# Reading Responses (set 2) # Reading Responses 5 out of 5 ### Oct 28 Fri - Shaped “Just as giving and receiving feedback can entail significant emotion work, online comment can be an important part of the emotionally laden construction and understanding of people’s social selves.” Through this comparison, Reagle is able to highlight the relationship between feedback and comments made online. The two have similar characteristics, as they both can be critical of one’s personality, looks, or self-worth. With the world we live in today, where people openly share details about their lives online, it has come to a point where people feel the right to comment and give their feedback. The creation of anonymous question platforms, such as Askfm and Formspring, has allowed people to be less mindful of their actions. The feature of anonymity that these sites have enables people to say things that they would not say in person or if their name was connected. This removes the need to be mindful and creates an environment for bullying and mean comments and questions online. “your not only ugly but your black too wtf nasty.” This is an example of a negative and racist comment that recipients of these anonymous questions platforms receive, causing them to face self-esteem issues. These issues stem from the negative and hateful comments being received on their questions page. The definition of self-esteem, which relates to how we see ourselves and how others see us, helps explain the issue at stake. The recipients of these negative comments believe this is how others see them and have a weaker sense of self-esteem. On the flip side, there is the issue of narcissism on these platforms. This can be explained through stereotype enhancement, “highlighting a positive stereotype about a person’s group.” Comments that align with this theory are about one’s looks, personality, knowledge. By receiving anonymous positive comments, it reinforces the idea and can lead to narcissism. ### Nov 5 Fri - Tiktok, Fakes, and Appropriation “it’s become easier than ever to assume an almost entirely new identity online, without regard for the consequences such behavior can cause.” Rebecca Jennings describes the issue of catfishing and assuming a new identity in her article *TikTok’s catfish problem is worse than you think*. She discusses the idea that it has become the norm for people to edit their pictures to portray their ideal image. But, this also raises the question of when do people go too far, and what are the ethical issues and implications of editing photos to create a whole new persona? The example given in this article is Diane Deets, who has been able to edit her images to create the idea that she is a minor and has taken it a step further by creating an Onlyfans account. She poses nude with the intention to look like a minor. This crosses an ethical line of profiting from edited nude photos that resemble a teenager. “these accounts had something in common: a white body that was modified, transformed, to appear Asian.” In the article *On Techno-Orientalism*, by Leo Kim, this idea of editing photos to create a different persona is looked at through a different lens. The article examines another version of catfishing where users on social media sites pretend to be Asian and use their platform to spread hate. The Asian community is no stranger to people appropriating their culture; in 2020, a trend that became popular on social media was the fox eye trend, where users did their makeup in a common way to those from Eastern Asia. *“The paper Ain’t Got Enough Money to Pay Me Respect”: Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation, and the Commodification of Blackness*, by Maha Ikram Cherid, identifies a third way in which users on social media have appreciated a culture. The term discussed is blackfising, another form of catfishing but specifically refers to when white women pretend to be black. A connection that can be made throughout the three articles is using social media to catfish and appear to be someone or part of a culture that you are not. This has many consequences, such as cultural appreciation, inappropriate use of editing tools, and racism. Users need to identify this on social media and report these accounts, as they should not be allowed to spread hate and appropriate cultures. ### Nov 9 Tue - Ads & Social Graph Background “The trackability of online advertising is what makes it so superior to conventional advertising. Not only can an advertiser tell how many times an advert has been seen (impressions), but also how many times the advert has been successful in sending visitors to the advertised website (clicks).” Advertising online through social media platforms has many benefits over traditional forms of advertising; one example is highlighted above, which is the ability to track everything. The tracking of users’ engagement with advertisements online is made possible through cookies. In Vox’s video How ads follow you around the internet, two different types of cookies are discussed. The first type of cookie is first-party cookies, which allow sites to remember user characteristics but are not transferable between multiple sites. Through this, it fixed the short-term memory problem, which the internet was facing when Lou Montulli created cookies in 1994. With the creation of banner ads, a graphic ad that appears at the top of a webpage, came the invention of third-party cookies. These allowed companies to collaborate to better track users through their third-party elements within websites. Third-party cookies are essential for online advertisers and companies such as Google or Facebook, as these sites run solely off ad revenue. Recently, this has become an issue because there have been legislative efforts to ban the tracking of users and third-party cookies. Facebook was able to sidestep these regulations by creating their own version of a cookie called a Pixel, which looks like a first-party cookie but acts like a third-party cookie, making it more complicated to block. There are a few main types of advertisements that networks utilize. The most popular format is banner ads that come in all different shapes and sizes dependent on the device. These were the first type of online advert that utilized images. Another type of display advert is an interstitial banner; this is a banner shown between pages; these are similar to floating ads, which show up over website content and have a small X in the right corner. While there are always new ad formats being created, these are some of the most popular. ### Nov 23 Tues - Algorithmic Discrimination “The problem was with biases that exist within the media and on the internet, which the search engine’s algorithm ends up reflecting.” After reading Rutherford’s and White’s (2016) article, I found similar results to their findings. While doing some of my own internet searches for basic photos such as nose or man, I continued to find alarming results almost five years after the article was initially published. Which raises a more important question as to why companies such as Google are not doing more to combat the issues within their algorithms? ![](https://i.imgur.com/lvb8aOn.jpg) Another issue highlighted within Aniko Hannak, Gary Soeller, David Lazer, Alan Mislove, Christo Wilson (2014) study was the manipulation of products shown based on price. The study ultimately concluded that there was “evidence for price steering and price discrimination on four general retailers and five travel sites.” This is a significant finding because, to most, the algorithm used to make suggestions about hotels and other products is somewhat of a mystery, with no explanation given to the user. Algorithms continue to play a significant role in everything we do. The article by Christo Wilson (2020) highlights some of the most prevalent places where algorithms exist. One of the most interesting uses of algorithms is Uber’s surge pricing. Uber is able to determine peak ride times, when drivers are most busy, and raise pieces, such as Friday night at 7 o’clock when people would be heading to dinner. Through this, Uber can use the data collected on riders and raise prices for a specific amount of time until demand has decreased. Before Uber, this was not possible as taxis are unable to utilize algorithms and charge surge pricing. They do not have enough data on user ride preferences and do not have a way of implementing such algorithms. Therefore, I think algorithms exhibit biases in online commerce because companies who utilize these algorithms have ample amounts of data on their customers. They can use this information in a self-serving way, as seen in price discrimination, auditing algorithms, and the example of Google. ### Nov 30 Tues- Collapsed context “The need for variable self-presentation is complicated by increasingly mainstream social media technologies that collapse multiple contexts and bring together commonly distinct audiences” A unique point discussed by Alice E. Marwick and danah boyd (2010). With the creation of social media platforms, the way we communicate has dramatically changed. In the past, it was apparent who your audience was and who was hearing your message as most communication was targeted to a particular person or group. Social media has allowed us to increase our communication reach and make messages less targeted to one specific audience. With this increased reach comes the issue as to whether or not people are authentic when communicating online. The reading identifies different types of audiences, the first being the imagined audience which is the idea that we think our audience is just the person we mean to talk to, but in reality, multiple people are listening or receiving the message. When looking at the relationship between Twitter, a social media platform that allows users to share short text-based posts with followers and their audiences, it is important to identify the communication models. Inherently Twitter is not a two-way communication model as there is no reciprocity required between users. This is important because that changes the type of messages users post on Twitter, as they do not expect a response from any person or group of people. When looking at the different types of people and how they use Twitter, their authenticity becomes more apparent. The study asked Twitter users what audience they were speaking to, and the responses varied from friends, fans, nobody, and themselves. Through this, the authenticity of the user is more apparent because if they are speaking to their friends, family, or just for themselves, users are more likely to be authentic. After all, these audiences are closer to the user. But, if users are talking to broader audiences or fans, users are more likely to be inauthentic as they want to please more people and not cause issues.
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11/16/2021
Untitled

Ad Blocking Before Ad blocking After Ad blocking Adblockers definitely have an obvious upside to the user, but do users understand the potential adverse effects? A question raised by Alex Hern, Jacob Kastrenakes, and Don Marti within their articles. The apartment upsides to adblockers are that Hern highlights such as the ability to “protect their devices from attacks of this sort, as well as making the web surfing experience faster, more pleasant, and less draining on mobile devices’ batteries.” The article also focuses on the malware attacks that hackers can embed within ads in a website and hold a user’s hard drive hostage in exchange for a bitcoin or two. A simple preventative measure is installing an adblocker. Adblockers also have more subtle adverse effects. One significant impact is that websites that are free to users rely on advertisements embedded in their sites in order to make money. They utilize ads to make their site free to consumers. But, if users continue blocking ads, it will give websites no choice but to charge a fee to enter the site since they are not receiving ad revenue. Another way websites are trying to sidestep adblockers is by not allowing users who have adblockers turned on to enter their site. This forces users to turn the adblocker off in order to enter the site. Another solution Adblockers have turned to is replacing large intrusive ads with smaller, more appropriate ads. This is known as Adblock Plus that has a marketplace of acceptable ads to serve users. This is an interesting solution because it takes the control from the websites and networks and puts the AdBlock service in control. According to Kastrenakes, Adblocking plus also has an interesting pricing structure where “Publishers will get to keep 80 percent of all ad revenue from marketplace ads, with the remaining 20 percent being divided between various other parties involved with serving the ads. Adblock Plus will receive 6 percent of total revenue.” Through this, it can slit the revenue so that websites can still make money through ads, but Adblockers are in control.

11/11/2021
Reading Responses (Set 1)

Reading Responses 5 out of 5 Sep 17 Fri - Superconnected “The internet and digital media are not responsible for the stresses and pressures of modern life; more often than not, they help people manage these stresses”. A phrase In the reading Superconnected by Mary Chayko, stuck out because it is easy for people to blame social media for problems, but also take the positives for granted. The article begins with some of the positives technology has brought us. It attributes the internet and social media for bringing people together in a way that was not possible. Chayo discusses convenience, and microcoordination, and about how the internet has made tasks that were once near impossible available in seconds. Cell phones have made gatherings and meetings with people from all over a common occurrence. The internet has made it possible for those who were once bored to fill their time with online entertainment. It has also allowed those with a shared interest to “become full-fledged cultures, with rules, rituals, symbolic boundaries, and initiation practices by which fans gain access to an inner circle”. “There is much concern that attention spans are diminishing in the digital era, though this, too, is difficult to quantify with precision. Many have become accustomed to posting digital updates frequently, or checking in with friends, or simply looking at or scrolling through digitizer screen” Some of the negatives that social media and the internet have brought on to society are decreasing attention span, a need for instant gratification, and constant updates. Social media also has created a new level of FOMO, since everyone can see what others are doing. This can lead people to have increased anxiety. Since phones have become a necessity to everyday life, we've debated if phones are an addiction or a dependency? With evidence that can back both sides of the argument, the debate continues. Phones could be considered an addiction because people feel unwell if their phone is not with them at all times, it has come to the point where people even sleep with their phones. At the same time, the argument can be made that phones are a dependency for health and safety reasons. Some people feel disconnected from society without their phones or even feel unsafe walking without them. I think it is an important question to think about, are you addicted to your phone or is it just a dependency? Sep 21 Tues - How the Web Works The internet works in a similar fashion to ordering a bagel and iced coffee from your local cafe. The article How the Web Works, uses this simple analogy to explain a complicated process which is the internet. The storyline begins by explaining the two main characters: the client and the server. A client is an average person using their iPhone or laptop while connected to the internet through software such as safari. The server is on the other side of the interaction, they store the information for the websites. Now for the bagel and coffee to be delivered they must go through multiple steps. The first step in getting your bagel delivered is the distance between the shop and the house, which is known as the internet connection. Then you have to use their app to place your breakfast order, which is known as the Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. Once you have their app downloaded you have to find the location nearby, which is Domain name servers working similarly to an address book, but for websites. It is important to use the correct language when placing your order to ensure you get what you are expecting, this is known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Now you have to place your order for both the bagel and iced coffee, which is compared to the Component files. There are two types: code files and assets. Code files are the actual building blocks of the website, while assets are what users see.

10/25/2021
Web Search and Evaluation

site:Wikipedia.com "Northeastern University" * 288 Results skate fish -icerink 5. A website that is not creditable, is TMZ. This is because it does not have creditable sources. The article Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world, by Joyce Valenza discusses credibility. TMZ is an example of a confirmation basis, which is when readers believe everything on the internet is truthful. This is because TMZ does not cite its sources and tries to pull readers in, even if the story is not true. This site also is an example of virality, since it uses attention-grabbing headlines. These headlines are able to get the attention of readers at the expense of celebrities, regardless of the validity of the article.

9/23/2021
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