# Wiki Tutorial

*Reflection on Reading*

## Digital Media and the Internet
This reflection is a reponse to [this link.](https://reagle.org/joseph/2022/cda/cda-syllabus-FA.html)

The author Danah Boyd details the epidemic of ignorance with the rise of social media through the article [Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation](https://points.datasociety.net/agnotology-and-epistemological-fragmentation-56aa3c509c6b). The formation of the internet and the digital media has brought society forward in a way that we are more connected and more efficient than ever before. However, this standardization of media means that the collective attention of the people within a society can be used to gain control. This concept is present throughout our daily lives. Advertisements in television and social media proves that our attention can be sold and used for profit. The focus of social movements over social media has caused modern uprisings beginning from the internet, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. This event proved that the internet was a space that could bring real life consequences and lasting societal change.

The wide influx of media and information with the internet makes it so that the modern problem is not the lack of knowledge, but the overflow of available information. This gives the individual the responsibility to seek out credible, true information, while filtering out fake news. The article revealed that the information that we consume on a daily is not just a random influx of available information, but more of a selection of information done by another person.


The above image emphasizes the purposeful nature of the information that is made more accessible to the public. Out of many reporters, only one is picked, revealing that the individual who chooses the reporter will only get the perspective of the journalist. This is problematic because even if all of the journalists were covering the story, only accessing one version of the story may skew the audience's perception of the event. While the expectation is that the reporter will give factual and objective information, the reader does not know the background of the author in relation to the story. The reader also does not know the author's true intentions to delivering the story. Additionally, the choice to use only one source is a demonstration of the ignorance that Boyd explains. First, the audience chooses to only consume information that is easy to take in and does not think critically about the information. But more importantly, compared to a person's limited attention and memory, there seems to be an unlimited amount of information that it is impossible to gain a fully objective perspective.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4o0B6IDo50" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The above video explains the Boyd's ideas of fake news in a different light. When there were only a number of sources for information, news sources were pressured to deliver factual information. However, because information sources in the internet today are unlimited, this responsiblity is no longer present. This is seen in our society through the politicization of major news networks. Within these companies, events reported are often reframed to suit the perspective that it supports.