ENG 354: Technology and Culture
Spring 2021

Unit 1--Imitation and Representation

• Week 2--representation and power, technology practice
• Week 3--early photographic practice
• Week 4--ideology and AI

Week 2

representation

the social process of making and exchanging meaning (Carah and Louw 27).

cultural schema

"generic mental representations that actively incorporate incoming information and are modified by new experiences" (Garro 275). These mental categories help people make sense quickly of new information by placing it in a known context. Schemas change over time as that mental classification process continues over the course of an individual's life and as external environmental and cultural input changes.

post-modern view of representations

view that "power relationships can be continuously rearranged via meaning making" (Carah and Louw 28). While this view does allow more encoders to create meaning, the emphasis on interpretation as the only index of reality can lead to the conclusion that any interpretation, even those that reject external reality, is as valid as any other.

hegemonic view of representation

view that powerful groups work to fix and circulate a stable set of meanings; this view is more restrictive in terms of who can be an encoder, but it does allow for an ability to distinguish between more or less vaild meanings by "judging them against our engagement with and experiences of the world" (Carah and Louw 28) [i.e.: external reality].

encoders

those with the power and ability to create and circulate messages within a culture or discourse community.

decoders

those with the ability to understand messages produced by encoders. Under certain circumstances, decoders can modify or reject messages.

technological neutrality

the idea that a technology itself is neither beneficial nor harmful. However, this view relies on being able to usefully discuss a technology outside of its use/purpose.

technology-practice

considering a technology within the full constellation of its use potential, including its cultural aspect, organizational aspect, and technical aspect (Pacey 98).

cultural aspect

goals, values, ethical codes, etc. that provide the cultural context for the application and use of a technology

organizational aspect

economic, industrial, professional and other systems and structures that support, diffuse, or otherwise enable the production, delivery, and use of a technology

technical aspect

knowledge, skill, expertise required to create, innovate, adapt a technology; the techncial aspect deals with expert users rather than end users and may require specialized training.

Week 3

cultural anxiety

a specific cultural fear apparent in the cultural discourse. As new technologies are developed, there are often cultural anxieties that appear in response. Sometimes these fears are due to a misunderstanding or lack of familiarity with a new technology (e.g. x-rays).

propriety

term particularly associated with the Victorian era informal disciplinary practice of social watching to enforce cultural codes and dominant discourses. People would not only participate in the enforcement of codes of propriety, but would also internalize them

camera fiend

term associated with photography practice in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries. "Camera fiend" was a derogatory term for an amateur photographer who would intrusively take photographs without subjects' permission in public and semi-public places. The practice of the camera fiend was supported by the rise of illustrated papers and the technology to print photographs in newspapers, which created a market for scandalous photographs.

technical innovation

developments in the technical aspects of a technology, for example, the transition from the positive only Dageurreotype to postive-negative processes first with wet and then with dry glass plates, and finally the invention of celluloid negatives that could be pre-treated with the necessary photosensitive chemicals.

technical innovation is particularly apparent after the initial introduction of a technology; at first, there is a tendency to imitate related conventions and forms until a technology is familiar. After this period of familiarization, innovation, often along several different trajectories, is often the next step. If one development trajectory is adopted and becomes dominant, then a technology is on its way to acceptance

Week 4

ideology

cultural concepts and premises that provide frameworks for representations (see Hall).

1. ideologies don't exist in isolation, but remain part of networks of cultural meaning.

2. ideologies are not created by individuals, but by collective, unconscious cultural development. However, individuals "speak through" ideologies--often without realizing it. Things that seem "natural" or "common sense" may be those unconscious ideological frameworks, and may deserve scrutiny.

3. ideologies are strongest, and sometimes even dangerous, when individuals adopt them as part of their identity.

overt racism

obviously racist world view and actions; direct assertion that one race is superior to another.

inferential racism

assumption of a racial hierarcy embedded in even inclusive views; this is an example of an ideological framework that becomes invisible, and therefore operates as a "natural" truth.

artificial intelligence

use of computing technology to perform advanced tasks. This term has been applied to various types of computing capabilities over time--at one time a hand calculator was considered "artificial intelligence." When a computing capability becomes familiar, it generally no longer is considered AI. Today, AI is generally applied to machine learning capabilities.

machine learning

a algorithm designed to gather specific data and identify patterns in the data to solve a specific task. Once the algorithm is activated, it can recursively improve--essentially write more code--meaning that machine learning algorithms can be particularly opaque and difficult to fix if they do not perform as anticipated.

Unit 2--Communication and Community

• Week 5--technology and narrative: example of the telegraph
• Week 6--internet, broadcast and interactive media and related concepts
• Week 7--crowd sourcing for various purposes
• Week 8--video games

Week 5

anthropomorphize (v), anthropomorphization (n)

to imbue with human characteristics. One of the common narratives of digital technologies in general and digital communication technologies in particular is to represent them as having human behaviors, especially the capacity to feel and/or communicate. This tendency may arise from the function of the original electric communication technology, the telegraph, to transmit language, and it may arise from the telegraph's hybridity with human operators.

framing

the specific context that is used to contextualize a representation or discourse. Often the framing is controlled by the encoder or communicator. Powerful social actors deliberately control framing; in other cases, social communicators may not be aware of the framing they are using.

strategic retroactive history

the practice of rewriting past events in order to align them with a desired present representation or future outcome. This practice is common in the framing of the history of technology development. Often past malfunctions and mistakes are rewritten as necessary progressive steps towards the current state of the technology or the hoped-for future of the technology. (see Shelangoskie)

Week 6

internet first and last mile

phase of internet transmission where packets of information travel on radio waves; information is converted to binary data (0 and 1) with modulating frequencies. The radio waves are transmitted to a receiver.

internet hub

phase of internet transmission where radio waves are received and passed to wires that are sent to a centralized relay location for a specific internet service provider (ISP)

internet backbone

phase of internet transmission where data is transferred from the hub of an ISP to the world-wide structure of wired connections that are shared by different ISPs and nations. Much of the backbone is composed of submarine fiberoptic cables.

broadcast media

conventional 20th century media--TV, film, radio. Broadcast media is one-way, with all viewers/listeners experiencing the same broadcast.

broadcast gatekeepers

members of offical organizations who exercise editorial control over broadcast content. These gatekeepers must belong to organizations that have access to official broadcast channels.

interactive media

media that customizes content to respond to the individual needs/input of users.

algorithmic gatekeepers

the technical and conceptual automated controls present in interactive media. Technical controls might be features like data validation, character limits, file type limits, limited choices in lists, and other boundaries on interaction imposed by technical features of an app or platform. Conceptual gatekeeping is typically performed by more complex algorithms that identify patterns of image or language that require warning messages (e.g. COVID-19 information) or outright censorship (e.g. nudity, profanity, obscenity, copyright violations, etc.). Conceptual gatekeeping may be performed by machine learning AIs or human/machine hybrid processes.

social media

a type of interactive media where users can create content and interact with each other as well as with the site.

searching

development and use of algorithms that can identify specific content online. Search engines are the most common tools for searching.

showing

representation posted to the internet, often for self-branding or representation of an individual or organization's identity. Showing can be thought of as an identity snap shot (or synchronic)

presencing

a consistent representation of identity online that is built over time through multiple posts. People may intentionally or unintentionally contribute to their presence. Presencing can be thought of as a dynamic identity with a digital memory, or a diachronic development of identity.

archiving

the memory of the internet. Archiving may be performed to preserve information for the public good, or to collect information in order to monitize it in some way. Archiving may occur through deliberate human action or through automatic algorithmic means, and it may occur in ways both known and unnoticed by users.

social media archiving may make it more difficult for users to practice strategic retroactive histories with their own past.

network asymmetry

the tendency to organize networks and suggest new members of networks based on factors like convenience, proximity, and affinity; because these factors are used, network diversity is reduced and the perspective of the network members is more homogeneous based on the selection criteria.

convenience

users grouped together by an easily trackable characteristic e.g. women of a certain age

proximity

users grouped together by geographical location or some type of virtual proximity e.g. all work at the same location or belong to the same online group

affinity

users that share similar interests, express similar ideas or share connections in common

filter bubble

reinforcement of affinity within a network to the point that a group of users is isolated from ideas and perspectives that differ from the affinity trait. Filter bubbles are a result of network asymmetry and are reinforced by algorithms designed on the basis of affinity.

micro-celebrity

strategic self-presentation motivated by the desire to increase one's popularity on the internet. It relies on the same type of power asymmetry as actual celebrity in that the micro-celebrity also views followers as fans and attempts to maximize the number of followers.

parasocial social media interactions

while conventional parasocial activity involves a fan's illusory connection with a celebrity to the point that they believe they have a real-life relationship with the celebrity, social media parasocial interaction includes the real possiblity of response from the celebrity.

online authenticity

whether the information posted by an individual is actually posted by the person purported to be the author--sometimes this may be a question of whether the person posting is real or a decptive identity or an AI.

online sincerity

whether a persona's posts are believable--honesty without pretense.

Week 7

crowd sourcing

pooling information, input, ideas from a broad range of indiviudals to perform a task or solve a problem.

crowd funding

pooling financial resources from a large group of people to finance a project. The project itself might be completed by a small group of experts or proposers; only the funding comes from the crowd.

local search bias

reliance on known technologies or approaches to solving new problems

open science

incorporating outside experts/researchers into a scientific project.

open innovation

incorporating outside research into an invention or innovation process

human computation

process where numerous people carry out small tasks that cannot be solved by computers (so far); this method is more effective the larger the crowd.

citizen science

inclusion of non-experts in the research process, whether for data collection or problem solving.

gamification

turning a task into a game so that users are incentivized to participate by the competitive structure; often participation in the game itself is the reward for participation, but sometimes the game can have a financial incentive for the winner.

Week 8

desensitizing theory

theory related to video game violence that suggests violence in games allows users to build up a tolerence by playing; and then, the players are not as affected by violence in real life.

cathartic theory

theory related to video game violence that suggests the violence in games can allow players to release aggression through game play, providing a safe outlet for aggressive feelings and reducing the change of aggressive acts in real life.

moral panic theory

theory that poeple "try to explain distressing soical circumstances ... by seeking 'folk devils' to blame them on" (Coulson and Ferguson 71). One example is blaming violence like school shootings on violent video games. The games become a regulatable proxy for a problem that is much harder to solve.

social displacement theory

theory related to socialization studies of video games that argues that players trade online relationships for offline ones. An underlying ideology behind this theory is that offline relationships are intrincially better than online ones.

compensation theory

theory related to socialization studies of video games that argues that people predisposed to certain negative mental behaviors are drawn to video games rather than problematic social behaviors being caused by video game play.

Unit 3--Law and Order

• Week 9--historicaly cases of law and technology practice
• Week 10--deepfakes, identity spoofing
• Week 11--surveillance and privacy

Week 9

organic or intrinsic constraints

obstacles to technology development that are inherent to the technology process itself. They may include limitations in the design or capablities of the technology (e.g. only 20 English letters could be signalled by the first telegraph) or in the systemic implementation (e.g. early photographers had to build studios on top floors where they could have skylights since they depended on a great deal of light to take portraits.)

external constraints

obstacles to technology development that are outside of the technology process, for example, government regulations, or sabotage, such as in the case of Luddites in the early 19th century.

both intrinsic and external constraints shape the development of a new technology.

Week 10

DMARC

Internet protocol that verifies a domain to prevent email spoofing. The registry is voluntary.

postproduction misconduct

practice in the publication of scholarly/scientific information of manipulating the metrics of an article to make it seem more influential or well-received; authors might trade citations for citations or trade citations for favorable reviews or other modes of artifically inflating citation and review statistics.

fraudulent copies

digital manipulations that can be used in multiple publications and even slightly edited to make many versions of a specific digital image. These manipulations are much easier to reproduce than earlier frauds that depended on physical objects that were produced (for example the Piltdown Man skeleton in England); these earlier types of fraud that depended on physical objects could be called "fraudulent yet authentic" (Biagioli 16335)

recursive fraud

manipulated image that is manipulated further and used again or that becomes the basis for further research built on essentially fraudulent findings.

infodemic

"an overabundance of information--some accurate and some not--that makes it hard for people to find trustworth sources and reliable guidance when they need it" (Yamaoka-Enkerlin 725)

GAN

General Adversarial Network

a type of machine learning that pits a generator against a discriminator. The generator attempts to create a representation that will be accepted by the discriminator; the discriminator rejects representations that do not meet specific criteria, and the generator adjusts based on this feedback, continuing to try again until the discriminator identifies the representation the generator creates as authentic.

deepfake

a linguistic blending of "deep learning" and "fake." This is a type of digital representation (image, audio, video) that uses AI techniques to create extremely authentic fakes.

cheapfake

AI created fakes that are made with cheap, accessible software. Cheapfakes are easier to detect, but can do just as much damage to reputation if they are believable enough.

misinformation

false information that is a genuine misunderstanding; there is no intention to cause harm.

malinformation

true information that is released with the intent to cause harm--for example, doxing an internet user or releasing a sex tape without the participants' permission.

disinformation

false information created and circulated with the intent to harm; disinformation that is circulated widely enough may even change perceptions of reality or truth.

liar's dividend

when there is so much misinformation circulating that it becomes hard to determine what information is true, and every communication becomes generally suspect. The liar's dividend benefits the liar, but also undermines legitimate sources of information.

Week 11

One Voice

"the dominant ecosystem that would give its operator 'the ability to anticipate and monetise all the moments of all the people during all the days'" (Zuboff qtd. in Lynskey)

ubiquitous computing

frictionless ecosystem of computing that is 'part of your presence all the time' making real life behavior mappable (Lynskey)

panopticon

structure that enables the surveillance of many by a few in authority; famous examples are the designs of prisons and factory floors. The idea originated with Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century, and it was famously incorporated into Michael Foucault's influential theories in Discipline and Punish in the late 19th century.

media production

process of creating and distributing meaning

surveillance

watching with purpose. Surveillance is instrumental in the creation of institutions, discourses and mechanisms for producing, disciplining and managing populations (Lipschultz 242)

database

tool that produces populations for some purpose. Databases produce new network formations that are useful and valuable. Databases are part of an interactive media system that doesn't need to control populations with particular ideas or beliefs but rather controls them by watching and responding to them.

predictive vs explanatory big data analysis

explanatory finding patterns in massive amounts of data and then deriving explanations for things based on the observed patterns— data is useful because it contains a particular meaning

predictive: using patterns not to explain meaning, but to predict what users will want or do or need next by connecting data with other content or information in useful ways. "It doesn't need to know why you do it or what it means" (243)

FTC Guidelines related to privacy

privacy by design

FTC guideline for digital service design. companies should build in privacy protections at every stage, including reasonable security and limited collection and retention of data

simplified choice

FTC. companies should allow users to decide what information about them is shared, with whom, and be able to opt out of tracking easily

greater transparency

FTC. companies should disclose details of their collection and use of information and provide consumers access to data that is collected.

ELD (electronic logging devices)

devices connected to a car that log location, status, speed and report information back to an employer

cookie

string of letters and numbers that form a unique id that let a site remember a user. With cookies, sites can recognize users and retain info like location, cart, other clicks, time spent, email address

first-party cookie

cookie created directly by a site you are visiting. This type of cookie makes the internet usable.

third party cookie

cookie created indirectly by another site that has access to a site you visit—for example FB getting access to websites you visit even if you don't visit them through FB. With third party cookies, companies collaborate to obtain useful user data. These cookies are created by the domain of a third party that can access data from a site you are on

tracking

the ability of third party sites to view data not just from one site you visit, but all sites you visit that have the same third party elements embedded

targeted ad

ad created for a certain segment of the population—ads can be targeted on the basis of lots of different criteria. Targeting tries to match up users likely to be interested with ads they are likely to be interested in.

emoji

graphic representation of an emotional state—specifically the universal set of these that is integrated in texting and social media sites

emoji targeting

targeting ads not by demographic data, but based on the emotional state/context of users reflected in their use of emojis.