Debates

Nov 29 (Wed)

1. Instant message apps (e.g., WhatsApp, iMessages) make the world a crappier place

· Wario: YES (Nick, David, Alex)
· Peach: NO (James, Hailee, Liz)

2. Google is an evil company

· Daisy: YES (Jen, Eric, Nicole)
· Toad: NO (Michael, Jatarrion, Mariam)

Dec 4 (Mon)

3. Snapchat should lift the minimum age requirement (13) for all users

· Bowser: YES (Tahesin, Kaity, Rob)
· King Boo: NO (Josh, Rahele, Marco)

4. All online news sites should enable anonymous comments

· Yoshi: YES (William, Alisha, Connie)
· Mario: NO (Amina, Hunter, Halima)

Dec 6 (Wed)

5. News consumers should be required to read/watch ads before accessing online news.

·  Birdo: YES (Joshua, Barbara, Jesse)
· Kirby: NO (Connor, Arael, Brittany)

Note: Winners are highlighted -- congratulations to the winners!

Black Mirror Becoming a Reality

Anytime I see advancements in the technology world, I can usually make a reference back to the Netflix series Black Mirror. Each episode takes a far advanced piece of technology and shows how it is essentially destructive to the purity of life. After reading the article on Google, Facebook and Amazon making advances to actualize artificial intelligence - it may at first seem like a cool new idea to make 'life easier' with having robots do our work for us. However, I personally find it to be catastrophic as it does feed into the lazy nature of humans. The fact that smart technology is already installed in our phones (Google knowing where I go) and in things like Alexxa and Nest seems minor but I do see these pieces of technology being magnified in a scary way. Data can be helpful as much as it can be destructive.

Is an enlightened dictatorship really so bad?

At this point, Google and Amazon together can manage your entire life for you.  You won't need to go shopping, or join any other websites or buy from any other companies to accomplish anything necessary in life.  And generally, behaving this way is actually cheaper than the alternatives.  Many among us question why this could be considered a bad thing, that the ease of access and convenience these giants inject into our lives outweighs any possible drawbacks of them growing so large.  While my personal opinions lean toward the other side, it is easy to understand the argument they make.  For example, we are in a class in which we discuss the dangers of these conglomerates, yet I am writing this on a Google platform that is likely either using AWS or Azure server space and we use 365 for our University CMS.  Even in the act of discussing the faults and dangers of these platforms we reinforce their hegemony.

Can I just have a moment!

I can already see the new “man-machine” reality happening. First it was specific ads that cater to our searches and buying patterns, now its “real life” ads telling us what we need before we even think about it. Amazon has these WIFI connected tools that they offer, they are special buttons that we can press and it will instantly charge your account for the product, and ship it to you within a certain time line. For example, when you see you are running low on laundry detergent, you can press the laundry detergent button and you can have a new bottle at your doorstep before you run out, which in turn saves you a trip to the store and Amazon keeps getting your money. Tesla has self-driving cars, Roomba cleans your floors for you, Alexa has the ability to control your entire house, all these have been slowly taking over our lives. Little by little we are beginning to ask ourselves, who is controlling who? Is it I controlling the robot or is the robot controlling me? As a society we are thinking that these robotic machines are designed to make life easier, but in reality we are trading our independence for assistance.

I feel that people have been fighting Facebook since it dominated MySpace back in 2007. I understand that more people use Facebook than Twitter but that could be because Facebook has actual content and is not just a message board like Twitter is. Just like Google, Facebook jas mastered the goal of knowing your search history and creating ads that cater to your needs, but is it too much? Just because I search for the best absorbent tampons on Google, why does Facebook have to insert ads in-between my stories? I mean if Facebook knows me “so well” then it should know that I am a male and 99.99% of males do not actually use tampons, why would it insert tampons in my news feed? Pressure? Sales tactic? Is it even Facebook at all? Is irritating and unnecessary, and people are getting tired of it. These concerns are one of the reason why people are turning to Amazon and Google for answers and NOT Facebook.

Giants behaving badly

Facebook and Google own a lot of information that we view as content constantly competing for our attention. Its crazy to thing they are now trying to filter the content you see based on their own motives. We have to be careful .

Bingo!

Dear all -- This game is meant to help you foster critical thinking skills and develop deeper understanding of theoretical linkages among key concepts covered in the class. Moreover, it is designed to help you prepare for the exam in a fun and intellectually stimulating way. I hope you enjoy and benefit from the game!

1. Please form a group between 1 to 3 members 
2. Fill out your group's Bingo card using the numbers assigned on the review sheet: http://atcm4380f17.blogspot.com/2017/10/exam-review-sheet.html
3. Random.org will choose the numbers.  Each group has 5 seconds to prepare and give their two-part answer:
• Explain your assigned concept
• Explain, or make up an example that showcases, how your assigned concept relates to the previous concept 
• There are likely different ways to explain the same concept. Feel free to elaborate on the previous term as to make a case for your proposed linkage between the two concepts
4. Dr. Lee will determine whether the answers are satisfactory, but the class may be invited to vote on contested answers
5.  First group to get a straight line (vertical, horizontal or diagonal) wins
• The winning group gets +1 in in-class exercise

p.s. Feel free to bring your laptop/tablet and lecture notes for Bingo

Exam Review Sheet

This list is drawn from all the powerpoints and is meant to help you prepare for the exam. To do well on the exam, you are strongly encouraged to study your lecture notes and to actively think about how all of these theories and concepts work together (or not). 

1. Lasswell's model of communication
2. Positivist ontology
3. Social constructivist ontology
4. Inoculation
5. Descriptive norms
6. Injunctive norms
7. Clash between descriptive and injunctive norms
8. Cialdini's 6 ways to influence people
9. Framing
10. Gain frame
11. Loss frame
12. Episodic frame
13. Thematic frame
14. Prospect theory
15. Selective exposure
16. Cognitive dissonance
17. Mood management theory
18. Confirmation bias
19. Selective perception
20. Selective retention
21. Polarization
22. Badder-Meinhof phenomenon
23. Reinforcement theory
24. Fixed mindset
25. Growth mindset 
26. Lasswell's propaganda theory
27. Lippmann's "pictures in our heads"
28. Powerful media effects
29. Magic bullet theory
30. Hypodermic needle theory
31. Experiments with "Why we fight" films
32. Limited media effects
33. "War of the worlds"
34. "The people's choice"
35. Two-step flow theory
36. Uses and gratifications paradigm
37. Moderate-to-powerful effects
38. Search Engine Manipulation Effect    
39. 1st level agenda-setting
40. Accessibility
41. 2nd level agenda-setting
42. Who sets the media's agenda?
43. Agenda-setting theory's problems
44. Agenda-cutting
45. Priming
46. Embodied cognition
47. Semantic network
48. "Buying the war"
49. Framing & President Bush's address
50. Failure of the press during 9/11
51. Third-person perception & its implications
52. Self-enhancement bias
53. First-person perception & its implications
54. Spiral of silence
55. Spiral of silence and social media
56. Your proposals to minimize the spiral
57. Brene Brown's "Power of vulnerability"
58. Speed and contemporary life
59. New technology and quality of life
60. Jon Jandai's "Life is easy"
61. Connections & addiction
62. Upward comparison
63. Downward comparison
64. Sherry Turkle's "Connected, but alone"
65. Goldilocks effect
66. Smiling depression
67. PostSecret
68. Humans of New York
69. Privacy and contemporary life
70. Glenn greenwald's "Why privacy matters"
71. Reidentification
72. Data pollution
73. Target's big data analysis

Grade calculation

For those of you who'd like to calculate your current grade in the class, here's a formula you can use. Let me know if you have questions about this:

1. Class Participation (25%): 
1. [overall performance out of 100] / 100 x 25 = _________
• Absences, in-class exercises, in-class exercise extra credits, basic engagement (e.g., points off if repeatedly reminded to focus on class rather than digital devices, etc.). See syllabus for more detail 
• Keep in mind that you will not be penalized for being reticent in class. I've made sure throughout the semester that everyone got to share something in class so you are okay as far as engagement goes!). 
2. Reading Responses (20%): 
1. [raw # submitted on time] / 5 x 10 = ________
2. [quality out of 100] / 100 x 10 = _________ 
• Assume you have 95+ for quality as long as you did not merely summarize the readings, which is the only criteria for reading responses. See syllabus for clarification.
3. In-class Exam (25%):
1. [raw number] / 135 x 25 = ________
4. Team Debate (30%):
1. [debate performance out of 100 ] / 100 x 15 = ________
2. [research paper out of 100] / 100 x 15 = ________
5. Debate Winners:  ___+1____

Fill out the equation above and add up all the numbers above the green lines. The sum should be between 0 and 100. Please see Grading Scheme (syllabus, p.2) for corresponding grade distribution. 

If you have any questions or concerns about your grade or anything else, please don't hesitate to see me!

Where Do They Go From Here

It's strange to me now that we consider Facebook to be of the same level as corporations like Google and Amazon nowadays. Especially since I first heard about Facebook as simply a replacement for the dying MySpace. I always thought it was so funny that Facebook is talked about with such high regard when in reality it doesn't really have much use. Nowadays it's just a place for old people to comment on everything and for people to stay "connected" as we all continue to age. But maybe I just don't get it, not in tune to why Facebook has so many daily users. Like what the articles talked about, I expect it's only going to be a matter of time before Amazon and Google completely overshadow Facebook. I would not be surprised if either one attempted to get into social media sometime soon. Unless we actually get a Mark Zuckerburg presidential run (please god, no) then it'll be interesting to see where Facebook winds up in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps they'll attempt to transition into a more cutting edge company like Google or Amazon. Hopefully we'll all be able to experience virtual reality "poking" each other on Facebook very soon.

We've become the chickens.

The article Facebook's fatal weakness makes the point that Facebook's brand doesn't particularly inspire much appreciation. The article goes on to say that Google and other large companies have to give users what they want, but Facebook doesn't have to care about customers because their main customer is advertisers. Facebook is in and is not easy to replace.

I think this is an increasing problem that we will see more and more. Recently, you can apply this problem to the Equifax leak. It seems impossible for companies to lose in this economic situation. The general public is no longer the consumer, we're no longer the ones that the companies have to please. More and more companies are not having to worry about their social media presence because we are not the consumer. We're not the humans at KFC, we're the chickens.

face-not

i dont think that Facebook is really great at catching my attention when it comes to putting adds on my feed. most of the time its stuff that i dont care about it not stuff that im interested in. i know that this is a big company but i dont think  they are quite up there with the companies like google or  amazon .  an example would have to be that i got alot of adds for video games but i get adds for esports games that i have no interest in at all. but  when i go to amazon i get adds about the RPG's that i do play.  with Google i dont have to type all of what i mean to say it already know and bring up the opions of what i was looking for.

Eye on us

the fact that google and these big names are using personal information to find us through searches is unimaginable. like the other day i good my name i found that the search came up with my age, who my parents were and how old they were and every place i have lived, just by googling it. this is scary like i have stated before, what happens if someone is hiding from someone they can easy find them.  i dont like the fact that now there is a face recognition. this reminds me of one the apps that is used in the anime Eden of the East. in one of its installments, some of the characters actually use the app called "eden of the east" to find out all the information that they could on one character because it was never clear who the character was. 

Facebook's Weakness

When I use to have Facebook I similarly had to update my preference to the feeds that I would want to see just as the author did. I always found it quite annoying and that was part of the reason why I started to get on the social platform less and less. Once the News Feed started to become more of the “News” there was a drastic change in which the way people started to use Facebook. Like the author makes it seem, Facebook puts itself first making advertising more of a priority than the users. Other marketplaces that it’s losing to such as Amazon and Apple are doing a better job at figuring out what their consumers want rather than trying to force their ways/products to their audiences. The platform use to be a way for people to connect around the world with friends and family. Nowadays there is less chance for someone to see status updates from people they know. It is more so of videos, content and different news feeds not related to them. 

Facebook's fatal weakness

I agree that I don't really feel the "brand product" when browsing through facebook. I don't think about facebook like I think about google and amazon. Facebook doesn't do a great job of brand exposure, it's kind of like they are just there. I agree with the author, facebook will do anything to get it's ads onto your timeline, unlike google and amazon.

Facebook is a giant, along with google and amazon alike. But you don't get the same feel when using facebook. It has recently gotten to the point where all the ads have become unbearable.

Here's What You Want To See (And There's Nothing You Can Do About It)

My main takeaway from the articles about the big media giants such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google, is that we're screwed.

Not personally, just as a society.

If Facebook and Google are continuously refining their methodologies for showing us the content they either think will generate the most ad revenue or what we will be looking for most often, then we are allowing them to hide just as much, if not more, information from us. One of the articles mentioned an event in Syria that I don't think I ever even heard of being filtered out from Facebook's choices with no apparent rhyme or reason.

The lack of transparency of the companies exists because they have already become household names. How much do you really care that an obscure book you never heard of got pushed so far down in the search results on Amazon that it basically didn't exist when you can order anything you want and get it that same night?

It's a little disheartening, to be honest, just how much control over the general population (at least of countries where services and technologies like this are common) these services can have.

Humans and Artificial Intelligence

    It seems as if human knowledge in the realm of artificial intelligence is growing at an exponential rate. In comparison to human awareness in robotics technology, it is absolutely mind boggling how far we have come in such a short period of time. As technology becomes more advanced in such a short growth periods, large companies such as Google are very smart in terms of spending money towards robotics, space connections, and more. If I had a large corporation I would want a similar route that Google is taking, because the advancement in technology will never die out. This specific field will continue to grow no matter what, therefore this area will have an incredibly high revenue. Although typically, many large corporations are corrupt, I believe that the growth in technology can also aid academically and career wise.

  Aside from the amazing benefits that artificial intelligence can have, there are also other legality issues such as if these corporations have the right to have access to specific aspects of our privacy. As man and machine continue to combine themselves, we need to still be able to determine what is practical and reasonable for the combination of these things.

We do care, but...

A while ago, a Snapchat update included a feature that allowed users to view any of their friends' locations (based on their story) by zooming out on the camera. A lot of people I know (and more I don't) turned that feature off because they didn't want their location broadcast to their snapchat followers, for any number of reasons.

Alternatively, almost everyone I know uses Maps or Google Maps to get directions to places, sometimes even knowing where they are.

The difference here is clear, the location information isn't being shared directly with other people, only the corporations providing the service.

I think that's the main difference when it comes to what information we care about in general. While we care what information corporations like Google have access to, if we use pretty much any of their services or a number of other ones, we seem to believe what the medium article stated : they'll have access to the information one way or another.

That also explains why the Russian photographer's experiment is so chilling. The idea that other everyday citizens have ways to find information like our social media profiles simply by taking a picture of us (not to mention the fact that they can just take a picture of us without our consent or knowledge) is terrifying.

Then again, that's information we've willingly put out for the public to see. So should it be?

Big Businesses or Mom and Pop?

Big Business allows the consumer to have a large measure of convenience and access to things they may not have had originally, but is that really all that worth it when they start abusing this reliance and start monopolizing? The answer, in my opinion, is no. Big Business may bring nice conveniences and ease of access but they also stifle local business and new entrepreneurs. The moment Facebook saw that VR was going to be big in the near future, what did they do? They threw a massive amount of money at Oculus and bought them out immediately, effectively showing other startups that they better not even try or they'll just get bought up and put in the conglomerate. Conglomerates such as these stifle individual creativity in favor of turning the biggest profit possible, and if you don't align with that then they remove you. Small Mom and Pop stores are the ones that bring new products and innovation into the industry, not the people who try to redesign the wheel by changing the way your trackpad scrolls.

Artificial Intelligence: Too Much Control?

Today's society relies on technology more than it ever has in the past. To an extent, this is extremely beneficial as it encourages a sense convenience and immediacy in regards to productivity. However, even technology has its limits. With artificial intelligence development gradually increasing in demand, the boundaries of technology continue to be pushed to the point of moral questioning. How much artificial intelligence should technology have, and is there a line that has already been crossed?

With large companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon investing great amounts of time and money into artificial intelligence development, the potential for smarter AI is imminent, to say the least. While there could be great benefits to an increasingly intelligent AI, the moral boundaries of using such technology are put into question. How much control should artificial intelligence and robots have over our daily lives?

The answer varies by case. Because artificial intelligence is just that, artificial, there is only so far a machine can go when it comes to judgement. Regardless of how high-tech a machine is, artificial intelligence should not replace human intelligence completely. Robots rely on artificial algorithmic logic in contrast to the complex emotional thought process of the human brain. Blurring the line between man and machine is a dangerous line to teeter on, as it devalues the logic of humanity. By relying on technology to do our thinking for us, it devalues our ability to make decisions on our own.

The line between man and machine has definitely been blurred, but due to advancing developments, artificial intelligence is definitely on its way to becoming prominent in our society. However, the cost of such advancements is high on a moral level, and it appears that developers of such AI are willing to accept it.

We Should Care About Online Privacy

The fact that a random person can find your photo on social media is scary and this is why some people have trust issues on the internet. I definitely wouldn't want a stranger having access to my photos, locations, or any of my info without my consent. The article about the guy matching peoples photos with their Facebook profile photo is really scary and creepy. And to think that he didn't even have to pay or do anything outrageous to get the photos show how easy it is to get someones info on social media. Just like he said "The whole idea is that anyone can do the same thing as I did." A lot of people post their info without even knowing it and most of the social media platforms can do as they please with user info.

Aside from the possibility of getting stalked, cybercriminals also use social media to trick or catfish their victims. This reminds me of all the crazy stories i’ve heard about people getting duped and scammed on social media, where users meet random people, they get romantically involved or  become really close friends and then this random person starts requesting for money, or the African prince whose family died and left him a ton of money but he needs help getting access to the money. As soon they get the money, they stop communicating with the other person. I think all these happen because we unknowingly put our info out there hence making us vulnerable.

Some people post their entire lives on social media, from the moment they wake up to when they go to bed and they do this everyday. Truth is, we really should care about privacy on the internet but we don't and sadly anything that is posted on social media these days could be a target for criticism, exploitation, or attack.

Fact is, anything posted on the internet is not private anymore so when users publicly post personal information and photos, they leave cybercriminals free to use their information.