, we have a template for you to work with. Use a blank slide in this presentation (or duplicate an existing one) to create the information for your own Net Mirror episode. Include an image, a title, a plot synopsis, and credit. Your blog for this week should include your story treatment (screenshot, embed, or link) and also share a reflection on your initial thoughts regarding the direction(s) your story might go. Next week we will explore our story concepts together in an open writer’s workshop, and also explore a bit of media making by creating some gif files together. As always, stay safe, and take care, Dr. Zamora

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