5/1-5-8: Workshops: Research Questions, Theses, Proposals

Class
1. Turn in your second draft of the Wikipedia reflection. If you don't have it, leave it for homework.

2. Work on the Research Paper. The final draft must be about 7 double spaced pages, or 1,800 words including the Works Cited page and use 3-5 (or more) sources to prove a thesis of your choice about the Net and/or Web. Use  Modern Language Association style to document your sources. You may use images to illustrate your ideas, but make sure you explain and acknowledge the images properly.

• Sample Research Paper

Steps required for the Research Paper. All these steps must be taken to have your paper evaluated. Please turn in the proposal, outline, 3 drafts, 3 feedback, and checklist together for evaluation. Turn these in by Wednesday, May 29.

• Research Question  (or submit a new question) 
• Research Proposal
• Research Outline (Tentative thesis + topic sentences + possible evidence)
• 1st Draft
• Reader Feedback (2 people needed)
• 2nd Draft (revision of draft 1)
• Writing Center Feedback (optional) and/or Reader feedback (1 person needed)
• 3d Draft (revision of draft 2)
• Essay Checklist

While writing or after you write the Research Paper, turn it into a XED Talk of about 1-2 pages. The XED Talk must cover the most important findings of your research paper and be worded to a specific audience. The XED Talk will be a digital document, so it will point to sources and resources through hyperlinks for free Web sources and footnotes for print and Deep Web sources.

• Sample XEDTalk

For next class

• Go on to the next step of the research; hopefully the first draft of the essay

4/29: The Web and (mis) information, part II

Class

Essential Question: How does the World Wide Web help and hinder the sharing of information and the creation of a knowledge society?

1. From Nineteen Eighty-Four

2. Read: The Onion: “Facebook User Verifies Truth of Article by Carefully Checking it Against Own Preconceived Opinions”

3. Report on Shane. See the definition for Yellow Journalism

4. Reflect and Discuss:

Problem 1: What's legitimate information? What is dubious information? How can we tell the difference? Why does being able to tell the difference matter?

Step 1: Individually, evaluate and report:

A. Here is a sample of the homepage for Slate.com. Identify which of the numbered items is a news story, and which is an advertisement. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Egjt-4g-yZaUgza0pnTEM0TGs/view?usp=sharing

B. Does this post provide strong evidence about the conditions near the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant? Explain your reasoning.  http://imgur.com/gallery/BZWWx

What about the original posting? https://twitter.com/san_kaido/status/603513371934130176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

More on the Fukushima Mutant Flowers

• As  reported by The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3171748/Land-mutant-daisies-Radiation-causes-flowers-grow-strangely-near-site-nuclear-plant-suffered-meltdown-tragic-tsunami.html
• As reported by Weather.com: https://weather.com/science/nature/news/mutant-flowers-japan-fukushima-famous
• As reported by National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150723-fukushima-mutated-daisies-flowers-radiation-science/
• As fact-checked by Snopes.com: http://www.snopes.com/nuclear-mutant-daisies/

Step 2: With a partner, define and report: What is and is not "fake news"?

• Satirical news from a site like The Onion (“Dolphin Spends Amazing Vacation Swimming With Stockbroker”) 
• The daily clickbait in our social media feeds (such as the one written by the "new yellow journalist" Harris).
• Outright invented news, like pieces that claimed, just before the election, that Pope Francis had endorsed Donald J. Trump, or that Donald Trump had once said that “Republicans are the dumbest group of voters.”
• Erroneous interpretation of a fact that is distributed without fact-checking (as with the  Fukushima Mutant Flowers). 
• "Native advertising": Advertisement passing as news (as in Slate.com).  
• News that shows a highly partisan bias. 

 Consider: Are some of these forms of unreliable news more dangerous than others? Which? Why?

Problem 2: How do the Internet and Web help and hinder fake news? 

Individually, reflect and report: In a recent letter to the world, Sir Tim Berners-Lee reminded us that he imagined the world wide as "an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries." In what ways do the specific characteristics of the Internet and the World Wide Web, especially in its 2.0, 3.0, and mobile versions contribute to the boom of fake news?

Possible solutions: 

1. Check those Ws!

2. Leave it to the experts: databases and peer reviewed sources

3. Trust the journalists: CUNY Graduate School Fake News Cheat Sheet 

See also :

Fact-checking sites:

• http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/  
• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.politifact.com/
• To check the authenticity of images, reverse-Google them to find their origins: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en

Browser plug-ins:

• BS Detector (Chrome, Firefox, Safari): http://bsdetector.tech 
• Fake News Alert (Chrome): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-alert/aickfmgnhocegpdbfnpfnedpeionfkbh  
• This is Fake (Chrome, for Facebook feed): https://www.thisisfake.org/

How does journalism work? Presentation by The Bridge editor.

For next class

• Write: Draft two of the Wikipedia reflection, adding specific examples.   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/127g0Z2LaNVPszFkgNrfuJdU5JOYdNWcIoD1GefKABu4/edit?usp=sharing
• Start thinking about a topic and an angle for your major paper. If your questions are in pink, start looking for  3-5 sources to answer your questions. 
• https://forms.gle/H4Mq8mVk31S3L3Ee9     
• Responses here:   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1opexnHRm9hxcNap8U9MOdsPojeV5GkWiAxdZBKGn8gE/edit?usp=sharing

4/17: The Web and (Mis)Information

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

Class

1. Completing our understanding of Snowden's revelations

2. Quick report by Dr. X: Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”

• "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

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

For next class

• Read: Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”
• Write: Draft two of the Wikipedia reflection, adding specific examples.   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/127g0Z2LaNVPszFkgNrfuJdU5JOYdNWcIoD1GefKABu4/edit?usp=sharing
• Start thinking about a topic and an angle for your major paper:  https://forms.gle/H4Mq8mVk31S3L3Ee9     Responses here:   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1opexnHRm9hxcNap8U9MOdsPojeV5GkWiAxdZBKGn8gE/edit?usp=sharing

4/15: Mass and Targeted Surveillance

Class

1. Report on the documentary Terms and Conditions May Apply

• Vocabulary: 
• The Onion, Stasi; 
• Pre crime, Minority Report, The Royal Wedding; 
• loophole, gag order, 4th Amendment, Third-party doctrine

• If you have not watched  Terms and Conditions, you must do so now.

2. Lecture on The Guardian's "The NSA Files: Decoded"

3. Snowden, “Here’s how we take back the Internet”:   https://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet

For next class

• Read: Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”
• Write: Draft two of the Wikipedia reflection, adding specific examples. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/127g0Z2LaNVPszFkgNrfuJdU5JOYdNWcIoD1GefKABu4/edit?usp=sharing

Wikipedia Reflection

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/127g0Z2LaNVPszFkgNrfuJdU5JOYdNWcIoD1GefKABu4/edit?usp=sharing

4/10: Algorithms, Data Mining, Profiling, and Rateocracy

Class

1. Report on Andrews and Silverman

2. How bad is it? Check:

• This advertising from data-aggregator Acxiom: https://vimeo.com/166527182 and its accompanying handout: https://www.acxiom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BRO-AbiliTec_web.pdf

• "Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens"

3. Watch/Discuss: Zeynep Tufekci,  “We're Building a Dystopia Just to Make People Click on Ads” (TED Talk and transcript) https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dystopia_just_to_make_people_click_on_ads?language=en

4. Midterm Review, or How Well Am I Doing in this Class?

For next class

• Watch the documentary Terms and Conditions http://laguardia.kanopystreaming.com/video/terms-and-conditions-may-apply-1

If that link does not work, here is the YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIiLoT4Po-c

• Browse: “The NSA Files.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/the-nsa-files

4/8: Presenting to an audience

Class

Today our class will present at the Latinx Symposium from 1:20 to 2:pm. We will leave a bit before 1pm for E-242 so we have less than one hour to complete our work.

1.  Get into your Wikipedia team. One person take notes. Read the section or article your team worked on, and discuss how it's changed, whether the change is for the better, and what work could still be done on it (if anything). (10 minutes)

• Jackson Heights before we worked on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jackson_Heights,_Queens&oldid=888090102
• Jackson Heights as it is today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Heights,_Queens
• Queens Pride Parade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_Pride_Parade

2. Switch your work with another team. Read their section and give them some feedback. (5 minutes)

3. One of the Wikipedians who worked along us in the Jackson Heights article is Epigenius. He was featured in the New York Times. Read a bit about him, and choose one person in the team to send him some WikiLove (5-7 minutes):   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/nyregion/if-you-see-something-write-something.html

4. Now fill out this reflection (15-20 minutes): https://forms.gle/yWyUveTio1jshU8N9

5. Choose a representative from your team to present to the Symposium. During the Symposium expect to be asked to stand up and be recognized.

For next class
Read and take notes of

• Andrews, “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg”
• Silverman, “The Reputation Racket”