We Are Data- lj2
I found John Cheney-Lippold’s We Are Data very intriguing. He went into great detail about the Internet, the companies that track our information, how the companies use this information, and what it means for us as individuals. I had not considered the perspective that he provided, especially when it came to the topics of celebrities. He explained that on the Internet, the word celebrity is not used in a literal sense, rather that a celebrity would be considered someone whose information is displayed more. “... Google isn’t really assessing “fame.” Google is creating its own proprietary version of it.” (Cheney-Lippold 2019) This ties into the entire idea of how our information is utilized in general. Although we often do not think about it every time we use a search engine or save an image, everything we do is tracked and stored. There is no such thing as privacy when it comes to the internet. This is why our internet experience is so curated to us as individuals; algorithms show us what we want to see. This is in turn giving us all completely different perspectives on reality, because everything is inherently biased. This definitely makes me more aware of the severity of posting to social media. Nothing can actually be deleted, and my interactions with the internet are shaping my perceptions. This leads me to wanting to use social media less, to give me a better chance of not falling susceptible to the dangers of the internet. Personally, I don’t entirely know how I feel about the ethics of this information gathering. Also it is considered to still be private information because it is often encrypted, I do not feel comfortable with such a level of surveillance of my internet usage. It feels as though that could lead to manipulation through suggestions and advertisements. On the other hand, this could also lead to having greater access to things that I am interested in through the algorithms. But as a user of the internet, that may just be one of the things that you have to be prepared for. Afterall, there is no avoiding it completely.
Cheney-Lippold, J. (2019). We are data: Algorithms and the making of our Digital Selves. New York University Press.
Hey Brooke, I think your blog has some really inciteful information about algorithms and targeted marketing. What kind of gets me upset though is how the world is already flooded with misinformation, fake news, and modified media, so having ads and promotions tailored to what watch or indulge in, perpetuates this notion. At this point not only will you have to work hard to find credible sources, now your viewpoint on culture and media is heavily impacted based on what you've already previously seen.
ReplyDeleteHi Brooke,
ReplyDeleteYou talked about how the algorithms work and how social media tends to stick very well. In the past we have seen people be famous and then have google searches and algorithms target them, but now we see people exploiting the algorithms to become famous. Having videos curated to you on TikTok is a nice thing to have, but the way that it happens can have a lot of people raising their eyebrows at how the information was obtained.
Hey Brooke!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you pointed out the algorithm and what we want to see. This is actually why tiktok has become so popular because of the algorithm. TikToks algorithm is very complex and bombards you with the same kind of videos you interact with the most. TikTok pairs the data they take from you and match it through the data through creation of tiktoks, such as similar sounds, words, phrases, and geographic location.
Hi Brooke,
ReplyDelete"This is in turn giving us all completely different perspectives on reality, because everything is inherently biased."
This is a very good point. Thank you for mentioning it. Although the algorithm can be good for entertainment purposes, it can also be very harmful. For one, because of the algorithm, you may not be getting the entire story, or you may not even be in the lopp at all. The algorithm filters out things that they think you want to see. A lot of the times they are right, but they also don't show other things, like important events that are happening around us.