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[giselle-v2001]

Blog Post #4

What are the differences between the "Old Jim Crow" and the "New Jim Crow"?

The old Jim Crow was used as a method to segregate and oppress blacks in the South between the 1890's and the 1950's. During those days, it was used as a way of separating blacks and whites in public settings and also excluding them from any events in which whites were involved. The new Jim Crow is a "colorblind" ideology which only targets those who are labeled as "criminals" who are overwhelmingly black. Not only does the new Jim Crow ideology target criminals but also poor, second-class immigrants.

How is cultural coding involved with technical coding?

Much of the algorithms in the internet have a method of organizing and understanding patterns that people input on there. According to this weeks reading, a computer scientist examined some search results in which she found that common black names are often associated with high rates of arrest records. She later searched her own name and found that her search suggested that she also had a criminal record. Latanya Sweeney suggests that Google's algorithm uses racially discriminating patterns of previous users and uses them to show other users.

Does the CalGang Database infringe on a persons privacy?

The CalGang Database infringes on a person privacy in several ways. First, the database includes people who have yet to commit a crime and have only gone through routing police stops. Also, any person regardless of their age can be entered into the database. Only based on the persons neighbourhood, family members, friends, or where they hang out is a reason why they are entered. Not only is a person unknowingly entered into the database, they are also labeled as "gang members". Inputs into the CalGang database does not only include criminal activity or information collected from traffic stops but also information in which is collected from peoples phones or social media.

Does the CalGang Database use some methods of "new Jim Crow"?

I believe the CalGang database does use some methods of the "new Jim Crow". While the old Jim Crow targeted blacks and was used to segregate them, the new Jim Crow is used as a "colorblind" method that targets criminals. The CalGang database uses some methods which can target a population since it does not require criminal activity, can include any age group, and can include people that have gone through routine traffic stops. CalGang has targeted youth of color with no transparency, accountability, and has not been able to evaluate the effectiveness of their database.

Benjamin, R. (2020). Race after technology: Abolitionist Tools for the new jim code. Polity. 

Muniz, A., & McGill, K. (n.d.). Youthjusticela. https://youthjusticela.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/List-of-Injunctions.pdf 

[giselle-v2001]

Blog Post #3

How does our dependence on technology affect us in our basic day to day lives including our health, finances, and overall well being?

Our reliance on technology can affect our day to day activities in many ways. One single server maintenance or a crash can change the way we pay for our groceries, fast food and sometimes even our bills. For example, the software update from Crowdstrike paralyzed the online paying aspect for many stores like Chipotle. In the example of the reading, Technology played against the author and their partner by flagging their medical expenses as fraud even though Jason had suffered an accident. Our dependence on technology can have a severe impact on the quality of life if there is a more impactful outage.

How does technology help margianlize minorities in our society?

A great example that was given in this weeks reading was how a Republican governor from Maine released false information regarding families who recieved cash benefits from TANF. He suggested that these families recieved the money and would later spend it on alcohol, cigarrettes and buying lottery tickets. Analyzing the transactions, they concluded that .03% of the 1.1 million that was withdrawn was used for these purchases. Maine would later enact a bill that required families to retain their reciepts from 12 months for state audits. This shows how different forms of technology was used to spread misinformation, make it harder for families to recieve government benefits, and increase the margin between the rich and poor.

How do technological advancements create a negative impact on our society?

I believe technological advancements can play a big role in our society that can improve our quality of life but can also create inequality. In this weeks reading, we go over a case where a person was wrongfully jailed for a crime that happened 30 miles away where he was at. Thanks to facial recognition police officers arrested Nijeer Parks on a crime he did not commit and was jailed 10 days. 3 other cases of wrongful detainment with the facial recognition technology happened which only affected black men. These incidents can create a negative impact on our society and a distrust with our justice system based on a overdependence on these sorts of techonologies.

How has technology helped feminist create equality?

A great example that was given in a reading was how people often mention that feminism is for white, affluent women but this reading shows how feminism is for everyone and also mentions that even those in developing countries have a greater online presence than men. Technological advancements on the Internet help bolster their promotion of equality and also as a great medium in communication.

Daniels, J. (2009). Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender, and Embodiment. WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly37(1), 101-124.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/wsq.0.0158.

Eubanks, V. (2018). Automating inequality: how high-tech tools profile, police, and punish the poor. First edition. New York, NY, St. Martin's Press.

Hill, K. (2020, December 29). Another arrest, and jail time, due to a bad facial recognition match. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/technology/facial-recognition-misidentify-jail.html 

[giselle-v2001]

Blog Post #2

What is the job of a modern journalist and how should they project their information?

The modern journalist should have witness a broad horizon of events and should be able to give us that information quickly. Based on this weeks reading, we are given an example of how the modern journalist should be but there is a long process of events that happen before the information is given to the public. Most of the information a journalist has is filtered by their editors in which they get to decide what is "newsworthy"

How did the government play a role in the development of the media?

The government played a crucial role in the development of the media by enacting the Postal Act of 1792 which created the postal network and also giving funds to transport newspaper through the mail. The government also enacted laws that protected creators and their intellectual property while also investing into different sorts of technology like the telegraph, radio, satellite broadcasting, and the internet which would play a big role in communications and media.

According to Marx, what is Captialism's contradictions?

In this weeks reading, we are introduced to how dialectical methods identify contradictions. Their definition of contradictions as tension between 2 subjects that have differences but require their presence to exist. We are given examples of Marx's contradictions as poor/rich, owner/worker, concrete labour/ abstract labour, etc. But to analyze those contradictions, Marx uses sublation and negation of the negation as a way of identifying the tension between both poles. Sublation is a method which helps understand how change happens meanwhile negation of the negation is when something is changed in which the opposite no longer exists due to this change.

What are the contradictions of Capitalism?

The contradictions of Capitalism are often seen as crisis driven as it includes rich/poor, misery/wealth, workers/capitalist and also productive forces and the means of the production. One of the interesting pieces of the reading was Marx's explanation of the contradictions by arguing that the foundations of a classless society is based on capitalism while capitalism is formed within cooperation. Like we see on a day to day basis with billion dollar corporations, capitalism is formed by exploitation and domination which create destructive forces

Fuchs Christian. 2017. Social Media: A Critical Introduction

Gonzalez & Torres. (2012). News for all the people: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.

[giselle-v2001]

Story Time

As has happened in many occasions, I woke up one morning, snoozed my alarm, and checked my Instagram. This time, Instagram stayed blank and would not open. I checked every social media account that I had which worked but Instagram didn’t. I always look forward to checking my Instagram since my friends and family often post and I wanted to see the cool things they have done. I constantly refreshed Instagram, turned my phone off and on, and deleted and reinstalled Instagram and nothing would work. I checked on Google to see what the cause was and found out that Instagram, Facebook and other apps under Meta were all down and could not be used. I went on about my day and waited until Instagram came back online. For someone who uses their social media when they are bored, I was really bored for the remainder of the day.