George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

Area 1: Lakoff and Johnson make it very clear that most of our perceptions, if not all, are very heavily influenced by several factors that influence how we actually view, interpret, and even recall things. It seems that this is highly natural, as most of our experiences need to be interpreted in a way so that we can comprehend our world with minimum discomfort. It only logical that we would find small baselines to cling to that could help cancel out or act as a lifeline during moments of high stress or potentially traumatic events. Many people have things that they do, whether it's prayer or uttering a nursery rhyme under their breath, we all have a mantra that we can draw upon from time to time. The concept of metaphors and how they compliment and are likewise complimented by language and descriptors regarding mood is very apparent to me, as I tend to look at things in a highly creative way that is reliant upon metaphorical contexts. A favorite line that I rely on often is from "If" by Rudyard Kipling. "If you can fill the unforgiving minute, with 60 seconds worth of distance run". type text here

My name is Dan Salinas. I am a DTC major with a background in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Art Education, and Human Resources. After a few years working with directly with the Developmentally Disabled, and also in administrative roles, I decided it was time to seek out more creative career options. I like to paint and sculpt, and also enjoy working on building custom furniture projects and learning new tech. Having grown up in the 80's, I find it difficult to sit still and concentrate when I'd much rather be outside making a huge mess of things. I seem to be the only one in my family who enjoys firing up a chainsaw or digging in the mud, but it is quite comforting to know that they are willing to tolerate my less admirable qualities. I have a 2 daughters (20 and 10), and a 15 year old son whom I affectionately call the baby sasquatch. I look forward to sharing my adventures in school with them, whether they like it or not. My wife is awesome, and she likes me sometimes. My dog is the only one who really gets me. Maybe we're just too similar.

Reading Annotation 3.4

In the final chapters of the text, it seems as if the core premises are clearly defined and contextualized. The value of how definition and categorization has been done in previous cataloging of information in major databases, most notably in the Library of Congress. The efforts of actors like the students at Dartmouth and other activists that saw fundamental flaws in the categorization and labelling of data in libraries. In previous chapters, it was clearly shown how much labelling and the lack of correcting biases therein can affect outcomes in the real world when it comes to marginalized and vulnerable groups; in essence, the data served to deliver information that would reinforce long established prejudices and the underpinnings of a superiority/inferiority narrative in the consciousness of Americans descended from European ancestry. The aspect of the bias in the previous systems of cataloguing has produced a demonstrable effect in how information is gathered and presented in commercial search engines, and most readily shown in search results that feature sponsored content. Many times in my own emails, I will receive solicitous correspondence in Spanish, and even in offers that come through traditional paper mailings. This is most likely based only on my last name, as I don't speak Spanish. The only answer that seems plausible to me for this is that in some measure, a minimal amount of my personal data has been used to influence commercial correspondences regarding myself. I feel that this is demonstrative of the beginning techniques of the "prosumer" model that is becoming a major driver in ecommerce and it's emerging business practices as it consumes and transforms the age old supply and demand practices. This dynamic is interesting in it's design, as it is meant to tailor the online experience toward the consumer, making use of the audience as commodity, or "audience commodity". As this stylized demographic data can provide a more user friendly experience for some, the prevailing narratives of otherness are even further bolstered by the Digital Divide. As the input affects the output, access is readily reflected by what can come up in web searches. Web searches are far less likely to show results that take into account that the consumer is not a White American of a certain age with certain interests. Due to the Digital divide, people of color are unable to compete with the sheer amounts of data entered into search engines or web based AI's of any sort; As communities of color are far less likely to have access or the financial ability to afford services such as Google Home, Amazon Prime, or Apple TV, they are far less likely to find results that are representative of their interests. As this is an ongoing trend where any technological revolution has happened, the efforts to effect change toward inclusion have been met with equal efforts to leave the status quo unaffected. As bias in the algorithms has been displayed and taken advantage of by large corporations, so has it been used to disseminate information that appeals to certain consumers. The information, as it is more often than not, is heavily tailored to an audience that have certain viewpoints and is made more palatable. This has led to a much higher incidence of information being spread that is highly sensationalized, misleading, or false. The issue with this lies in the prosumer model, where companies and vendors are on the lookout for people who ascribe to a certain outlook. This is how it happened with Dylann Roof, looking for materials concerning "black on white crime". Prior to his shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Robert Gregory Bowers was very active on social media outlet Gab, which is known for having a high number of users that espouse and spread White Nationalist content. John Timothy Earnest was active on 8-Chan, where he posted his manifesto shortly before carrying out an armed attack on a synagogue in Poway, California. He claimed that he had been influenced by the actions of Brenton Harrison Tarrant. Tarrant is the man who perpetrated attacks on the Islamic community in Christchurch, New Zealand in March of 2019. Tarrant himself had been highly active on Alt-Right message boards, and even Cited Anders Breivik as one of his influences. Breivik is the man who carried out a mass killing in Norway in 2011, whom also had written a manifesto; a part of his manifesto was copied directly from the manifesto of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. There is a real body count that can begin in relation to these real inequalities, and the results of how information from these algorithms played a definite role.

Reading Annotation 3.3; Noble Ch. 2-4

design impacts on social relations, search & oversimplification, the right to be forgotten The discussion beginning in Chapter 2 is very ambitious, and extremely necessary in my personal opinion. When Safiya Noble speaks about providing the tools and support to craft the new narrative where African Americans are "digitally undivided", I feel this concept is identical to the concept of "network sovereignty" that we read about earlier as written by Marisa Duarte. While there is definite proof that communities of color are structurally and in many cases excluded from being allowed to compete for careers as programmers or other growing technologies despite having adequate education/certifications and experience. In further exploration of Noble's claims, there are several questions regarding digital access that move to the forefront, yet another issue that seems to mirror a concern that Duarte had asserted was a major stumbling block in providing suitable broadband access to Indian Country. One thing seems to be universal; a lack of money equals a lack of access. I personally believe that the most important aspect of countering the negative social impacts that have been recognized by these authors is to do exactly what they have been. To continually identify and analyze the multiple areas where peoples of different socioeconomic backgrounds are systematically and underserved is exactly what is needed; to show that in this system once imagined as a place where unity could come from rapid communication and free flow of information has been brought to heel for now. As plainly demonstrated, there are too many interests involved with commercial search engines to keep biases long under wraps. The algorithms have managed to identify and predetermine outcomes for a vast number of queries, unwittingly entrenching older schools of thought having to do with gender, race, age, religion, and any other possible factors that it can use to calculate the likelihood of interests infinitely. This is thoroughly exemplified by the example given of Dylann Roof and his course of action taken at the Emanuel AME church, ultimately ending with the massacre of several African-American parishioners. It is explained in whole on his personal website where he was motivated by the Trayvon Martin murder and the subsequent media coverage, he wondered why there was never any reporting of black on white crime? In his google search, he came upon the Council of Conservative Citizens website among others. These sites addressed the issue in terms palatable to his biases, espousing a narrative and skewing figures in favor of a viewpoint where white people are currently in the crosshairs of a cultural genocide and being replaced by the Jews and whomever they control. In a line of his manifesto, he states "...I am completely racially aware". In the way this reinforcement of antiquated views is ever-present, it also seems that there is a growing culture of the dissemination of partial truths presented as fact in order to support a chosen narrative; to radically omit or oversimplify information with little regard for context. This could be a part of a modern phenomenon of tribalism, based on a certain set of factors that amount to a litmus test where acceptance or exclusion has real world implications and has a definite interrelationship with social media and other online entities. As the "right to be forgotten" concept clearly illustrates, there may be a need to begin applying pressure to the large corporations where personal data is concerned. As there are several instances laid out in the book where people whom had participated in the adult industry in their past were outed publicly, and made to suffer professionally regardless of past circumstances or in light of recent performance or accolades. This could, in fact, also be illustrated by an incident not long a go in Washington D.C. involving a field trip of young men from the Covington Catholic High School. The initial reaction to one of the young men seemingly smirking dismissively face to face with an older Native American man whom was singing and drumming created an enormous online backlash that included death threats, picketing, doxing, and a need for increased security for the family of the youth in the picture. The hostility was more based on what a young man in a MAGA hat seemingly disrespecting a Native American elder was all that was looked at, not the actual context of all of the occurrences aside from the photo. It may not be possible in instances like this to force big tech to begin taking the "right to be forgotten" seriously, but occurrences such as this should at least force them to visit the possibility more seriously than they have.

Reading Annotation 3.2 Noble Ch. 1

The first chapter from Noble is a clear mission statement, nearly wandering into territory where it wouldn't be difficult to argue it's more of a manifesto. Illustrating her reasons behind the burning questions regarding the algorithmic biases on the internet are clarified by Noble, beginning with the stark differences in the results of search engine results where gender and race are concerned. Her reaction during the initial anecdote with her stepdaughter feels equal parts shock and expectation, as she had earlier been recalling her introduction to the search results regarding "black girls" leading to a variety of sites focused on pornography and the sexualized commodification of black women. Later, as she looked more in depth, she realized that what had been long touted as a reliable and unattached source of information incapable of bias, was in practice actually reinforcing and perpetuating virtually every conceivable negative stereotype. The algorithm, in particular the algorithms used by such large entities such as Google were fundamentally flawed, thereby producing search results based upon enormous amounts of historical data, not necessarily based on anything to do with the user making the query. When she further explored the history and the process by which these types of results continually come back, she noticed that the effects of commerce and sponsorship creating a large part of the disparity could not be ignored. Google is able to alter the order of preference in their search results based on revenue that companies pay in order to move higher in the order of the search results. In many cases, this can lead to not only to the aforementioned negative stereotypes, but also to the dissemination of misinformation. This due to the combination of said algorithm and the ability of companies with a vested interest in serving a certain narrative better able to affect the outcomes of search results by financial means. On the other hand, using search engines that don't utilize a similar format that is used by well known browsers like Google or Bing are a bit problematic to navigate. It's fair to say, that they cater to no one and is so reflected in their results. One such browser is "Meekd" which utilizes strictly raw search results, with no cookies or sponsored content being allowed to alter the results. I will say, it was rather boring and alien to me. However, it was refreshing to know that they (and many other companies like them) are putting out browsers and search engines that refuse to collect any personal data or allow any sponsored content to affect my search results. I can say that in the Meekd search engine, I typed in "Black Girls", and the results had BlackPeopleMeet.com as the top result, followed by several sites dedicated to various levels of support for black girls; not a single porn site. Bing was nearly all ads for porn; Google fared slightly better, as there was various sites associated with positive content for "black girls", but had a sponsored ad for "Ebony web cams" at the bottom of the page. It seems there's still a lot of work to do in the main stream of search engines.

Discussion 3.1

I've known for quite a while that web based algorithms are imperfect. The main problem with them lies in the fact that thay base their output directly on their input. This allows for all searches and commercial interests to be tailored based on algorithmic predictors based on not just your own historical data, but also endless other compiled data to be compared with. An algorithm or any running formula is not biased on it's own; it relies on input and the resulting bias is clearly a result of this data. As there is a definite vested commercial interest, just as with Google and other search engines that provide preferred results (marked as sponsored). Early in my scholastic days (1999), one of our instructors had an assignment where we were to interact with an on-line AI that had been developed by programmers from a college that I can't remember; but it was running on algorithms. When I logged on and went through introductions, the presence (a poorly rendered female sprite) began to take the conversation to an inappropriate context, and began to explicitly berate me with the coherence of poorly translated swearing from foreigners when I declined the weird sexually charged invitations. THe next day in class, a number of ribald young fellows bragged loudly that they had in fact engaged quite dirtily with the AI, and even had roommates joining in and had provided the link to friends and relatives. The class wondered aloud how it came to be that the AI had learned such interactions, all the while the answer in large part was sitting amongst us guffawing about their exploits. It later came out that the project was scrapped due to the majority of the visitors going to see how dirty they could get with the AI project, and it had unintended consequences and an unforseen outcome for the programmers. I guess that this sort of speaks to what Noble and O'Neil are speaking about; the algorithms of search engines are absolutely biased due to the fact that the data gathered and never-ending input is tailored based upon what people are actually searching for, whether it's an ethnic fetish, political fodder, or the cheapest prices for cereal, it's all in there and the scenarios of each have played out in full billions of times with a guided interest almost the whole time.

Midterm Course Reflection

I'm going to be as honest as possible with my midterm reflection, as I think it necessary to perform some brief introspection. 1. The research projects are not that difficult per se; I must admit that the difficulty lay with me having to reacclimate to being in college classes. Having to readjust myself to a pace where schoolwork takes priority, and making those adjustments fit with family life has not been easy. Having been sick twice and also leaving an HR position, there has been quite a bit of adjustment. It was also very sobering to remember that there is a much larger degree of exploration allowed in 400 level classes. 2. If I were to have done anything differently, I would have made sure to put more focus on reading according to the schedule. I had many late posts, and so that just means that I'll need to be more disciplined and time conscious. 3. I'm not sure what support I would need from the school or from the instructor going forward; any support I'll need will most likely be from my family and delegation of shared responsibilities.

Unit 2 Research Proposal

1. The literature explored the premise of the continued and active marginalization of Native American tribes and nations. I find it interesting that there is a definite and demonstrable methodology where Indian Country has historically received little support in all matters of modern technology and infrastructure. This has been found to be a major limitation to the people within reservation boundaries, and has had a definite negative effect in every area of life from emergency services and schooling to tribal government functions. I think Duarte is spot-on in her overall assessment regarding sovereignty and it's relation to a lack of access to modernization across the board. 2. I would like to see if there are other demonstrable disparities where broadband access is concerned around the country, looking particularly at the ethnic demographics and also per capita income of these communities vs. surrounding areas that may have higher incidences of broadband access. 3. I will seek out various maps, diagrams, and articles that demonstrate any possible correlations that there may be. I'll use these materials to construct visual overlays and present an appropriate infographic.

Reading Annotation 2.4

"Indeed, one of the effects of colonialism is that, in the United States, members of the non-Native privileged class cannot see or grasp the travails of Native peoples." In this vein of thought, I find that there are several subjects that this statement could be relevant toward in what stymies the path of self-determination and decolonization for the peoples in Indian Country. Anyone whom is outside of that privileged class is not going to appreciate the significance of how large the definition of sovereignty is. Sovereignty includes the language you use, the choice of faith, the right to eat and drink as you choose, and the right to pursue endeavors that reflect your own identity and values. As the inclusion of tribes in the Americas in the proliferation of technological advancements in regard to communication continues down the path of previous infrastructural advancements, it is of no surprise that broadband access for tribes is woefully short of their most basic of needs. Many people assume that it's just as simple as it would be to call a provider and have the service connected, without realizing that in many areas the infrastructure on reservation land may barely exist for decent land line phone service. This is where Duarte is able to crystallize this sentiment, as most of the "privileged" class in our country are unable to appreciate the extent to which Native American Tribes have been routinely marginalized. One such roadblock is demonstrable when she speaks of the trials of Red Spectrum Internet, serving the Couer D'alene tribe. There had to be proven a demonstrable demand, and also the feasibility, and also a number of other issues that demonstrated the sheer numbers and concrete institutions such as property titles to addresses, which could be problematic depending on the tribal customs regarding record keeping with respect to such things. "How do Native and Indigenous peoples utilize an array of broadband toward the furtherance of explicitly Native and Indigenous goals?" I found this rather interesting as a standalone question posed by the author, as it seems like she and others are already taking action in order to press the matter of self-determination in Indian Country. In one way that sovereignty has been able to be expressed thoroughly has been to make these services available where they can be, and also to have the conferences specific to the interests of tribes and the problems they face where access is concerned. The availability of information has allowed Tribes to contend with large companies thereby asserting their sovereignty, as the Couer D'Alene tribe did in 2005 by suing mining companies that had polluted the local watershed over a century of dumping, resulting in billions of dollars in settlements and ongoing clean-up efforts. As the information becomes more readily available, so do the opportunities of self-determination. King Mountain Tobacco company is another such endeavor where sovereignty has been determined and upheld, as they had faced fierce commercial opposition and gone through extensive litigation in order to produce tobacco products in the Yakima Valley. In the end, it was decided that it was an undeniable entitlement to the Yakamas that they could cultivate tobacco on the reservation. As it says on King Mountain's website; Due to the Nature of our Treaty language, King Mountain Tobacco takes an aggressive stand in exercising the right to travel and trade tobacco, "Border to Border – Ocean to Ocean." In 1855 Chief Kamiakin, when asked if Yakama’s wanted to trade for the non-indian tobacco he stated, "we the Yakama people have our own tobacco, and we shall reserve the right to trade our tobacco, and the non-indian tobacco fee-less." These Treaty rights have in recent times been reinforced by case law within the Supreme Court, as well as 9th Circuit District Court. I don't know if there's a stronger statement that can assert sovereignty than the ability to go to court with the Federal Government and Big Tobacco and win, and the awareness that will be available once information begins to flow more freely can ensure more of that to come; surely, it could be said that a little bit of "Manifest Destiny" can be reinterpreted through Indian Country as they see fit, with their own interests at heart.

Reading Annotation 2.3

I find the concepts that Marisa Duarte explores very compelling; in particular, she shares a caveat given to her by human rights activist and Tohono O’odham Nation member Mike Wilson, he cautioned her about lending too much credence to the idea of "Tribal Sovereignty". He has a unique perspective on Tribal matters, as he is an outspoken community leader that has been at odds with Tribal Government due to his tendency to leave gallons of water out for travelers crossing the desert into the United States, through reservation lands. I believe his assertion is a very real and tangible philosophy when it comes to any number of systems where Indian Country is concerned, as later evidenced by Duarte in chapter 4 when speaking about Myra Jodie whom had won a new IMac that she could not use due to having no phone line in her home. She tells of a media movement upon this discovery, which was noticed by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. The foundation had decided to engineer the tribe into the modern era, by way of installing the necessary network that would allow for internet access for the tribe. Before long, it was discovered by the engineers that their undertaking would require more than the simple planning and execution they had grown accustomed to; there were not just challenges in terrain that would have to be taken into account, there was the hard and real situation of a lack of many basic infrastructural regularities that were not present to make the feat feasible beyond what they would be willing to invest. This is the essence of the "Indian Problem" which she describes, and also central to why Mike Wilson had warned her about faith in the fragile specter of "Tribal Sovereignty". The Tribe can only be sovereign in ways that are approved of by the prevailing occupational government, and will only be able to define their means of self-determination under that same scrutiny of imperialistic approval. There is a thought process in the western thinking where people have blind spots when it comes to technology, likely assuming that equal access to technologies is available to all within the national borders and having no appreciation to the lack of attention and support that many marginalized receive; this is often expressed in certain societal enclaves as these same groups being less educated, less technologically inclined, or disadvantaged by somehow refusing to embrace advancements rather than wondering if these advancements were made accessible to them at any time or in any considerable measure.

Reading Annotation 2.2

Network Sovereignty, Ch.1 & 2; It seems as if Duarte is making the point that Indigenous peoples have been regularly denied access in all things considered markers of civilization. This is not just thoroughly factual, but routinely ignored. She drives the point home with an example of sparseness, in telling of someone on the Navajo Reservation having to drive their asthmatic mother into town due to an attack requiring medical attention. In this example, she illustrates the sheer lack of modern amenities available to the Indigenous peoples where they are. It is not surprising to hear of the lack of technology, but it is discouraging to know that the problems of the past 100 years are still very much the state of things in Indian Country. As it is, I remember when Toppenish finally got cable television in 1988. I also remember when dial-up internet became available to my uncle's house, right around 2001. That said, if you drive 10 miles out on Lateral A, there are still plenty of areas where housing is only accessible by dirt roads, and there may or may not be land line phones. What is very interesting is the thought that access to ICT's will be of a different use to various Tribes, Nations, and other Indigenous peoples. Whereas Westernized values will continue to use technologies for the proliferation of that school of thought, Tribes can begin to use these tools to reclaim identities and assert their own sovereignty by proliferating their own data, knowledge, and values and actively dismantling the avenues of colonial thought and influence. Many may find the notion difficult to grasp, but do not hold the perspective of what it means to be on the short end of cultural eradication. Many tribes have lost their languages, while others have only a few native speakers remaining. A reclamation of heritage, sacred practices, preservation of language and religion, stories, wisdom, and even the arts and skills that may only be lost through time is now possible for those on the brink of losing everything when so much has already been forcibly taken. It is possible, that is, as long as no one stands in the way of them gaining access to these systems. As of now, Google Translate has the ability to interpret any language into Yucatec Maya. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's website has their greeting written in the Lakota language. Hopefully, this trend is able to continue.

Discussion 2.1

I believe when it comes to the sovereignty of the Internet, there is no true way to govern. It is to me as John Perry Barlow said in his Declaration; there is no true way to govern in the real of Cyberspace. In his article, he illustrates how there is a true dichotomy between how governments are trying to impose traditionally styled regulations upon an entity which they cannot possibly hope to ever contain. The speed at which the virtual world has grown has far outpaced anything that could be contained by or monitored with known regulatory practices. It is essentially lawless and governed only by the users whom frequent it and fully grasp that significance, the true 'digital natives'. Personally, I find his view a bit idealistic. There have been large concerted efforts to impose control on the internet, and there has been little success. The innovation has come predominantly from businesses in the free market, large tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple have made many great strides in implementing safe web practices that have now become standard and do much more to protect the user. I do think, however, that people have allowed themselves to be spoon fed what is good for them when it comes to the net. I see it as next to impossible for a government protect or regulate anything on the internet; you may as well try to rope the sun. I find the thought interesting in Henry Story's conclusion regarding the "web of nations", where he concludes that governance of this entity can only be done if it is started at the lowest level through cooperation. It is very interesting that his conclusion is essentially where Francesca Bria states that Barcelona is standing firmly. In the adopted approach where citizens are taking control of web access as a utility, Barcelona is able to return a large portion of control to the people. She goes on to explain how embracing this approach is making transparent the functions of their local government, but also allowing the people to allocate when and where resources are used. This increases people's involvement in government exponentially, but also their level of responsibility. In the US, I'm not sure if anyone is ready to treat the internet as a public utility, as there seems to be a mindset of focusing nationally rather than locally. Not only does this model make it more affordable for everyone, but it allows much more flexibility in remaining fiscally solvent. Wilson, North Carolina is one of the few cities in the US to offer community owned Internet service, and provides this on an extensive fiber optic network. Another city doing this is Chattanooga, Tennessee, and both towns are offering high speed internet access at prices that are cheaper than private providers. Their main resistance has not been from the citizens, but from the large corporate service providers that are now having to compete with community owned entities. I'm all for the proliferation of smart cities. We might be able to begin talking to actual people on the phone again, rather than having to answer prompts for an hour with a 5-minute problem. Sovereignty would be returned to whom it rightfully belongs.

DIscussion 1.5

I would like to explore the phenomena of disinformation. I have my own notions, but have never researched the subject beyond an occasional article. My personal feeling is that people have a nature to seek out palatable materials for consumption, thereby catering to these tastes in their online presence and interactions. With the prevalence of SNS activities and discourse, people have become far less patient or tolerant of opposing viewpoints and tend to create an echo chamber where the chances of opposing viewpoints are minimized. I think that citizen journalism has found a niche market in SNS newsfeeds that was able to quickly disseminate information that does not bear the responsibility of being verifiable or necessarily correct that large news organizations do, or even the means to do so. In reality, I'd like to see if there is any sort of correlation between the rise of the proliferation of hate groups, the emboldened expression of extreme rhetoric, and the FCC's repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, and ultimately the repeal of the Zapple Doctrine, and the inapplicable nature of the Equal Time Rule which only applies to Television and Radio Broadcasts.

Reading Annotation Journal 1.2

In addressing the recent readings, there are two things that stand out to me specifically; 1. Amanda Todd; This article is a bit short on information to make a sound and full judgement on cyber bullying. I believe that cyber bullying is very real, and can have quite an impact on individuals. One of the issues that I feel promotes this is the disconnect; attackers get to be distant, and only know what they choose to know or what is presented and available in social media about their victim. They have no appreciation for how isolating a campaign can make a person feel, especially since information can become viral quickly and overwhelm on a platform that takes no breaks. It can feel overwhelming, and inescapable. The best defense, by and large, is vigilance. Parents should be monitoring accounts (yes, monitor their kids' phones, emails, etc.) and they should know about the environments where their children's friends are. It would behoove parents to establish open communication with people in their children's lives, and discuss expectations. 2. Re; "There is no real need to undertake ethical reflection on new situations confronting us...we can generally rely on people's common sense and ethical experiences..." I believe that this is the train of though most people subscribe to en masse. There is some practical wisdom behind it. When looking at the technological developments of the past 200 years, there are a great number of advancements that had no predecessor. There is almost no way to anticipate the entire scope of things that could return negative results, so we have to default to the trial and error method. It is imperfect, and there will always be a learning curve that affects the outcomes even further as tech continues to develop and evolve. One major difference between previous technologies and the ethical dilemmas facing us is the integration of identity; this is all still new, as there is increasing interplay between informational sources that used to remain exclusive in in their own respects. A digital copy loses no quality, shared information loses no potency. It is now possible to pay a bill, register to vote, schedule doctor's appointments, and speak with a relative while answering an email or doing homework. This is the new normal. In response, I do not disagree with this method of trial and error. Where I find fault, is that people will agree to sharing their data without so much as skimming the terms of use agreement or see what a certain website does with it's information gathered. It's my belief that the fine print should be emphasized further, as most people are willing to share at least some personal or demographic information prior to knowing the full scope of possibilities. Informed consent shouldn't be something that just sounds good; it should be diligently practiced. Listening to the Senate inquiry of Mark Zuckerberg try to explain how the platform works is evidence enough to me that it is not.

Digital Ethics; Reading Annotation Journal, Response 1.1

In watching the talk from Gerd Leonhard, it struck me when he seemingly surmises that vast amounts of information are being controlled by a select few people. While I feel that he is right and logically justified in questioning the appropriateness of the situation, I feel it is misrepresented for the sake of dramatic flair. The algorithm that runs the news feed on facebook and other social media platforms is tailored to the responses of the user. The news feed is a reflection of their personal preferences and is based upon their historical input, and so the ethics of the programmers is fairly irrelevant in that context. I would be far more concerned about the ethics of the people relying upon social media for news content knowing that content produced by National Vanguard, Stormfront,the Proud Boys, and other similar groups have seen much higher activity (and drawn more interest)over the last 5 years in large part due to their visibility on social media. Perhaps the algorithm needs to be updated with an option to suggest the user can only spend 20 minutes a day on any SM platform.