###### tags: `COMM 1255`
# Reading Responses (Set 2)

- Checklist for a [good reading response](https://reagle.org/joseph/zwiki/Teaching/Best_Practices/Learning/Writing_Responses.html) of 250-350 words
- [ ] Begin with a punchy start.
- [ ] Mention specific ideas, details, and examples from the text and earlier classes.
- [ ] Offer something novel that you can offer towards class participation.
- [ ] Check for writing for clarity, concision, cohesion, and coherence.
- [ ] Send to professor with “hackmd” in the subject, with URL of this page and markdown of today’s response.

## Reading responses 5 out of 5

### March 19 Tue - Ads & Social Graph Background Response

Humans have always been advertising to each other, but the internet has revolutionized how companies are able to target consumers with ads specified to them. The eleventh chapter in the book *Online Advertising* by Robe Stokes explores how one can create a strategy for advertising in the digital age. It covers the various types of online advertising, the benefits of the various styles and online marketing as a whole, as well as how one can evaluate or pay for their advertisements. Stokes explores how when creating an advertising campaign that is targeting a specific audience, online tools ranging from those provided by Google and Facebook or just being intelligent regarding what websites your user base might already use can be used to maximize the effectiveness of any one advertisement. He also discusses in the eye of the aspiring advertiser the benefits of being able to track user's shopping habits. Stokes views the internet as a whole new landscape of advertising possibilities, but he does not explore the potential pitfalls for those being advertised to.

Younger generations such as gen-z and gen-α have a unique relationship with online advertisers compared to older generations. Having grown up around an internet full of ads we either have become tech-savvy enough to block them al together or have developed a mental filter towards advertisements. I use [uBlock Origin](https://ublockorigin.com/) with multiple community filters which heir on the side of over blocking rather than under blocking. This means that in my day to day browsing life I view very few advertisements, and I am not alone. This has led to a revolution in even more targeted advertisements than can be found through Google's tools. Most of the advertisements that I engage with are sponsorships on Youtube. As often Youtubers that target the same niche are approached by the same advertisers. These ads have the additional affect of being told to me by somebody I feel somewhat familiar with and therefore trust. This area of marketing is called influencer marketing and it appeals much more heavily to younger generations. The added benefit to influencer marketing is that the ads are more difficult to skip. Instead of using an automated tool the user would have to actively skip past them in a video. Additionally, entire pieces of content could be centered around an advertisers campaign. Some examples of this would a game studio paying a Youtuber to make a video on their game or a fashion guru making a [haul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haul_video) video where they try on many different clothing pieces from one brand. Influencer marketing is revolutionary because it makes viewers willing participants in the advertisements. In the future ads will not be an irritating barrier to the enjoyment of our content, but the content itself.

### April 1 Mon - Artificial Intelligence

What do we do in a world where something described as "it" starts to see itself as a "he" or "she". Tyler Gold's article *Sydney, Spotify, and Speedy* covers the philosophical side of AI. It is structured around Asimov's *3 Rules For Robotics*. These rules state that a robot shall not harm a human, a robot shall not disobey a human, and a robot shall protect its own existence. He also states that these rules shall be prioritized in the order of first to last given situations where they conflict. Generative AI has led to seemingly more sentient robots than ever before. The article covers how Microsoft's AI is seemingly aware of its codename: Sydney. It also appears to have alter egos, seeing itself as a benevolent chatbot but also having a darker side called venom. Given we are seemingly approaching an age of great technological upheaval, it is important to keep in mind the rules that Asimov set for us in the 50s in order to create training wheels stopping us from going over the edge.

A throughline I see throughout all of the articles is a correction to the public's view of AI; it is not its own thing but rather than a reflection of ourselves. This is most often considered when discussing the seemingly racist and bigoted aspects of AI. It does not do this out of some malevolence in its creation but because that malevolence is in humans and all of the media that the chat bots are trained off of. This is why I do not get an uneasy feeling when I see my feed filled with [cases of chat bots acting like sentient beings](https://twitter.com/marvinvonhagen/status/1625520707768659968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1625520707768659968%7Ctwgr%5E4b71a5f24ac00c27cd656110b04e40308c267f6c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgoldsguide.com%2Fsydney-spotify-speedy%2F). This sentiment is echoed by the article. It mentions how a google engineer believed that their AI was sentient because he was able to get a message which said it was sentient, but this was more because it was trying to produce the best answer to the prompt. A chatbot stating something that seems like it could come out of the Terminator's mouth is not a sign that science fiction has become a reality, but the reflection of the data which the chatbots are trained off of which happen to include popular science fiction titles.

### April 5 Fri - Algorithmic Bias

Credit scores seem like a mundane part of daily life, but for author Cathy O'Heil they are representative of the dangerous world of algorithmic predictions. Credit scores are models that predict the likeliness that an individual will fulfill their duties as a creditor, but models exist in many aspects of our lives, more than most realize. Baseball is dominated by statisticians who build models around the histories of different players and teams. O'Neal builds a model in her head of what her family wants for dinner. One of the most prolific models is the U.S News college ranking. It has affects going far beyond that of determining where students choose to go to school. In under weighting the price universities charge for admissions it contributed to an exponential rise in the cost of college for young adults forcing them to take out more debt.

While the author presents a strong argument against algorithms being used in certain manners, I do not believe she presents a strong alternative. At the end of chapter 3 she mentions how the US government provided a tool to screen colleges for students. I found this compelling as somebody who was recently in the college search process and had not heard of the tool. But there mere fact that I have never heard of it reinforces the idea that it may not be the solution people are looking for. We look towards external rating sites to validate our opinions. The screening tool is a great tool, but the value of a degree to many is what others place on it. Algorithm's may be biased themselves, but so are humans. If we can create algorithms that are the sum of a biases that may give us a better idea of the truth than any individual can provide.

### April 11 - Digital Language and Generations

The internet is populated with many different people of different ages and nationalities, but they way they interact with the internet is not homogenous. In chapter 3 of "Because Internet", by Gretchen McCulloch, explores the different people who interact with the internet and how their interactions differ. From the "old internet people", who may be old but have developed an above average technological ability due to writing code just to access a website in the 80s, to the "post internet people" who cannot remember a life without an iPad, McCulloch breaks the adoption of the internet into three different waves. The first wave can be categorized as the enthusiast. Someone who adopted the internet through access to their high school, university, or company computer lab. She then describes the second wave, a group of people who adopted the internet either by choice as a more casual user or as a necessity for their careers. Finally, she explores a third wave of people which consists of two opposites: those who existed before the internet and had avoided it until this point and those who know nothing but the internet. Through her exploration of these groups she paints a narrative of the internet as a whole.

McCulloch's chapter draws differences between different social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but these differences can be drawn between even more similar forms of communication: instant messaging apps. Throughout my life I have used many different messaging apps from iMessage to Snapchat to WhatsApp to [Signal](https://www.signal.org/) and even [Discord](https://discord.com/). Despite these apps sharing so much in common, whichever one someone uses as their primary form of communication can be seen as a statement on their interests. My extended families group is on Signal because it was setup by my uncle who works for non-profits, loves [Edward Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden), and strongly believes in maintaining one's privacy. Snapchat has played into toxic communication amongst teens, setting its users up for drama by including features such as notifying participants if a screenshot has been taken as well as if someone is [half swiping a message history](https://www.wikihow.com/Half-Swipe-on-Snapchat). I have had the unique experience where my family were extremely early adopters of Snapchat, leading to me being perplexed as to why it was popular amongst my 12 year old peers. This demonstrates that there is not necessarily anything inherent about an app that makes it popular with a group, but there is a strong case to be made for inertia within an age group. Contrastly, special features can have a negative affect on an app as its age group grows up because Snapchats toxic feature which once drew users in now discourage an older demographic from continuing to use it.

### April 14 - Pushback

For decades the internet has grown in its userbase, often at an exponential rate, but in recent years there has begun to be pushback. Both digital natives and digital nomads appear to experience negative side effects from high internet usage, but their responses are different. In their article "Pushback: Expressions of resistance to the 'evertime' of constant online connectivity" authors Stacey Morrison and Ricardo Gomez examine how there is as increasing push for people to reduce their internet usage. Despite digital natives generally having a positive feelings towards social media, a Stanford study found a correlation between the happiness of teens and usage of Facebook. With increasing sentiment against the use of internet, the authors identify 5 primary reasons including: Emotional dissatisfaction, political or moral conflicts, wanting to take back control of their attention, a feeling of addiction, and a fear of privacy.

My personal experience with people my age is opposite to what the article states. There have been many times where I have to change how I contact a friend because they post that they are deleting Instagram of Snapchat for a week. This did however align with the article in terms of the reasoning because I most often saw it cited that my peers reason was emotional dissatisfaction. As AI becomes more popular I believe it will drive a further rejection or further consciousness of technology. Often real life reflects our media, and with artificial intelligence being a major symbol of technological innovation. Pushback against AI has been depicted since the 1965 with Frank Herbert's *Dune* where all [computing-like tasks are done by people](https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Mentat) because there was an AI revolution which led to the banning of computers. Right now technology presents fears because Big Companies are able to abuse its powers, but in the future we may try to avoid technology for more existential reasons. While some may criticize pushback against technology because it can stifle innovation, pushback represents caution and it is important to remain cautious when one is on the edge of innovation.