This is the ball that is spit out by the PreCogs listing the name of the future criminal.
DCI 180 incorporates many topics and ideas into the course. All of them surrounding the use of information and technology. Although most of the concepts discussed in the class deal with current and emerging technology that is present in today’s world, there is still discussion to be had about the morals and ethics of future technology. Is it worth it to develop this new technology if it allows more people to benefit even if some people suffer as a result? Is the greater good truly worth the suffering of the few? These are the questions posed by the idea of consequential. Specifically, utilitarianism deals with this exact issue.
This is example of the Trolley Problem at work. Pulling the Lever would kill one person while not pulling it would kill five.
A common scenario that comes up with the topic of ethics is that of the trolley problem. Is it better to pull the lever killing only one man or leave the trolley on the same course killing five? For a utilitarian, there is a simple answer, pull the lever and only kill one man. It is a simple math problem where 1 life is lost and 5 are saved. So back to the question at hand, is developing new tech that will help many be worth the suffering of the few? This is the question at hand in the movie Minority Report.
The movie Minority Report tackles morality and ethics with the introduction of the Precrime department. (Full Summary Here) This department has access to ProCogs (Mutants who can predict crimes that are going to happen.) and use their psychic ability in addition to technology to arrest people for crimes they have yet to commit. The movie goes on to discover how this system is flawed and that some of the people arrested were possibly innocent as a result. This movie shows how technology can and humans can be manipulated and the need for a balance between technology and human ethics.
This movie would fit in well with the DCI 180 course as it presents the ethics involved with the creation and deployment of new and current technology. It would also go well with the discussion on Transhumanism. As we discussed with The Circle, how can we allow AI to make an ethical decision? There is no way to program something without putting one’s own bias into the programming. This goes in hand with the movie. How do we know that these people are criminals? We only have the information provided by the mutants and tech that shows them committing the crime. This information could easily be falsified, and we would have no way of knowing. I felt like when reading the articles about deontological and consequentialism when discussing the Digital Consumer, I couldn’t get a good grasp of what those two definitions were and being able to see an example of it through a movie would most certainly help. This movie allows for the discussion of ethics without having to cite the dull articles provided as of now.
Overall, Minority Report provides a look at how ethics plays a vital role in technology and can most definitely be used in DCI 180 to help further the discussion and provide an in-depth example of consequentialism at work.
The Moon landing was one of the biggest events in human history. After spending centuries on earth and wondering about what was up in the night sky, in 1969 we finally had our chance to explore the moon. John F. Kennedy’s dream came true and the space race between the Soviet Union was won. Humans could finally accomplish a task that only decades ago sounded impossible. This is the retelling of the Historic Moon Landing with the use of social media (“AKA” Twitter)
After the launch, people went to twitter to share what they just saw.
After a couple of hours of being in space, the crew of APOLLO 11 were finally able to send tweets and started to provide updates on the view from space.
After taking a few days to reach the lunar orbit, the Apollo 11 crew was finally ready to take their first steps on the moon. As Collins stayed behind to man the ship, Aldrin and Armstrong ventured out and finally contacted the moon’s surface. They made sure to take a video to show the people back at home what the moon was like.
Finally, once they all retreated to the ship and came back to earth a meeting was held.
This is just one of the many ways the moon landing could have could have been covered with the use of social media. Social Media plays a huge factor in how news is spread so I wonder how the moon landing would have been impacted if social media was around. Would more people think that the moon landing was a hoax, or would everyone believe it to be true due to the real time updates?
References:
Dunbar, Brian. “July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind.” NASA, NASA, 19 Feb. 2015, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html.
I am addicted to Tetris. Ever since coming to college, anytime I’m bored I just pull up Tetris online and start playing. Like every other website, I quickly click through all the popups and warnings beforehand so I can go straight to playing. I’m guilty of doing this on almost any website and always forget to read the Privacy Policy that pulls up. After taking a deep dive into Privacy Policy, I realize just how important it is to read Privacy Policies.
Tetris, unlike many other websites, does not display their Privacy Policy as soon as you enter the website but forces you to scroll and look for it if you want to see what’s inside of it. Tetris’ Privacy Policy opens with a description of what a Privacy Policy is. Tetris describes what they use their privacy policy for, “This Privacy Policy describes how we collect and use your information and gives you choices as to how we use it. We welcome you to review this Privacy Policy periodically as we may update it from time to time.” Tetris then provides an address, email, and phone number for people to reach them if they have any data concerns. The website also goes on to define specific terms for later use to make sure that everyone reading the Privacy Policy can understand some terms that might be foreign to them. Now for the typical person, the quote, definitions, and contact information might suffice, but I wanted to explore more about the Privacy Policy. Tetris then provides an address, email, and phone number for people to reach them if they have any data concerns. The website also goes on to define specific terms for later use in order to make sure that everyone reading the Privacy Policy can understand some terms that might be foreign to them.
Later, in the Privacy Policy, data collection starts to popup. Tetris in one paragraph sums up what data is being collected and how it is being used. Tetris states what it collects very plainly, “ISP (Internet Service Provider) address, the referring URL and, information on the pages you access on our sites. We may also collect personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses and e-mail addresses that you provide when you make a purchase or contact us.” Tetris then lists out how the data that is collected is being used:
“To generally improve the content and layout of our website
To improve the content and layout of our website for individual visitors
To notify you about updates to our website
To respond to questions or comments
To contact you for marketing purposes
For internal review”
This seems like the typical areas that data would be going to, but they also discuss how third parties can get access to this information. The policy talks about how third parties who provide service to the website can receive information such as a credit card processing site and other such sites that provide a function or service to Tetris. The collection of general data and cookies also takes place as discussed later in the Policy. Things such as operating systems and what type of browser is being used, are sent to Tetris as a result of using their services. Also, by sending cookies, the policy mentions, “The information and offers on our website can be optimized with the user in mind.” This begs the question of how much information is needed in order to optimize my experience?
Most of the Privacy Policy spoke regarding the GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR allows EU citizens to contact the company and remove all their data from the website or even allow them to see what kind of information is being collected on them. Now I find this interesting because as Americans, GDPR does not affect us because it was passed by the EU. This might confuse many as they may assume that GDPR also affects them as a US citizen. This also causes the Privacy Policy to add more paragraphs to make sure they cover all their bases when it comes to complying with the GDPR. This is seen in the latter half of the policy which mainly focuses on this issue.
Finally, towards the end of the policy, Tetris talks about the use of Google AdSense and Analytics on their website. AdSense is how personalized ads are displayed on the side of the website to earn revenue as someone plays Tetris, and Analytics is how the company gathers its information and analyzes it. After talking about data usage for much of the policy, it goes on to talk about the use of the website by children and the deletion of any child information that may be collected as a result of being an open website.
I was shocked to see how much information was being collected on me. Just a simple website where I play Tetris to pass the time collects so much data on me from the five minutes that I sit on the website. I think that it is important to take time to read at least some Privacy policies as they help people to understand what sort of information is being collected and how it is being used by the company in control of the website. This reminds me of an article that was read in class and a discussion that took place afterward in DCI: 180 about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Although the Tetris website is not doing anything near as extreme as the data mining that took place on Facebook, it is still collecting invaluable data on its users and using it to benefit themselves. Often, we disregard how truly public our information is, and do not realize that every website is constantly tracking every single click that is made in the interest of making more money.
I interviewed my friend, Elle, on the topic to see the perspective of someone who is not currently taking a course that covers subjects such as Privacy Policy. The audio recording is linked below.
Elle’s interviewshowed me how little is known about what our data is being used for. I didn’t even know what Tetris data would be used for until after I read the privacy policy.
In the end, I appreciate that I took the time to read a Privacy Policy and see how my data is being used on a website that I use daily. This opened my eyes to seeing what goes on the background of my simple Tetris game and what information I’m allowing companies to collect.
In class we were handed a fun assignment to do over the weekend, the task was to stalk my DCI 180 professors Mary Abdoney and Elizabeth Teaff. At first, I wasn’t sure where to start so I headed straight to Facebook and searched Mary Abdoney. At first, her profile wasn’t evident to me as her picture was that of a snake-shaped uterus with the iconic phrase “Don’t tread on me” underneath and not of her face. I started to scroll down her profile and started to find all kinds of information on her. I found out that she was born in Tampa, Florida on June 16th, 1976, and attended high school at H.B Plant in Tampa. After graduating from high school, she started college soon after and attended school at the University of Florida in 1993 and graduated in 1999. Afterward, she went on to pursue grad school at the University of South Florida graduating in 2001 getting a degree in Library and Information Science. She now uses the degree to be a librarian at WLU and also teaches DCI 180. There other items that I came across I scrolled through her Facebook. I discovered how her house looked and that she wore green shoes on her wedding day. I also came across her very photogenic son. After taking one last look at her Facebook, I decided to venture onto other social media platforms that she used. It didn’t take long to find them as she had them linked it all on the side of her Facebook page. As I scrolled through her twitter feed, I found out that she is was very much in favor of the first-ever female Doctor on Doctor Who. She is also big into Digital Pedagogy, which is the study and use of contemporary digital technology in teaching and learning. I noticed this as almost every tweet was tagged with #DigPed. Which after a couple of seconds of research, I was able to figure out what it meant. I also found out how passionate she was about being a librarian, as many tweets were either librarian memes or topics concerning librarians in America. Also, her Twitter shows her political side as well as she is feminist and advocates for empowering women. This is also evident in her blog website, http://maryabdoney.wludci.info/. Her about page talks strongly about how it is to be a working mother and her journey through life. Afterward, I went onto her Instagram and noticed two things immediately, her love for flowers and her appreciation for her growing jack-o-lantern that will hopefully be beautifully carved this coming October. Soon after leaving her Instagram I came upon another page about Professor Abdoney. I found a website that was made for her wedding. It listed many facts about her and her husband, Ned Norland. One of those facts was that her wedding, which took place September 29th, 2012, was located at Castle House in Lexington, Virginia. Another fact was that Professor Abdoney was a sorority member during her time at UF and was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority. Lastly, she drove from WLU to Chapel Hill every other weekend just to see her husband. From the hobbies she posted about on her Instagram to her love of being a librarian, Professor Abdoney certainly has an interesting digital footprint.
Professor Teaff was also very interesting to stalk. She did not have hardly any post on any of her social media except Instagram, but I was still able to find information on her. She was born in Gloversville, New York on June 16th, 1974 and went to Gloversville High School. After graduating she attended Fulton-Montgomery Community College to study studio art. Afterward, she studied at the State University of New York at Potsdam then went on to study art history at Virginia Commonwealth University finally ending her college days at the University of South Carolina earning a degree in Library & Information Science. She started working at Virginia Military Institute and then left that job to work at Rockbridge Regional Library finally leaving that job to pursue her current career at WLU as a University Library Access Services Manager. She enjoys shopping at 3 Seasons Antiques & Unique Treasures. Leaving a five-star review which stated, “One of my favorite places in Rockbridge County. I always find vintage things for my home.” As I went further down the Internet rabbit hole, I started to find some interesting things about Professor Teaff. She loves spiders and even has a fantastic picture of a spider on Instagram with one commenter stating, “Ugh, no way!” She is also a big buckeyes fan as seen from her sports tab underneath her Facebook page. She also enjoys flowers and cats as seen on her Instagram page. Although I could not find much information on Professor Teaff, it was very fun to stalk her digital footprint and see where it was going to take me.
Stalking someone online has never been easier. Through the use of social media and other websites, there is virtually information about everyone out there, even information on myself. All I had to do was look up my name and city and I instantly found pictures of myself in high school and even in elementary school. All these photos were out there without me even knowing they existed. There was a way for me to know about them, however. As we discussed in DCI 180, I could set up a Google Alert on my phone to notify myself about these photos when they were posted as long as they referenced my name, but many people such like myself did not know about this feature. Also, I became aware of the impact of having a digital footprint. Although both professors were in good shape online, imagine someone who put everything out on the web. All that information would stay online for anyone to look at forever. I see the importance of having a clean digital footprint. This project opened my eyes into seeing what can be found out about someone with a few simple searches.
I wake up with my phone beside me ready to disable the agonizing alarm warning me to get ready for my 8:30 am class. Once I disable the alarm, I immediately catch up on any notifications that I may have missed while I was asleep. I start to browse Reddit and Twitter to wake myself up and prepare myself for the day to come. After leaving my dorm, I head to my first class of the day checking my phone as I walk over. After class is over at 9:30 am, I head over to a quiet table in commons and begin to work on my mountain of homework. I open the online math textbook and finish up my math homework, occasionally checking my phone when I get an email or message. Once I finish the rest of my classes for the day, I head back to my dorm and catch up on YouTube and Tiktok while I lay in bed for a couple of minutes taking a moment to relax. Soon after, I set an alarm on my phone warning me to wake up in an hour from my nap. After waking up, I check my phone again as I get ready to go to my wind ensemble class at 7:45 pm. Following Wind Ensemble, I head over to the Gaines rotunda to finish the rest of the homework for the night on my computer. Finally, once I finish all my work, I head to my dorm using my phone for the last time around midnight to set an alarm for the next day.
In just that one day, I spent two hours and thirty-five minutes looking at my phone. I opened my phone 76 times, I used at least six applications, and I received over 80 notifications. I spent almost sixteen percent of my day looking down at a 6-inch screen. This does not even account for the time spent working on my computer. I soon realized through this small project how much time I truly spent on the internet. Even while writing this post I occasionally took time to browse my phone and respond to messages.
Technology has made homework and social interaction much easier. With the internet, I can ask my professor a question about a topic without having to head over to his office during the small window of office hours provided. The internet is essential in my college life and the lives of many others, as it connects us to friends and family back home without having to send a letter through the mail. I honestly do not know how I would survive college without the internet.
