The Web and Disinformation

Image from MIT Technology Review for
"Bias already exists in search engine results, and it’s only going to get worse"

Class

1. Pariser, “Beware online ‘filter bubbles.’”   https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en
2. Report by Dr. X: Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”
3. Ekström, “Can We Solve For Bias In Tech?” https://www.npr.org/2019/02/15/694292327/andreas-ekstr-m-can-we-solve-for-bias-in-tech

How bad can the manipulation get?

• "The Great Brexit Robbery": https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy
• How Cambridge Analytica Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions:  https://www.nytimes.com/video/technology/100000005806669/cambridge-analytica-facebook-profiles.html
• "Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: 'We spent $1m harvesting millions of Facebook profiles' – video": https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-we-spent-1m-harvesting-millions-of-facebook-profiles-video
• "Facebook's role in Brexit--and the threat to democracy": https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy?language=en

For Thursday

• Read: Academic Essays I: Introduction and II: The Thesis Statement, pages 11-12 of the packet
• Check the List of possible topics for the research paper
• Write a  paragraph indicating your chosen topic (or topics, if you have more than one) for the Research Paper, why you are interested in the topic, and what are the questions you would like to answer in your paper. Be prepared to pitch your idea to your classmates.

For Tuesday

Complete Essay 1, part 2: First, REVISE Part 1 by adding detail. Then add part 2 to it. Give the essay a fancy title. Questions to consider (you don't have to answer all these questions--it is to get you started thinking):
How has the way you approach the Web changed after all the revelations of this class? Are you the same person online as you were at the beginning of the semester? Why? Why not? What specific readings, videos, lectures, discussions resonated with you most? What do you plan to do with the knowledge you have gained during this part of the semester (in terms of yourself, your family, your community, etc.)

For the following Thursday
Turn in your second set of journals:

1. Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Chapter 1
2. Andrews, “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg”
3. Silverman, “The Reputation Racket”
4. Greenwald, “Why privacy matters”
5. Lützow-Holm Myrstad, “How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy” OR Tufecki, “we’re building a dystopia”
6. Hypponen, “How the NSA Betrayed the World’s Trust”
7. Granick, “How the Government Spies on People Who Protest Including You”
8. Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”
9. Pariser, “Beware online ‘filter bubbles.’”
10. Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”