jorgielua101

[jorgielua101]

Week 11 / Post 9

Does empirical evidence show that social media alone was sufficient to drive mobilization, or were other forms of media equally critical?

When it comes to social media alone it can drive mobilization based if certain groups have access to technology. Movements typically skyrocket through social media but in the case of Empirical social movements tend to have more face-to-face interaction for activism. For example, a research study from the Tahris data project surveyed Egyptian activists. “The survey shows that face-to-face interaction 93% was the most important form of activist protest communication, followed by television 92%, phones 82%, print media 57%, SMS 46%, Facebook 42%, email 27%, radio 22%, Twitter 12%, and blogs 12%”(Fuchs). This is a form of interpersonal communication another form of media that traditional and telecommunications were more important information sources and communication tools in the revolution than social media and the internet. The survey also claimed that Egyptian revolutionaries preferred phone communication, followed by face-to-face talk, as most important for their protest, informative, and motivating for practicing in the protest.  

How does online activism enhance the effectiveness of protests and social movements?"

Online activism enhances the effectiveness of protests and social movements by taking advantage of the technologies and techniques offered by the internet to achieve their traditional goals and using either internet-enhanced or internet-based. The internet helps bring traditional ways to protest to the next level by reaching goals and having a better impact. This form of online activism would turn into cyber activism. Cyber activism enhances the whole movement by having three general areas which are awareness/advocacy, organization/mobilization, and action/reaction (Vegh). Having these areas helps send out information, or receive it, calls for action, and overall brings awareness to protest and social movements worldwide. 

How do online networks help activists get ready for political change?

Online networks help activists bring awareness to political change by helping people obtain information by participating in different types of email distribution lists. Information distribution on the internet is another way for activism. This form of activism creates distribution networks that organizations and social movements that can be used for mobilization purposes. For example, Tedjabayu (1999) reports on the NusaNet Consortium Consortium restricted and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)-an encrypted inter-NGO e-mail system- created to disseminate alternative news among themselves and to the larger population (Vegh). When serious violations of human rights occur, the internet is essential in reporting the cruelty to the outside world. This can trigger and fuel an activist movement by the use of the internet. This form of email distribution proves how useful these networks are when the moment for political change arrives. 

Why might alternative narratives, like those on Black Twitter, be important for communities that feel marginalized by mainstream media?

Alternative narratives on Black Twitter are important to marginalized groups in mainstream media because they provide a space for black people to be able to share their stories, correct biased information, and prevent stereotypes that the black community faces on online media. For example “Meredith Clark, a scholar researching black Twitter, and Kimberly Elise, author of The Bombastic Brilliance of Black Twitter, argue that black Twitter can be a space for jokes, for social viewing of a television series, and as a space where people can voice anger and frustration” (A. Lee). The black community uses this as a way to have power over the misinformation that is spread by racial stereotypes. Black Twitter uses # to generate the message to the black community to bring awareness. The idea is that users, through the creation of ironic, yet cutting-edge hashtags, create a space to address social issues of racial bias and discrimination. Another example is “the black Twitter hashtag #APHeadlines is a great example of textual poaching as resistance. This hashtag was created in response to the Associated Press tweet about the conviction of the Detroit man who shot Renisha McBride. McBride was a young woman of color who was looking for help after a car accident”(A. Lee). Bring awareness to the injustice that Renisha Mcbibe's family is facing, this can help start movements to fight for unfair treatment.

Lee, L. A. (2017, March 5). Black twitter: A response to bias in mainstream media. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/1/26

Vegh, S. (2007). Cyberprotesting globalization: A case of online activism. Governance and Information Technology, 208–212. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/7473.003.0027

Fuchs. Communication Power and the Arab Sping.pdf 

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[jorgielua101]

Week 10 BLOG // POST 8

How can trolling be defined and in what ways does it pose a threat to the online community?

Trolling, in the words of Judith Donath, is a spiteful and purposefully deceptive untruth. According to Donath, the presence of trolls can be dangerous for online communities since it makes people far less willing to trust non-members or put up with individuals who don't follow the rules. Another study that defines trolling is one by Clair Hardaker, in which she looks at almost nine years' worth of posts, two thousand of which contain some variation of the term "troll" (Phillips). However, she considers the troll's point of view when she defines a troll as someone "whose real intentions are to cause disruption and/or to trigger or exacerbate conflict for their own amusement." This knowledge that trolling often consists of "malicious and deliberately destructive lies intended to prevent trust and create divisiveness within online communities." Trolling can determine people from using online communities, preventing them from interacting with others, which is something that some people require.

How does online trolling impact digital spaces for women of color?

When dealing with online trolling, women of color are often not taken seriously in digital spaces. This can create more discrimination towards women of color. For example, Leslie Jones experienced horrific online abuse from trolls. One instance involved her website being hacked, where the hacker exposed her private photos, passport, driver’s license, and more. This is not the first time Jones has been the target of online trolls, the fact that this keeps happening to her proves that digital spaces do not care about how she is being treated. After the all-female Ghostbusters movie trailer came out, her Twitter account was inundated with racist and sexist hate speech. Even commenter Milo Yiannopoulos made this online harassment campaign spread even more by giving a negative review on Jones stating “ “flat-as-a-pancake black stylings" (Silman). This made his followers and other members of the alt-right community began to troll Jones with sexist and racist comments and hateful memes. Milo was even spreading fake tweets pretending to be from Jones. Jones spreads her concerns on Twitter about how they need to improve their harassment policies. Jones had to repost these hateful tweets to get attention from Twitter to do something about these fake tweets. Twitter needs to have a distinction between “hate speech and freedom of speech”. We have to protect women of color from getting harassed on the internet. If you see it report it. 

What demographic groups are most impacted by online harassment, and what specific types of harassment do they experience?

According to Pew research, there are about six different types of online harassment, about 73% of adult internet users have seen someone be harassed in some way online and 40% have personal experience. When it comes to which demographic groups that experience online harassment, young adults and women have been affected by six elements of online. Between the ages of 18-29, 65% of young internet users have been the target of at least one of the six elements of harassment that were queried in the survey. Young women between the ages of 18-24 experience certain serve types of harassment. 26% of these young women have been stalked online, and 25% were targets of online sexual harassment (Cheng). Women tend to have high levels of harassment compared to men who get harassed by name-calling on video games.  How do individuals who are more active on the internet experience higher rates of online harassment? 

People who use the internet in their daily lives experience higher rates of online harassment. If you have information available online, such as influencers or regular users who promote themselves for their jobs, this can include platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn. Additionally, individuals working in the digital technology industry, including companies like AI firms, Google, Microsoft, and others, are also affected. Approximately 66% of internet users who have experienced online harassment reported that their most recent incident occurred on a social networking site or app (Cheng). If you use the internet, you may be among that percentage of people who face high levels of online harassment.

Work Cited

Cheng, J., Bernstein, M., Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, C., & Leskovec, J. (2017). Anyone can become a troll: Causes of trolling behavior in online discussions. CSCW : proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5791909/

Silman, A. (2016, August 24). A timeline of Leslie Jones’s horrific online abuse. The Cut. https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/a-timeline-of-leslie-joness-horrific-online-abuse.html

Phillips, W. (2015) The Origins of Trolling.

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[jorgielua101]

Week 8 BLOG // POST 7

The first avatar that I want to talk about is my day-to-day bememoji. I made this one for my friends and family because it is something goofy and silly, like my personality. The hoodies make the avatar more casual-looking. My thought process when making this was to make it as casual as possible. I was interested in discussing my sex and race by making my character male-looking and making the skin tone as close to mine. I think my sex being a male makes me lean closer to choosing male avatars. Gender roles play a major factor in my decision to choose an avatar I would want to send to my friends and family. The username I would have for this is @jorgielua, which is my nickname that my family and friends know by. 

2. The second avatar I would want for my gaming persona is to have a fictional character look in the gaming world. I made this avatar blue on purpose to not have my race included in video games. Making my character blue makes me feel safer when it comes to being in cyberspaces online due to racism being treated as a joke when it comes to video games. I made my avatar gender neutral on purpose to not have gender playing a major factor when playing video games. When I play video games I want to feel that I am in a fun and safe place. I put a beanie on my avatar to make it look more fun and animated as well as using the piercing to make the character look more cool. The username I would have for this is @blueis2cool, this username relates to my character because the avatar is blue, also keeping it as gender-neutral as possible. Not claiming any pronouns in my username helps with that. As a kid playing video games, was an escape from who identify as when it came to gender, race, and sexuality. It brings a sense of having the freedom to have fun and escape the stereotypes and exceptions we face in the real world when it comes to these topics. 

3. The third avatar I made was for my online dating. My username is Jorge Lua. I would want my username to be the real me. If I was trying to find love online I would want people to know the real me. My thought process when making this avatar clothing was to make it realistic to how I would dress. Which is a streetwear style, I have the oversize crop long sleeve with denim jeans that are trendy with the Nike dunks. The Nike dunks are stylish shoes I like to wear. I made the hair accurate to my blond hair color and I added earrings as well. I made it obvious I was male. I wanted to highlight my sex, gender, and race to show the person I am dating that I identify as a male. Overall I am comfortable with myself to show people the real me when it comes to forming a connection with someone online. 

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[jorgielua101]

WEEK 7// Blog Post 10/10

In what ways does white supremacy online impact people in real life?

White supremacy online impacts people in the world because it brings harm to minorities. White supremacy online leads to violence, harassment, intimidation, and racial terror. White supremacists spread discrimination from the virtual world to damage the real. An example was in August 1999 Buford Furrow armed himself walked into a Jewish daycare center in Los Angeles and opened fire, wounding five people, including three small children. Furrow told authorities that the shooting was “a wake-up call to America to kill Jews.” He reportedly drew some of his inspiration for this attack from white supremacist websites. White supremacy online leads to harm in real life causing real threats and attacks to people in marginalized groups. 

How can white supremacy online be harmful to young people and children? 

White supremacy online exposes children to violence. Even the overall meaning of what it is informs children that a group of people wants to cause harm to minorities. An example is when a sixth-grader reporting on - Martin Luther King Jr. to a disaffected, potentially violent skinhead—can find white supremacy online (White, D.). This can impact children or young people to either spread white supremacy or educate themselves on it. Even at a young age this type of violence can be a lot for a child to understand actually. Having access to the internet at a young age can be harmful but also can help people be informed of the danger of the internet when it comes to online discrimination. 

How does race work as a tool in technology?

Race can be a tool for both oppression and empowerment. Race is a type of technology. One designed to separate, stratify, and sanctify the many forms of injustice experienced by members of racialized groups but one that people routinely reimage and redeploy to their ends (Benjamin, R. 2020). This can be algorithms being built and made to spread knowledge on racism or hatred towards racism. This ties in with not having enough representation in tech development spaces to have accurate information being spread about marginalized groups. Having different races when building these online websites, software, and algorithms is highly important when it comes to shaping accurate perspectives on racial discrimination. 

How does the algorithm play a part in constructing race online? 

Algorithms play a major factor in shaping the perception of race online by deciding what people can see and interact with. Algorithms can do this when we search and use social media to analyze our behavior and know our preferences. When these systems know our preferences they may only show us content based on these existing patterns. For example, a white supremacist can create an algorithm to misidentify minorities in photos or ads based on racial assumptions. Overall these algorithms can spread hateful content and racist movements in society. It is important to understand that algorithms are biased.

Sources:

Benjamin, R. (2020). Race after technology abolitionist tools for the new Jim code. Polity.

White, D. White Supremacy in the Digital Era.

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[jorgielua101]

Week 6 / 10/3 / Block #5

How does ethnicity and language impact cyberspaces?

Ethnicity and language can impact cyberspaces by providing proper cultural expression towards people's identities and culture. For example, a study of “Hawaiian language students at the University of Hawaii, showed the connection between the Hawaiian language and students' sense of identity as Hawaiians. He also examines language revitalization efforts that use the Internet” (Kolko,2000). The internet is being used to help Hawaiians restore the Hawaiian language. The power of language can impact many communities in the world by helping build online communities and online communication.

How do cyberspaces construct stereotypes towards the black community? 

Cyberspaces construct stereotypes within the black community because these digital spaces do not acknowledge race so much in cyberspaces. These stereotypes that are being built are not being addressed properly causing algorithms and video games to continue to spread false information about the black community. For example Lanita Jacobs-Huey's essay "...BTW, How do YOU Wear Your Hair? Identity, Knowledge and Authority in an Electronic Speech Community"  talks about how when racial identity is being presented in cyberspaces it is hard to have proper accurate discussion due to not having visual or audio to understand the tone and physically appearance of someone's true identity.

Can race online manage to create unmistakably racialized spaces? 

Yes, having an online community can bring communities together to share their experience within culture and race. Using social media and online spaces can help reconstruct racial issues, highlight awareness, and provide activism for racial justice issues. Although online racialize spaces help spread equality to certain groups. When it comes to video games language plays a major factor such as cyber English. This means that language is used online to distract people's real and cultural identities. This can be harmful causing the online community to ignore racial inequality in online cyberspaces. 

What role does online retail play a role in discrimination towards minorities? 

Online retail plays a major role when it comes to discrimination towards minorities by developing algorithms that mainly focus on certain products that don’t show representation for all people. An “online retail in 2010, conducted a study where they sold iPods on Craigslist using different skin tones” (Nakamura).  Based on the reviews the study concluded that people with lighter skin tones have better marketing than darker skin tones. This shows us that discrimination is built to limit people from consuming items and creating stereotypes within the online retail space. 

Kolko, B. E., Nakamura, L., & Rodman, G. B. (2000). Race in cyberspace. Routledge.

TEDxUIllinois - Dr. Lisa Nakamura - 5 Types of Online Racism and Why You Should Care. (n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT-G0FlOo7g

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0 notes

[jorgielua101]

Blog Post Week 4: Due 9/19

How do algorithms perpetuate existing biases in society?

Algorithms perpetuate existing biases in society due to a system that his made with biases from humans. Biases within the algorithm is a deep-rooted issue of discrimination towards gender, race, sexuality, and class. This can also cause stereotypes within minorities. For example, an algorithm is made when people are applying for jobs. People with white-sounding names receive 50 percent more callbacks from employers rather than black-sounding names. Some computer scientists from Princeton examine a popopular algorithm, trained on human writing online, to see if it would exhibit the same biased tendencies that psychologists have documented among humans. The results came back that algorithms associated with white-sounding names were more pleasant words rather than black-sounding names. 

How does the "new Jim Code" create racial biases in technology, especially regarding names? What are the wider effects of these biases on society?

The new Jim Code creates this new version of discrimination systems within technology. These modern technologies and systems unintentionally and intentionally reinforce racial discrimination, which highlights how algorithms and data can cause biases against marginalized groups. This can impact law enforcement systems. For example, in a recent audit of the California gang database not only did blacks and Latinxs constitute 87 percent of those listed but many of the names turned out to be babies under the age of one, some who were supposedly “self-described gang members”. This database associates names with gang member names that are in the system causing a false algorithm that discriminates against people of color. 

How does intersectionality shape how people experience discrimination?

Intersectionality has a major impact on people's experience with discrimination creating multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage that sometimes compound themselves and they create obstacles that often are not understood within conventional ways of thinking about anti-racism or feminism or whatever social justice advocacy structures we have.  Not understanding certain problems when it comes to social justice issues is not understanding intersectionality. Mainly people fail to understand the overlapping of discrimination when it comes to race, sex, and sexuality. For example, Crenshaw states that African American girls are 6 times more likely to get suspended than white girls. The intersectionality in this is that race and gender are overlapping each other. This type of discrimination creates a lack of visibility and support for marginalized groups. 

Does intersectionality impact experiences of discrimination in a work environment?

People face intersectionality in work environments due to discrimination being shown within race, gender, and class. More especially women of color face an overlap of discrimination due to being black and women already having a disadvantage in society. For example, Emma D faced gender-race discrimination, this is double discrimination. She claims her work environment does not acknowledge double discrimination due to not understanding the intersectional approach and how it impacts policies and discrimination.

Benjamin, R. (2019). Race After Technology.

Crenshaw, K. (2016). The urgency of intersectionality | Kimberlé Crenshaw | TED. Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o&t=3s

[jorgielua101]

BLOG 3 9/12

How does cyberfeminism address the needs and perspective of women of color?

Cyberfeminism addresses the needs and perspectives of women of color by allowing women to have a platform to spread the message without being harassed or silenced. This ingenious use of technology is a new expression of feminist practice called cyberfeminism(Daniels, 2004). An example where technologies brought awareness to race, gender, and embodiment in the digital era is when a website was created called HollabackNYC. This website was created to expose men harassing women and encourages women to catch harassers by snapping a photo of the act and posting it on the website to bring awareness. This form of cyberfeminism can start a movement towards gender equality. By promoting diverse voices in tech and digital media. Which challenges marginalization and stereotypes. Cyberbullying helps people from all movements come together to address both social economic and cultural to help spread amounts different feminist groups that address certain issues women of color face. In the text, it states that Saskia Sassen’s work addresses the embeddedness of the digital world and talks about the ways that digital technologies “enable women to engage in new forms of contestation and proactive endeavors in multiple different realms, from political to economic” (Daniels, 2009) Cyberfeminism is a movement that will continue to skyrocket.

How does data driven algorithm impact healthcare inequality?

Data-driven algorithms impact healthcare inequality because people of color do not have the same access to higher treatment of healthcare than people who are white and wealthy. People of color have fewer doctor visitations, rather than white people. In the video Race and Technology Professor Nicole Brown states that white people spend about 1800 dollars more on healthcare. This group of people will have a major impact on Healthcare systems deploying algorithms for efficient data-driven decision-making when it comes to making healthcare analysis. This leaves people of color out of the data. People of color already don't get treated equally the same as white people, especially black women. The data is driven is made to prevent people of color from having equal treatment and not taken seriously. The algorithm consistently deemed white people to be more ill and therefore recommended more healthcare.

Does algorithms on social media perpetuates anti-black racism? 

Yes, algorithms on social media perpetuate anti-black racism by programmers inputting their own bias when these algorithms are being created. These biases can be discriminatory towards the black community and people of color. A study in 2020, in "Data&Scoiety" explored how algorithmic biases reinforce racial stereotypes and inequalities (Chung, 2009). An example can be when people who have a darker complexion have trouble using facial recognition systems. This software shows underlying biases in the data and algorithm that is being designed.

How does the use of facial recognition technology affect public government institutions amount racial and ethnic minorities?

Facial recognition technology can be something cool to access and easier to use within iPhones or any unlocking technology that uses facial recognition. Although facial recognition can be beneficial it is very harmful for people of color. For example, some innocent men were falsely accused of a crime due to the cops using facial recognition software that was not 100% developed. A detective in the Woodbridge Police Department sent the photo from the fake driver’s license to state agencies that had access to face recognition technology, according to a police report (Hill, 2020). It turns out that he was the third person known to be falsely arrested based on bad facial recognition. This form of investigating is targeting the black community specifically. It brings social inequality to society by accusing these innocent people of a crime. Some evidence is that in 2019, a national study of over 100 facial recognition algorithms found that they did not work as well on Black and Asian faces. This on going problem, another example of technology discriminating against people of color is when two other Black men — Robert Williams and Michael Oliver, who both live in the Detroit area were also arrested for crimes they did not commit based on bad facial recognition matches (Hill, 2020). All these examples show how facial recognition affects public institutions like police departments when looking for evidence. Having these resources that are not accurate can not only damage someone's life but also put a certain group of people in a box of criminals when they are truly not. 

Racism in, racism out. Public Citizen. (2022, January 3). https://www.citizen.org/article/algorithmic-racism/

Daniels, Jessie. 2009. Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender, and Embodiment. The Feminist Press

Brown, N. (n.d.). Race and Technology. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8uiAjigKy8&ab_channel=NicoleBrown

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

[jorgielua101]

How can critical theory inform our understanding of power, the way power is exercised and challenged within social media platforms?

Critical theory can inform our understanding of power because it explores in depth that it is possible for humans to live in a world where domination and exploitation isn't preventing people from being able to be successful in society. When identifying the political world views shape peoples thoughts and theories  For example philosopher Marx therefore identifies the “task of philosophy to unmask human self-alienation” (Marx 1997, 251). In deconstructing alienation, domination and exploitation, critical theory also makes demands for a self-determined, participatory and just democracy. Although critical theory can help demolish domination and exploitation in society. Social media plays a big part of pushing power to the wrong people. For example is that Facebook Inc. is a company controlled by private shareholders who own the Facebook platform. Facebook’s users create data whenever they are online that refers to their profiles and online behavior . This data is sold to Facebook’s advertising clients who are enabled to present targeted advertisements on users’ profiles. Without Facebook users, there would be no profit. So, one can say that users create the monetary value and profit of Facebook. But they do not own this profit, which is rather controlled by Facebook’s shareholders. So, also, Facebook users are getting exploited (Fuchs 2014). The people making this app are manipulating users by taking advantage of their power to become more rich. 

Can social media help spread the ideas of critical theory of democracy globally?

Social media can be an amazing platform to help bring awareness to certain social movements in the world. In 2011, was the year of various occupy movements emerged in North America, France, Spain, and other countries. They were asked about the Occupy use of social media and survey came back that they allow them to reach a broad public and to protect themselves from the police. Even people against this movement stated that as much as they wanted to the occupy to stay away from the media it reached a lot of people on facebook. This advantage can bring awareness within social inequality. Although social media can have some identified risk. Respondent states that facebook is exploitative and controls the output of facebook post, the frequency they are seen by other people claiming it is bad for society (Fuchs 2017). Although, this can be true, you cant stop people from controlling society because the rich and the political parties control how society is all about power. 

Fuchs, Christian. 2014. Social Media: A Critical Introduction. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

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[jorgielua101]

8/30 by 8pm

A time when technology did not live up to its promises was when the iPhone IOS update happened with the feature of unsending messages and editing messages. The unsending messages feature only works for a couple of seconds and with editing messages, the same as well. This feature was falsely promised to people. When this feature came out apple did not clarify how long this feature would last as well as not letting people use this feature due to not having the updated IOS feature. I am a person who uses this feature heavily because I am very active within group chats, so at times I do send a text message to the wrong chat. Not being able to unsend after a minute is pretty disappointing. What I do like is that I can edit the text event after a couple of seconds are done to unsend. Still being able to edit has a time limit. There was this one time, I updated my phone, with the new unsending feature, and I was texting two group chats at the time.

One being my work and one being with my friends. I sent a message talking about how my boss scheduled me and I was mad about it. I accidentally sent it to my work group chat instead of my friend group chat. Then, I remembered.  I could unsend it and when I did. It only worked for a few people but all my coworkers were screenshotting and sending it to me because some people did not have the updated feature. I was so embarrassed. Now, when it comes to any IOS update, my expectations are very low. When I was younger and the new iPhones would come out or new features it used to get me excited. Now I just feel like every update is a false advertisement and not worth the excitement.