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@assignmentfour
critical reflection references:
Pariser, E 2012, The filter bubble : what the Internet is hiding from you, Viking, London.
Solove, DJ 2006, Digital person : technology and privacy in the information age, New York University Press, New York.
Zuboff, S 2015, ‘Big other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization’, Journal of Information Technology, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 75–89.
Critical Reflection
For my third assignment for Disrupting Social Media I wanted to explore the impact of filter bubbles and surveillance capitalism on the way that users of social media receive and interact with content online. The intent behind exploring this impact is to shed light on the way that major platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram harvest users' data to feed them targeted advertising and media content, and how that can affect users' mental health, opinions, choices and even their future. While pontificating the best way to challenge the Twitter algorithm and get users to think about the media they share and consume online, I was reminded of the rhetoric of Shoshana Zuboff, who in 2015 wrote about Google's success in targeted advertising through data collection "As Google’s capabilities in this arena developed and attracted historic levels of profit, it produced successively ambitious practices that expand the data lens from past virtual behavior to current and future actual behavior. New monetization opportunities are thus associated with a new global architecture of data capture and analysis that produces rewards and punishments aimed at modifying and commoditizing behavior for profit." In her research article Zuboff outlines the strange and slightly unnerving process wherein advertisers bid for the chance to advertise to us, the winner is the party that will have the most to learn through their advertisement about a certain target audience, and so add to the massive data base of knowledge about consumer groups. I wanted to crack open the normal process of the algorithm, and create varied content that would hopefully break into users filter bubbles ultimately created by surveillance capitalism.
Through working on the Anti Algorithm Alliance I realised the true depth to which users' filter bubbles can affect their lives. In 2020, most humans with access to a device with internet are on some sort of social media, and most humans in Australia are using at least one Google product, wherein signing away access to all of their search history. This search history affects what advertisements or news articles we see, causing our view of the world or our community to be warped or "tailor-made" the allure of which we're always being sold. This warped view ultimately affects our day-to-day life in small ways we couldn't have even anticipated. Seeing a recipe on your Facebook timeline for a special glazed roast chicken may mean that by the time you make it to the store to buy ingredients for it, the chickens are all sold out – by other customers planning on making the same thing. We've all heard about the tampering of the American election. Ad placement is important, and we've known this forever, but somehow we as users never quite realised how powerful targeted advertising can be until we're getting ads for products a friend mentioned at dinner the night before. Targeted advertising and filter bubbles mean that all the hard work is taken out of searching for what you like or don't like. It's all content tailored just for you... which also means that users are less likely to search for things they haven't heard of. After all, how can you do a Google search for something you don't know if you don't know that you don't know it? "The filter bubble doesn’t just reflect your identity. It also illustrates what choices you have. Students who go to Ivy league colleges see targeted advertisements for jobs that students at state schools are never even aware of..... By illustrating some possibilities and blocking out others, the filter bubble has a hand in your decisions, and in turn, shapes who we become." (Pariser 2012)
I believe having this new understanding of how filter bubbles and surveillance capitalism affect users' life decisions on a deeper level will be crucial to my development of conceptual digital and physical art in the future.
I think that choice and equality are two of the most important things in society. My work, whatever form it takes will always be influenced by current events and my own personal mission to create less waste and harm to others. These two goals I believe are in line with trying to create choice and equality in my community. Disrupting Social Media and Everyday Machines of Productivity and Efficiency have both been instrumental in my way of thinking about my consumption and production of content both online and off and I know that the rhetoric discussed in class with my teachers and classmates will stay with me for a long time.
"We are more than the bits of data we give off as we go about our lives” (Solove 2006)
Iteration
While working on assignment 3 and 4, my project went through many iterations, information about which went mainly undocumented here - but was constantly in conversation within my head. In my earlier post ”Bots Bots Bots” I outline my near-final idea, but not any history on the project beforehand... I aim to remedy that here.
Before assignment 3 was The Anti Algorithm Alliance, it was the Anti_Bubble_Bot. A twitter bot designed to repost topical and controversial content from trending hashtags into conflicting or opposing hashtags in order to break Twitter users’ filter bubbles. The bot would facilitate learning and debate amongst separate communities and hopefully stimulate growth and openness on Twitter. After coming to the realisation that I did not have the spoons to do the coding required to bring this idea to life, Ben and I had a discussion outlining different paths I could take and I started down the path of content creation, rather than content manipulation. Once I had the new direction, the idea evolved and changed naturally, adjusting to the problems that I faced. Becoming the content creator meant that I had a lot more control over how my content was made and displayed, rather than worrying about how to actually get it to work.... in saying that it didn’t give me the foresight to remember that Twitter had a character limit, so the project was quite literally still iterating until the week before due date. Leading up to the final iteration of 7 distinct family members, I pondered the idea of The Anti Algorithm Alliance taking the form of 7 separate twitter accounts, all being retweeted and contrasted with each other on one ‘main’ Anti Algorithm Alliance twitter account. This idea still sounds interesting but it entails the creation of a large number of separate email and twitter accounts. The human hours as well as extra emissions created while creating so many accounts and maintaining them all separately was enough to drive me away from this idea, but there was more. This also introduces a level of inequality to the posts and opinions shared by the ‘main’ account as each separate member may receive different preferential treatment by the Twitter algorithm as well as having different followers - completely invalidating the idea of the project.
After coming to all these realisations it was clear the project must continue with one ‘main’ twitter account, posting rhetoric from and about each of the 7 characters within the same account. Posting from one ‘main’ Anti Algorithm Alliance account also meant that each character was viewed as part of a whole, meaning that the obvious absurd stereotypes portrayed by each character were seen as more believable, rather than a ridiculous generalisation.
n.b.
One thing that I wish I’d spent more time on in this final iteration - would be the graphic design element of my twitter account and how everything fitted together. It would be beneficial for me to spend more time familiarising myself with techniques to make much more polished and professional content for Twitter... while still staying true to my own visual aesthetic preferences.
On Pedophilia:
On Bisexuality:
On Tinder Bios:
On Manifestation
On Men’s rights activists:
On euthanasia:
On seeing colour:
#mood
PEDOPHILIA
War Hero Pops and Private School Boy are discussing Pedophilia and the treatment of self confessed pedophiles. PSB: It’s disgusting though! What if they can’t help themselves? We shouldn’t all be at risk just so they get to go to the supermarket. WHP: So they should be thrown in gaol? For what crime? PSB: Well... just because they haven’t done anything doesn’t mean they won’t!! WHP: But I could say the same of you my boy! You haven’t committed a crime yet - but maybe you will, should you be locked up just in case? PSB: No but.... it’s not the same! WHP: I think you’ll find it is my boy... There are many men and women living with this affliction, some of them choose to hurt others, but many of them police themselves, knowing their desires can tear families apart. I think they deserve a chance at life, don’t you?
BISEXUALITY
It really excites me that Young One has the freedom to express their opinion and dress however they like... but some of their rhetoric has been bothering me. They posted a status the other day claiming that “Bisexuality is the ability to reach down someone’s pants and be satisfied with whatever you find.” Which apart from just making me feel super uncomfortable... centres sexuality around someone’s genitals, which is super harmful! I don’t know how to talk to them about it... I’m super excited they feel like they can be open about their sexuality but also I don’t want them perpetrating such harmful rhetoric.
TINDER BIO
Nice Guy and Vegan Leftie are in the back of the car on their way to a family gathering, they’re comparing Tinder profiles.
NG: “show us yours then if it’s so good?” VL: “I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN HAHAHAHA” NG: “What is it?” VL: “ ‘Nice Guy’ Really?” NG: “Theres so many assholes these days....” VL: “Yeah and they all have “asshole” on their bio obviously... NG: “Well I am a nice guy, at least I’m honest - half these birds just want the attention and then they just ignore you! VL: “Just so you know, I’ve never met a decent man with “Nice Guy” on their bio”
MANIFESTATION
Art Mum and Young Messiah are sitting on the couch, Young Messiah is stressed about finding a job.
AM: “Just focus on what you want and manifest it! I know you’re good at it... remember that time you manifested the parking spot right outside Bayleaf Cafe?” YM: “ But that’s different mum... I can’t just manifest a whole ass job!” AM: “Not with that attitude! Jodi Spencer’s son manifested his dream job when he was on a road trip - I know you can do it too!” YM: “Was it really manifestation mum? Or are we just white and privileged?”
MRA
Young Messiah is mad because Nice Guy blew up their Facebook post raising money for women’s shelters by spamming “not all men” YM: Why did you have to do that? NG: Because men’s rights are important too! YM: Then why do you only bring it up when I post about women’s rights? NG: I don’t! YM: You do.... Did you know that Google searches for the phrase “International men’s day” more than triple on International women’s day?
Euthanasia
On the way home from school for the weekend, Private School Boy and Art Mum get into a discussion about Euthanasia and the right to take one’s own life... PSB: “I just really don’t see an issue with it, if an old fart wants to off himself what do I care! It’s better than him living in pain all the time the way I see it.”
AM: “And I agree... but it’s not as simple as that.”
PSB: “Who says it isn’t?”
AM: “It’s so much more complicated than that... sometimes Euthanasia can look like someone’s only option, but it’s not.”
PSB: “Well if they’re suffering it might be!”
AM: “Yes, but if we think about it this way.... Your wealth and status affect your access to healthcare right? Imagine two women, pretty much identical except one was born into wealth, and the other is working class. The wealthy woman lives near the city, and has easy access to doctors, medicine and practitioners, while the working class woman lives in a rural town. When they both fall ill to cancer, already it’s clear who will receive better treatment. The Wealthy woman finds it easy to make time after work to see her doctor, and the working class woman has to travel over two hours to the closest specialist.... Can you see how as the working woman gets more and more ill, and has to see her doctor more and more often, why she might choose Euthanasia? Where the wealthy woman would just continue to see her doctor, because to her it’s not a question of more money and time, it just makes sense. “
PSB: “I guess so... I still think it should be legal though.”