Matt's Blog

WGST 320

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 13 (Due 11/18)

1. If I had the opportunity to create a digital platform, it would be something similar to Reddit, but at a much smaller scale that only focuses on the game Call of Duty. This platform would allow those who play the game and chose to use it to communicate with other players/users to bring attention to the creators with things that aren’t ethical in the game. This platform would mainly focus on mentioning or bringing attention to weapons that happen to be far more superior than other weapons, but it can also delve into fine tuning of a certain map or game mode. The main focus of the platform would be to make the game fun, enjoyable, and fair, while not having certain aspects such as an overpowered gun take over while other weapons, modes, etc. sit in the shadows.

2. First and most importantly, this platform would measure the user’s age, because the game is rated M we must make sure everyone is of age. After that comes past/present COD’s played and favorite COD. Because this platform is mainly used to make the game as ethical as possible, many other factors are not measured.

3. The highest weighted measure would have to come down to age because the game is rated M, we must make sure everyone on the platform is of age. After would have to be favorite COD and then past/present COD’s played Knowing what their favorite Call of Duty is can give insight as to how that previous game played out and whether the developers were ethical in the balancing to make sure every gun, map, mode was fair for all players.

4. The user’s sex will not be measured because of the fact that Call of Duty is a fairly male dominated game. If the users on the platform were to find out a woman were to speak their opinion on a matter within the game, they would not take the opinion as serious. The goal of the platform is to make sure everyones on the same page, not opposed to one another.

5. The model will learn/adapt to new information regularly depending on what players believe and post is the next thing that needs fixing/tuning. It will also depend on the timing of when the creators of the game decide to fix what the users believe is the next thing that needs fixing, so it basically works like a chain reaction. Because the developers are the only ones that have the power to actually fix the game, as users, we can only voice our opinion and hope they listen and respond.

6. Because the goal of this platform is to better and help the game and the developers, most likely there will be no bias as long as everyone is on the same page. There will be times where trolls may be present but other than that, the platform will be kept simple where weapons, maps, modes are all voted on with each individual being able to give a description or video clip of what’s wrong. You’d either be able to vote for or against what is brought to attention, and if votes are majority unanimous with a few going against it, moderators will look into the reasoning as well as the user’s background within the platform. If it seems as the user is a troll, they’ll be banned which even prevents them from recreating another account since the platform is linked to their online accounts for the actual game.

7. This app will outlive unethical practices by placing a freeze or even possibly the deletion of an account if moderators find that the user is no longer active on the platform, or even if they’ve given up playing the game which would be tracked through the platform. Upon freeze or deletion of an account, information would be held unless the user manually deletes their account rather than having the moderators do out of inactivity. Information is held for the platform’s purpose of allowing the user to reactivate their account if they chose to do so. Otherwise if the user deletes their account on their own, all info would be wiped clean.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 12 (Due 11/11)

Q: Do you think the Patriot Act is fair? If, so explain why or why not.

I believe the Patriot Act is far from fair. For instance, the investigators are able to search for their own judges rather than being given one. By allowing them to search for their own judges allows for the use of bias which can lead to problems for those that are being investigated. Not only that, like the article mentions, the Patriot Act holds low standards. It allows everything to be tapped into which should not be allowed.

Q: As a minority living in the U.S. after 2001, how would their mindsets on America have changed?

With America being known as ‘Land of the Free’, many minorities saw themselves lacking the freedom they thought they’d have upon living in America. In the article, it mentions after 2002, immigrants were required to have their fingerprints scanned as well as photos to go along with them. To add on, SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) had constant and updated information regarding foreign exchange students. If one of the students were to fail, drop out, or have any suspicious activity, the INS would be notified and they’d analyze each situation to determine whether there would be any chance of risks. This was all done to keep an eye on supposed ‘terrorists’. By doing this, all immigrants have their ‘freedom’ thrown out the window.

Q: Were Madison and Wallschlaeger doing anything that made their arrests equitable?

No, the two did absolutely nothing wrong that allowed for their room to be busted into resulting in their arrests. They were simply giving live updates to the protest that was taking place on the outskirts of Pennsylvania. As Madison described it, their actions were perfectly legal and the raid/arrests were an act to stifle dissent. What makes this wrong is that the things Madison and Wallschlaeger were doing is done on a daily basis. Giving live updates whether it’s on a developing story, or something that made headline news is all the same thing, yet these two were arrested for their doing. Not only that, what comes out of arresting the two? Will the updates stop coming in? The answer is no.

Q: Is the Federal Anti-Riot Statute effective and should it still be a thing?

I believe the Federal Anti-Riot Statute is not effective and therefore, should no longer be a thing. As stated in the article, “the statute is almost never invoked”, it mentions that it was used in the Chicago 7. People arguing against it mention it’s vague and its sole purpose is to suppress protesting activity and free expression. By doing so, this sounds more of an illegal act than something that should be enforced. Whether you’re on one side of America and there’s a protest taking place on the complete opposite side, it shouldn’t be a crime to “engage in interstate travel to ‘organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on in a riot’”. 

Parenti, C. (2003). Fear as Institution: 9/11 and surveillance triumphant, In The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from slavery to the War on Terror. BasicBooks.

Power, M. (2010, March 11). How your twitter account could land you in jail. Mother Jones: Crime and Justice. Retrieved November 11, 2021, fromwww.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/police-twitter-riots-social-media-activists.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 11 (Due 11/4)

Q: If the internet never existed, would gatherings/protests still take place? If so, how would they be organized? (Pg 2, Fuchs)

I believe gatherings/protests would still take place regardless if the internet existed. As mentioned in the article, Castells mentioned that the internet was the main cause that resulted in street protests, and if it weren’t for the internet, then the street protests would have never occurred (Fuchs, 2018). With how technological/reliant our society today has become, I believe even if we were without internet, people would still find ways to protest, whether that’s through mail, flyers, etc. But without internet, I would agree that it would make organizing a lot more difficult. 

Q: How is hacktivism/hacktivists effective and in what ways may this be a bad thing? (Pg 6-8)

Hacktivism is effective in the way that they help certain people/groups out regardless of their stance. As mentioned in the article, these people take control of websites, obtain private information such as emails, passwords, documents, etc. By doing so, these hacktivists withheld private information that prevented those they were up against from doing something they didn’t want. In ways that this is good, it’s equally as bad due to the fact that some of the stuff these hacktivists did were enough to be deemed as a criminal activity. Many of the hacktivist groups that were described within the article obtained passwords and important documents.

Q: By switching the in-person World Bank meetings to a strictly online conference, do you think that’ll have any positive effects for those that attend or will the prior results still play out?

I think the same effects would still play out regardless if they held the conference in-person or fully virtual. Like I stated within the first posed question, with how technological our society has become, I firmly believe it would be no difficult task to disrupt the conference whether it was held online or in-person. I believe if they wanted the best possible chance of having no disruptions or hacktivism activities, it would be best to hold the meeting in the most remote area as mentioned within the article (Vegh, 2013). If its held online, hacktivists would find a way online to do whatever their intention is; similarly, if it was held in person, protesters would be outside surrounding.

Q: With hashtags, do you think false information will always be prevalent or will most posts fall accordingly to the hashtag that was used?

With hashtags, I firmly believe misleading information will always be prevalent within hashtags. Like in class when we were discussing the instagram posts’ of black screens that were posted with #blackouttuesday, people were posting these screens with the wrong intention of its true purpose. With the thousands/millions of posts that were posted with this black screen, the true purpose/meaning of the post/hashtag was ultimately blocked out with all the mislead images. Certainly, instances like these I would say would be the biggest mistake, however, with many other hashtags I would assume there would be a handful of posts with the wrong information under the used hashtag.

Fuchs, C. (2018). Communication Power in the Arab Spring and Occupy Movement . In Social Media: A critical introduction (pp. 83–88). essay, SAGE.

Lee, L. (2017). Black twitter: A response to bias in mainstream media. Social Sciences, 6(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6010026

Vegh, S. (2013). Classifying Forms of Online Activity . In Cyberactivism: Online activism in theory and Practice. essay, Routledge

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 10 (Due 10/28)

Q: What are the two different types of trolls and how are they different?

When it comes to trolls, there are two distinct groups of them. One being horrid and the other being the complete opposite. Looking at the horrible group, those who are associated with this form of trolling go to the brink of where their actions/words are seen as harassment. For example, in the article by Phillips, the aggressive trolls are those who take great pleasure and taunting of friends/family of murdered teenagers (Phillips, 2015). Meanwhile, the other set of trolls don’t go this far, instead, their form of trolling is innocuous such as someone getting rickrolled.

Q: What are some creative ways to combat trolls/trolling?

I think the best way to combat trolls/trolling is to oppose the certain thought they brought to attention. With most trolling done on the internet, the person behind the acts are most likely looking for attention or seeking a reaction out of the person they’re trolling. By replying and going against what they say, most likely they’ll feel they failed or it simply won’t work, making them stop and move on. I think another and more serious way of combatting online trolls is to report them and their accounts to whomever is in charge. There is no better/easier way to get a troll to stop by simply shutting them down. However, I do have to say as easy a way this may sound, it may not always be easy depending on the circumstance. I feel outlets like Twitter, Facebook, etc. are all too big and often overlook certain posts unless it’s big enough to draw their attention.

Q: What do you think the purpose behind the online abuse of Leslie Jones was for? What were those behind this cruel act trying to get at?

As mentioned above with trolls, I felt these people were simply trying to get attention. What makes this case different however, is that it was more than just trolling, those that were behind these shameful posts were in reality, harassers and abusers. When situations get this bad, it exceedingly blows past the topic of trolling, when circumstances like this arise, those behind it need to be prosecuted, not just barred from posting. The posts made about Leslie Jones were made for the purpose of more than just getting a laugh out of, they were racist and they really wanted Jones to suffer. What makes this horrible is that she had no reasoning to get any of the posts about her brought up, she didn’t do anything wrong.

Q: In what ways are Reddit and 4chan similar/different?

Both websites are similar in the way that they’re filled with trolls and that they often lead to many separate blog/forum posts. Like 4chan many of the users are hidden behind a screen name which gives users a sense of anonymity. The main difference between the two is that Reddit seems to be a larger and more broader version of 4chan. In the early stages of 4chan, there were only a few forum pages, as the site expanded a few more pages were added. Unlike Reddit, any topic that comes to mind can be found with thousands of discussions/posts being found under the page.

Bergstrom, K. (2011). “Don’t feed the troll”: Shutting down debate about community expectations on Reddit.com. First Monday. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i8.3498

Phillips, W. (2015). Defining terms: The origins and evolution of subcultural trolling. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, 55–87. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10288.003.0004

Silman, A. (2016). A Timeline of Leslie Jones's Horrific Online Abuse. The Cut. Retrieved October 27, 2021, https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/a-timeline-of-leslie-joness-horrific-online-abuse.html.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post 6 (Week 7 Due 10/7)

Q: In what ways does visibility/invisibility affect Whites and the Minorities? (Pg 110)

When it comes to Whites, according to the article, they’re identified as raceless whereas the members of racial minority groups are the ones that have a race. For Whites, this isn’t necessary an issue, but a problem that Minorities see as well as a privilege for them. From the article, it mentions “by defining themselves as raceless, they deny the advantages their Whiteness brings.” Meanwhile, the visibility for Minorities is seen as a double-edged sword (Senft, 2015). What’s meant behind this is that Minorities are faced with non-interpellation which leads to a desire for a better representation in many forms like books, businesses, media, etc.

Q: Do you think videos like SWGSBG are an exercise in reverse racism? (Pg 117)

I personally don’t think videos such as these should be considered an exercise in reverse racism, just because the topic of racism is so unpleasant, for there to be jokes and humor revolving around it doesn’t sit right. From the article, Shaw mentions how he reads things like “Stuff White People Like”, so that he can feel superior to his prior naive self (Senft, 2015). With regards to Shaw and his way of thinking, I find it in a way acceptable and acknowledgeable. He accepts that he was once naive and finds a way to feel better than what/how he once was.

Q: What is race critical code studies and what does it cover? (Pg 81/83)

Race critical code studies is the studying, analyzing, questioning about things that are deemed high theory versus pop culture, academic versus activist, etc. It has people looking at how race and racism impacts technology and its new devices (Benjamin, 2020). Much like race critical code, it dives into many topics in which can be seen like cyberfeminism in the early weeks of the class. It adds to discussion and analysis.

Q: What are the dangers behind ‘White Supremacy’? (Pg 7)

When it comes to White Supremacy, it’s easily found throughout the internet with different meanings. With it comes its dangers, from the article, it mentions “sometimes leads to violence, harassment, intimidation, and racial terror, transcending the virtual world to damage real, live human beings.” (Daniels, 2009). This was seen with the incident with Buford Furrow in 1999 when he opened fire in a Jewish daycare. Behind the incident, his message was a ‘wake-up for American to kill Jews’. Because of such a horrific event, it may even lead to others who may have the same thinking/following of White Supremacy to do something of the same nature. 

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

Daniels, J. (2009). Cyber racism: White supremacy online and the new attack on Civil Rights. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Hunsinger, J., & Senft, T. M. (2015). The Social Media Handbook. Routledge.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post 5 (Due 9/30)

Q: Why is it that you think people go onto cyberspace and pose as something they are not? (i.e race, gender, etc.)

I think there are people that go onto the internet and pose as something other than their true self out of pure boredom or to deceive. Meanwhile, there are others who take to the internet in search of actually gaining/displaying knowledge. According to the article, “Race matters in cyberspace... all of us who spend time online are already shaped by the ways in which race matters offline...” (Kolko, 2000). An example of how race matters offline and online can be seen with the BLM Movement. Certain events have the potential to display a massive effect not just IRL but on the cyber world. With the death of George Floyd, we not only saw active protests, but also a widespread of support throughout the world.

Q: In what ways can the technological advance of wargames have a positive impact?

As mentioned in the article, many of these wargames were ultimately developed/influenced by certain parts of the military; the Marine Corps reprogrammed an inexpensive computer game to serve as an infantry training simulator. Not only that, games like this allowed those that were in active duty to move in and play these games which would allow them to colonize, explore, and exploit the new territory as if they were there themselves (Ow, 2003). With the uprise of these games during times of war, it allowed those that were in duty to have some type of simulation of war.

Q: Why are Asians so heavily stereotyped for anything they happen to do in America?

I think Asians are heavily stereotyped in America due to their drive to accomplish everything they put their mind/task to. Speaking from an Asian American myself, my parents sacrificed a lot to make it to America when they were younger. Looking at myself, knowing they managed to make it to America with not much drives me to do my best since they gave me the opportunity to be in America. With the article, it brings to my attention that us, who work so hard are getting backlash and stereotyped by those who simply can’t keep up with the work that Asians in America put up. Yes we work hard and there are people who over perform, but in what ways does that make it right to stereotype Asians?

Q: In what ways is the game 3D Realms wrong? What is the purpose of this?

The game 3D Realms is very unpleasant in my opinion. The article mentions how the game situates all female characters nude... such as bathing underneath a waterfall or simply sitting on the toilet. Given the chance to play as the male character of the game, you’re only entitled to two choices, you can talk to the girl in which lewd comments are thrown at her such as, “Are those real tits?”. Secondly, you can kill her in which the game has under ‘self-defense’ when really the girl is just responding back in a rude manner, basically returning the favor of the lewd comment thrown at her in the first place (Ow, 2003). With a game like this, I see no genuine purpose, it seems as if the creators made this game solely for men, but even so, I wouldn’t want to play such a game if I was given the opportunity.

Fickle, T. (2019). The race card: From gaming technologies to model minorities. New York University Press.

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

Ow, Jeffrey A. “The Revenge of the Yellowfaced Cyborg Terminator: The Rape of Digital Geishas and the Colonization of Cyber-Coolies in 3D Realms’ Shadow Warrior.” Asian America.Net: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace. Eds. Rachel C. Lee and Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 4 (Due 9/16)

Q: Do you think African Americans were aiming at grabbing the Internet ‘Dominance’? 

I don’t necessarily feel that African Americans were aiming towards attaining the ‘Internet Dominance’ as the article as stated. As stated, “Black people... have mounted their own scramble for a secure share of the internet spoils in the intensifying global grab for Internet dominance.” (Everett, 2002). I see it as a way of getting themselves into something they felt would be of major importance in the future. I look at this circumstance as getting ready to go for a swim. When swimming, you don’t go straight to the deep-end, instead you start in the shallow-end and go deeper as time goes along. With African Americans, they were simply getting themselves familiar and used to the whole Internet world. They weren’t aiming towards reaching the top.

Q: How has racial codings failed despite having a set goal/objective? 

Racial codings have been a complete failure since the get-go. As mentioned in the article, racial codes are born for the goal of social control (Benjamin, 2019). Because of this so called social control goal, it has lead to the creations of codings in which target a set minority and lead to racism. Born for the goal of social control? More like born for the goal to oppress. With the California gang database that was described in the article, there’s no evidence that proves a certain name leads to them being in a gang. Stuff like this is downright unacceptable, which is why I feel technological advances such as these programmed codes have no place in our society. Not unless the day where factual information can follow up proving its accuracy.

Q: How is the New Jim Code developed while masking its racial results of its codings?

The New Jim Code was developed by tech designers and large media outlets such as Facebook. The codes that were made are encoded into tech systems while the supposed ‘racist’ results of the design code are ultimately outside of the encoding process, meaning those that created the codes are not to blame (Benjamin, 2019). I find this to be a dismissal, an excuse to cover up the blame for something that’s too big to take blame for. With the New Jim Code, African Americans, the poor, the working class, Latinos, etc. are all at risk of falling within this racial coding. Its creators may say this issue is far out of reach from their doing, but they just don’t want to take the blame. In the end, how would racial coding come out externally from something they created, if that was the case why can’t they explain it?

Q: Who was Google trying to target with its degrading algorithms and who was to blame for such search results?

I don’t think Google had a set audience they were trying to reach out to with its degrading articles that came out with the search of ‘black girls’, ‘gorillas’, and the one that described a different term for the White House when Obama took presidency. I think this was solely done for the laughs, and perhaps to make Google look unpleasant. This should and shouldn’t be Google’s problem, it’s their fault they hired such a person to code and make the algorithm to which certain search results came up. They should keep a 24/7 monitor of everything that’s searched up as well as the results that are shown with it to make sure degrading and sexual results aren’t permitted.

Everett, A. (2002). The revolution will be digitized. Social Text, 20(2), 125–146. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-20-2_71-125

Benjamin, R. (2019). Race after TECHNOLOGY: ABOLITIONIST tools for the New Jim Code. Social Forces, 98(4), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz162

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1pwt9w5

National Association of Independent Schools (2018, June 22). Kimberlé Crenshaw: What is Intersectionality? [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 3 (Due 9/9)

Q: Do you think it’s a good or bad thing that cyberfeminism doesn’t follow a set framework? (Pg 4)

I believe it’s best that cyberfeminism doesn’t follow a set framework. With a set framework in place many women may find themselves not being able to put out what they want to put out which in turn may affect many others. To this question lies women that are objectively for and against this idea. Some believe that because there’s no coherent framework, it’s nothing other than ‘different feminist theories’. Meanwhile, there’s other women/scholars who aren’t even bothered by the fact that there’s no framework, they happen to be more focused on the theories, debates, practices, etc. (Daniels, 2009) With no set framework in place, I think people have a better chance at having an impact on others without having to worry about what’s acceptable and what’s not. At the end of the day, with cyberfeminism, aren’t people trying to inform society? Why should there be a limit of what can be informed and what can’t?

Q: How does digital technology affect women based on their geographical location? (Pg 10)

Unfortunately, what’s good always comes with the bad. In this circumstance, women in the North such as the United States tend to be on the good side where it’s their duty/privilege to be able to inform and learn. Meanwhile, in places such as China or India, it’s their sole duty or economic necessity in which they work diligently in these microchip factories (Daniels, 2009). Because of these differences in digital technology based on location, these women that are in places like China or India may never see the day of how a woman in the North uses digital technology. Women in the United States have the biggest safe space to work in with digital technology, but for those in a different geographical location might not have the same privilege.

Q: In what ways can the use of information sentinels be dangerous? (Pg 4)

Information sentinels can be dangerous if the wrong information is put out to the wrong place. Unfortunate to say, information sentinels are everywhere and information is being taken down daily without people even knowing. What makes this dangerous is that once somethings up on the internet, it’s most likely going to remain on the web forever. Now only that, once somethings put up, it’s at risk of being spread around. Like the article mentions, “many of the devices that collect our information are inscrutable... they are imbedded in social media interactions.” (Eubanks, 2019).

Q: Why do you think the poor and the working class are the majority of people being targeted by these high tech systems/algorithms?

I feel these are the main group of people being targeted by these systems and algorithms because of the fact that they’re the easiest to experiment off of. The article mentions that because of these targeting, most of those face life-threatening consequences (Eubanks, 2019). The poor and working class have many other things to worry about; bills, their families, work, etc. Because they’re so caught up in their own things, I feel this makes them come off as vulnerable which results in these systems and algorithms going off them.

Daniels, J. (2009). Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, gender, and embodiment. WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 37(1-2), 101–124. https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.0.0158

Eubanks, V. (2019). In Automating inequality: How high-tech tools profile, police, and punish the poor. Picador.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post: Week 2 (Due 9/2)

Q: Why is it that media outlets often portray an article/event that isn’t fully comprehensible by all?

There’s a long process that goes into the creation of the article. First, the journalist must have a good understanding of what’s going on as well as a form to convey the information in a way that’s able to capture the reader. After, the report is proof-read and screened by editors in which they ultimately decide what gets to move on and what doesn’t. The article mentions that publishers decide which portion of the dispatch is “newsworthy”, meanwhile everything else is disregarded and trashed (Gonzalez and Torres, 2012). By doing this, the news outlets are putting out a bias report which doesn’t fully reach the wide variety of readers it might have. It may have pulled certain aspects out of the original report in which they may have felt, would not sit well with it’s readers, therefore, they removed it to compensate while having no regards for those who might have an impact on the event.

Q: How might social media and Facebook have a negative impact on today’s society?

Majority of people get their source of news/information off of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. As mentioned, the very first form of media has seen a decline, but the online networking media has taken over. Like all forms of online social media, they collect information and display media and information that may be beneficial to you (Fuchs, 2014). This may seem as a beneficial factor for you, but it also has its downsides. The information it may be informing you may not have all the sides to an argument, or it may be a click-bait just to bring you in, etc. This is not only the case with Facebook and other forms of social media, but majority of the news outlets today.

Q: Does ‘power’ really play a significant role in social media?

Power indeed does play a significant role within social media, although it depends on the circumstance. It comes down to whether you’re at the top or bottom, and whether you’re being influential and having an impact on society, or simply a pawn being used (Fuchs, 2014). The best example I can think of that portrays power within social media is looking at the stock market and Elon Musk. Assuming everyone knows Elon Musk, this past summer he’s randomly tweeted out on Twitter, “Doge” which is new cryptocurrency much like bitcoin. By doing so, the cryptocurrency, which at the time wasn’t even worth a penny, skyrocketed tremendously. In doing this, he allowed people to benefit and make some sort of profit.

Q: Why is there still stereotypes as well as White-dominated news outlets this far in time?

I believe this is the case because it draws in the most viewers as well as revenue for the outlets. Despite these news outlets being predominantly White controlled, many of minority groups still make up majority of the audience (Gonzalez and Torres, 2012). Despite this predicament, I don’t see much of a change to this anytime soon. News anchors will continue to be White Americans, while very few Asian, Hispanic, etc. will make it. Everything today is about money, and people will do whatever things necessary to maximize that.

Fuchs, C. (2014). Social media : a critical introduction. Sage Publications.

González, J., & Torres, J. (2012). News for all the people: The epic story of race and the American media. Verso.

[matthewchen]

Blog Post Week 1 (Due 8/27)

When Apple Maps sent me to the right, but wrong place.

Back in 2018, I took a two week trip to Florida and the Bahamas with my cousins, aunt, and uncle. During the trip, we planned many things such as visiting Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and most importantly, a 3-day stay at Disney World. The morning came where we departed for Orlando from Fort Lauderdale, it took around 3-4 hours to arrive even though it felt much shorter due to the scenery along the way. Unlike California, in Florida there are swamps practically everywhere and the nature around there’s much more green and vibrant. Coming close to arriving at Disney World, I’m put in charge to direct my uncle to the destination. I put in ‘Disney World’ into Apple Maps and we proceeded as directed. Upon arriving under Siri’s directions we noticed we weren’t at Disney World, to be honest, we had no idea where it took us other than some large parking lot. As we looked around, we soon realized where it had lead us, to the back of Disney World where all employees were to park. Looking around we saw many people in their outfits getting ready for work. Everybody in the car started to laugh but I wasn’t having any of it, I redirected the Maps to the correct location even though we were technically in the ‘right’ location. This may have not been a such a big deal if it were Disneyland but if you’ve ever been to or are familiar with Disney World, you’d know that the parks aren’t within walking distance like it is at Disneyland. Each park would require you to take a tram since the parks are MILES apart. Due to this short setback, it shortened our visit to Disney World on our first day which was NOT cool, but in the end, Disney World was still in fact a trip that I’d never forget.