DB Roundup
Thanks to everyone for their substantive engagement with this week’s readings.
Xavier’s insightful comment linked our previous readings about race & media with the digital divide. “The discrepancy present in internet access between people with low income and high income reminded me of “News For All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media”. This is due to the fact that twisted misinformation was helped fuel segregation against minorities especially since minorities only represented a small percentage of media outlets at the time. This was due to the fact that it was more advantageous to play to the majority’s stance. Similarly to working in favor of the majority, broadband services essentially accomplish the same effect by pushing more of its services to communities with individuals who have high income for the sole sake of the company rather than the community as a whole.”
Many people responded to the map of NYC that showed neighborhood discrepancies in terms of internet and computer access. Omar summed up the response that many of you had by saying “I’ve always thought that every community in the city receives the same opportunities of broadband internet and that it didn’t matter where a person lived. I’ve realized that the digital divide will create a wider gap of literacy among the wealthy and the rich and that various countermeasures are needed in order to bridge these gaps.”
And of course, the COVID pandemic has really highlighted the need for access to high quality internet for everyone.
On the topic of net neutrality, several people commented that they saw this as similar to the concept of the filter bubble, and I want to clarify that these are very distinct concepts. Net neutrality is a system level concept about how internet broadly, should be delivered to everyone. Filter bubbles are about how your own search and viewing history inform what content platoform algorithms show you.
Tim Wu calls net neutrality “a network design principle. The idea is that a maximally useful public information network aspires to treat all content, sites, and platforms equally. This allows the network to carry every form of information and support every kind of application.” He uses the analogy of the electric grid. Your apartment gets the same electricity as your next door neighbor’s apartment, regardless of what you as individuals plug in.
Movies!
CCNY Libraries has recently added a trial of a database of streaming video called Kanopy. I encourage you to take advantage of it before our trial ends on October 8th. Specifically, I recommend this documentary, Digital Disconnect – Fake News, Privacy and Democracy, which touches on many of the topics and themes of this class: ISP monopolies, journalism in the age of the internet, privacy, fake news, and more. It is only 64 minutes and well worth your time.
Course Admin
Grades
I sent everyone an email with a link to a document where I track your DB, RQ & assignment completion. I’ll do my best to update it weekly, so you can check in on it whenever you need. If you didn’t get the email, let me know and I’ll re-send it to you.
Weekly Zoom Meetings
The weekly Zoom meetings are optional, but are a good opportunity to ask clarifying questions and engage in discussion about the readings. They are generally held Mondays 11am, but next week will be Tuesday 11am, due to the Monday holiday.
Weekly Readings & Assignment
This week’s readings build on our previous topics in two areas: evaluating information and how algorithms shape our experience of searching for information online. The readings are available on the course schedule, as is the week’s DB prompt.
