Blog #11- EOTO Reaction 2

    

 Let's take a minute to be real… we have all been in a situation where we may have said something different than what the group might wanted and felt a little awkward, over something small like where to go for dinner. However, what if the stakes were upped and we were talking about gun laws or privacy laws, how would that change our behavior? Some may believe they would speak out against the group because nothing could change their beliefs. Well, taking into consideration the concept of the spiral of silence we are more likely to go along with the group in order to not be considered an outsider.

    In simple terms, the theory suggests that as humans we fear self-isolation leading us to not want to be emotionally vulnerable in a setting where we don’t conform with the greater majority of the group out of fear of further consequences. The more we believe we are not in the majority, as expressed by the masses, the more we conceal our true feelings. This theory was first created by ​​Elisabeth Noelle Neumann, a German political scientist, who proposed this theory during the 1970s in relation to the Holocaust. She argued that the spiraling happens when we get further and further into our fears, to the point the minority opinion is never heard. 

    After hearing my classmate's presentation on this topic, I was faced with the contradiction this plays in social media today. We often view social media as a place where we are free to share our ideas and perspectives. However, as our social media has continued to advance these roots in discussion forms online have grown less diverse as our technology has advanced to promote more material that conforms with our ideas or beliefs, whether they are true or not. So if you had asked me a few years ago if I thought that social media worked to counter the spiral of silence, I might agree with you, however, now I feel we aren’t appreciating and respecting minorities or even different opinions. 

Blog #10 Living in the Age of AI

 

    To say our future in technology all came down to a Chinese board game, Go, seems a little far-fetched, however, this is what changed our perspectives on the applicability of AI. Watching the film IN THE AGE OF AI  gave me a whole new perspective on the extent of what AI is capable of. The computer playing the game of GO completely changed the top players' whole concept of what was possible in the game, all in one move. This life-altering technology is so profound, it is even helping to improve the health research in our nation. Scientists are able to predict and catch stages of Breast cancer earlier now with an added consistency. It is allowing scientists to use a form of AI technology in breast screenings to provide quick and more accurate results for those at risk. 

    As we see in this film, there is often this conception that the lack of job is due to outsources, but in reality, it is only affecting 20% of the job market, it is AI and automation that is really causing a shift in AI. So many companies are increasing their automation because there is a serious increase in production and no increase in wages. What truly surprised me, was how it is taking away jobs that women typically hold. One study from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School suggests that almost eight out of every ten women workers could be affected. Our economy is going to be seriously affected if we can’t recuperate from these shifts in jobs. 

    At the forefront of all of these advances in technology and AI, 4 major companies are leading. These companies hold the majority of our popular technology products, and in turn the majority of our data. As we move forward with the advancement in AI, the need for our protection against companies taking advantage becomes more pressing. The film comes to an important point that we have the right to know, the right to say no, and the right to have a 3rd party opt-out, with 80% of the population in agreement with this need for privacy law. 

Blog #9 Data Privacy

Being naive can be blissful… the more you learn about your data and the information being collected on you the more you wish you didn’t know. Our rights to privacy are shrinking every minute you are online, or even just near technology. As a kid, I always thought my dad was being dramatic when he was telling me I couldn’t have social media like all the other middle schoolers, and when I finally did he was always so cautious about what I was doing and what I was posting. I get it now, he was not naive to the dangers and the information being collected on us. 

Our society's technology has only gotten more advanced and weaved into our lives than ever before. We leave a footprint everywhere we go, and companies and the government are taking advantage of that. A few years ago the State of South Carolina got into trouble for selling driver's licenses and driving history records of South Carolinians. The DMV made over 42 million dollars off of our information. Like Catherine Crump’s Ted Talk mentions the government takes photos of license plates, tracking everywhere you go. 

Tech companies have been working to encrypt their technologies to protect consumers, yet as Christopher mentioned in the TED talk he gave, the Chinese government hacked into those surveillance measures that were made available to our government in order to track which government agents they were tapping. Governments foreign and domestic have an interest in our data. 

So what is being done to protect our data? This is the question we all have to educate ourselves on in order to follow the best practices for protecting our data. Recently, I have done extensive research on the need for a comprehensive federal data protection law, currently, there are only a few states that have enacted this, but it should be a national standard to protect our right to privacy online. While this does not account for the countless other measures being done to track us it takes a step in the right direction. 

Blog #8- Mis/Dis/Mal-Information

    Did you hear that Disney was lowering the drinking age to 18? How exciting for our Disney “adults” right? Well according to Mouse Trap News and a viral tiktok, Disney is currently petitioning the Florida state government to allow them to do this!  Now if you are a real fact check you know this isn’t true, just some bad information that has been spread around by some eager-to-believe social media followers and a professional-looking satirical blog. Its titles like this grab readers' and viewers' attention, pulling them into the media source.  This goes to show how quickly misinformation can spread. The true definition of misinformation is information that is false, but the person who is disseminating it believes that it is true… so there is no malicious intent just a lack of education. Whereas Disinformation is information that is false, the person sharing knows it’s false, and has a malicious intent to harm. On the other hand, Mal-information is when information is spread that comes from the truth but is stretched or exaggerated, and the person sharing knows this. 

                                                                                                    The increased use of AI technology

has enabled so much mis, dis, and mal information to be spread, because of how real it seems with deep fakes and manipulated media sources. This spreading of false or exaggerated information leads to, discrimination, stigmas, and false concepts or theories.  

    Misinformation is not an easy task to prevent, but how it happens is a little easier to narrow down. In a report done by UNESCO, they identify three causes enabling the spread of misinformation, first the Collapsing traditional business models. What this means is due to a decrease in advertiser budgets, there is less quality control, and an increased push for “click bate” journalism leads to more cases of information. Next is the digital transformation of newsrooms and storytelling. We are advancing in our technology each day, and so our news has shifted to this digital platform, which is much easier to spread, with even less control. Lastly the creation of new news ecosystems. These are the user-generated news systems and content streams. Most platforms will show you what you find interesting furthering the drive for clickbait leads, and more so an echo chamber of potentially false information. The American Psychological Association connects our willingness to believe in fake news to our cognitive processes being more willing to accept information that conforms to our worldview biases.   

    Even if you didn’t believe the influence this has had in our society, the debates on COVID-19 sure did bring to light the need for stronger fact-checking processes. The National Library of Medicine referenced the period of time when people believed getting the vaccine would affect fertility in women, and potentially alter the genetic makeup of individuals. The information that usurped this rumor led to a decrease in people getting vaccines. Whereas information spread did have other influences on people's behavior patterns of social distancing, handwashing, and mask-wearing. 

    Now how can we as a society work to help prevent the spread of false information with malicious intent or not? We can take more time to stop and think, and fact-check sources. There are so many resources out there online that can educate individuals on how to tell whether a source is true or not, we just have to take the next step. 

Blog #7 Diffusion of Innovation

    People naturally seek human connection, it's a basic human need. We look to connect to people in many ways, and now we have so much access to technology that allows us to communicate and share in just seconds, we now almost need a break from the constant attachment.  The cornerstone of this new access to instant connection is social media. While there were many early forms of social media like Six Degrees, it was Facebook that took it to a whole new level. 

Famously Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes created Facebook in 2004 as students at Harvard. The platform took off and was originally supposed to be only for Harvard students to have information on classmates. However, History Channel reports that it had over a million users by the end of the year with a $500,000 investment. 

Now considering, the Diffusion of innovation, which explains how and why ideas spread, Facebook flew through the process. The innovators are students like Mark, Eduardo, Dustin, and Chris who built the platform and had their friends try it to see if it worked before launching it. The early adopters came from the original Harvard and Ivy League students who were joining the platform and creating portfolios. College kids were eager to be early adopters because they are in a stage of life that revolves around being social. The Early Majority came as it started to spread outside of college students and into the surrounding communities. By 2009, 350 million people were active members of Facebook. Currently, if you are just joining Facebook you are considered a laggard.

This platform put the diffusion of innovation on an expedited timeline, considering the first year one million people had already joined. This was so successful and had such an impact because it was a completely new way to connect with people and see their information and profiles online. In today's world, it's completely common, you have multiple social media platforms. However groundbreaking this innovation is, it still has its downfalls. This platform is a fully integrated part of our social media world, but it has the harmful effect of spreading fake news, hurtful speech, and other socially questionable information. It is the prime hot spot for mis, dis and mal-information. Yet, it sticks around with us because the positives and the connection are greater and more addictive than the harmful effects appear to be.