Eyebeam Residency (2014 – 2015)
NEW TOPICS IN SOCIAL COMPUTING, Panel Series
From 2014 to 2015, Joanne McNeil organized a discussion series of women-led panels exploring the power and politics of social technology.
Participants included Sarah Jaffe, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Sabrina Majeed, Erin Kissane, Sydette Harry, Melissa Grant, Sava Sahelia Singh, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Dr. Karen Gregory, and Kate Crawford.
New Topics in Social Computing: Online Abuser Dynamics (November 20th, 2014)
In this discussion, the panel reviewed the dynamics and patterns of online abuse on social networks. How does a minor scuffle so quickly become an avalanche of online harassment? Why are women, people of color, and the queer and trans community disproportionately targeted? What are steps we can take to build safe spaces on the internet? A killfile or block button is no longer a sufficient tool to prevent abuse and the common advice “don’t feed the troll” ignores the contemporary climate of online abuse. We will discuss tactics to minimize online abuse and the potential for structural change.
New Topics in Social Computing: Consent and the Network (January 7th, 2015)
This discussion considered what it means to consent to share data online and to what extent digital literacy ascribes responsibility. In an essay for Model View Culture, Betsy Haibel considers online permissions through the lens of what anti-rape activists call “enthusiastic consent.” The hidden “opt-out” boxes, deceptive links, and hard-to-find unsubscribe buttons assert developers know better than users “what their boundaries are.” Often a user is given an implicit deal, for example, the tradeoff of surrendering personal data in exchange for free services. Topics discussed under the misleading rubric “revenge porn,” spanning privacy, first amendment rights, extortion law, sex, and surveillance, likewise begin with the absence of consent. Consequently, users may be blamed for a breach of their personal privacy. The women targeted in the celebrity photo hack scandal last August were criticized for taking nude photos in the first place, although Apple failed to secure iCloud from “brute force” programs and online publishers posted these photos without their consent. This discussion considered user consent as a guiding principle of internet freedom.
Panelists: Sarah Jeong, Karen Levy, Alice Marwick
New Topics in Social Computing: Resistance Under Surveillance (May 13, 2015)
New Topics in Social Computing: Free Expression and Online Anonymity
In this discussion, panelists considered how anonymity had shaped our experiences with the internet. It was once a defining characteristic of life online. Until the rise of social media, internet users rarely identified themselves with pictures or real names. The early years of the internet were a singular opportunity to exchange ideas freely without our personal history influencing other people’s expectations of our skills or intellect. The freedom of expression that online anonymity offers can create a safe space for young people to explore their sexuality or complicate other parts of their identity. But more recently, it has enabled hostile comments on Twitter and other social networks. Spaces like Reddit that sometimes resemble Usenet and chat rooms from years ago also host hateful and unseemly comments . Meanwhile the app Whisper, which promotes itself as an anonymous forum, has come under scrutiny for egregious privacy violations. Some technology commentators are calling for an end to anonymity to curb online bullying. What do we lose as our ability to be truly anonymous online recedes?
Panelists: Seda Gurses, Katherine Cross, Sandra Ordonez
New Topics in Social Computing: Emotional labor and affective computing
This discussion considered topics related to what
MIT professor
Rosalind Picard calls “affective computing,” emotion recognition in artificial intelligence, and the use of technology to simulate empathy or respond to mood. Sensors in automobiles might respond to a stressed-out driver with softer light or upbeat music. Commercial surveillance applications increasingly measure facial movements to profile the reactions of customers. Meanwhile, data is collected on social networks for engineering relationships. A team of social media researchers recently proposed an “early breakup warning system” for Twitter that is possible with just public availably data. Affective computing automates the vastly undervalued and often gendered work known as “emotional labor.” A nanny, waitress, community manager, journalist, administrator assistant, or counselor is subject to the fallacious conflation of “doing what she loves” and labor, and therefore often underpaid for her services. Attempts to automate care work could reveal the complexity and difficulty of professions that demand social intelligence, expressive emotion, and creativity.
New Topics in Social Computing: Data and Education (July 1st, 2015)
In this discussion, panelists considered how younger generations are growing up with data collection normalized and with increasingly limited opportunities to opt-out. Issues of surveillance, privacy, and consent have particular implications in the context of school systems. As education and technology writer Audrey Watters explains, “many journalists, politicians, entrepreneurs, government officials, researchers, and others … argue that through mining and modeling, we can enhance student learning and predict student success.” Administrators, even working with the best intentions, might exaggerate systemic biases or create other unintended consequences through use of new technologies. The panelists considered within their discussion the new structural obstacles involving metrics like learning analytics, the labor politics of data, and issues of data privacy and ownership.
Panelists: Sava Saheli Singh, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Dr. Karen Gregory
You can read more about the panels, written by Joanne McNeil on medium.
