Workshop Responses

Final Reflections – Alice Wu

The week dedicated to Ethnographies of the Digital had the greatest impact on me, specifically the article about the Quipu Project. Not only did I learn about a meaningful current event, but I was also exposed to the ways in which interactivity can be served to educate. The Quipu Project is considered “interactive, multimedia documentary” on unconsented sterilisation in Peru. It is inspired by an Incan method of record, called quipu, that uses knots and colored threads to record information. The quipu is beautifully integrated into the website as the different colors represent testimonies of different events. It is a very powerful way of claiming their culture and history, but also educating consumers about unconsented sterilisation. Users has agency to select which “thread” they wished to listen to with the parameters of the duration of the audio and the type of testimony. The freedom to choose has been a repeated theme in this class. Giving users options, or creating an interactive medium, creates a more relaxed environment for the user as they consider themselves to be in control. This reminds of me of the subtleties of what we are presented online, to be conscious of what I am absorbing, and to consider how what I may be absorbing may impact me. With the Quipu Project, I was in awe with the ways in which the website is designed. The freedom is select what testimonies I wished to listen to or to skip created a more positive experience for me. Because of the positive experience that I had from this website, I have been exposing my friends about the Quipu Project for it to gain the recognition that is deserves.

Important Takeaways from Digital Cultures Course – Rachel Groth

My favorite part of this course was the unit on the digital image and memes. Particularly, I really enjoyed Geert Lovink’s “Overcoming Internet Disillusionment: On the Principles of Meme Design”. This reading, and the unit in general, really allowed me to more deeply analyze the implications of living in a digital, meme-filled world. I was especially intrigued by Lovink’s pessimistic, cynical analysis of the digital world, which has at once shielded us from reality but also over-exposed us to reality to a point of disillusionment. Moreover, I was really moved by Lovink’s analysis of today’s world as the “post-factual era”, and how this has created a world where Donald Trump can be successful. This has stuck with me. Lovink’s examination of how the Trump election was related to the potential backfiring of “media literacy” has given me a new perspective which I have found very useful for my own understanding of today’s circumstances. In the wake of Trumpism, it is hard for many of us to comprehend that this absolute absurdity we are experiencing is reality. Media has allowed there to be a culture of falseness, and the ability of any user to share any opinion and read any other opinion. “Media literacy” now must be defined as the ability to understand which sources are trustworthy. This problem also expands to a larger scale, as media, algorithms, and big data manage electoral and ideological politics, the economy, and our prison system. I have looked back at Lovink’s reading several times and plan to continue to do so, because I think it contains information that is crucial for our understanding of today’s digital world. Learning about Digital Cultures is not only for those who are interested in computers and technology; it is crucial to analyze how digital media influences our world. It is everywhere, all the time, and it affects our systems and our selves constantly. I will continue to learn about this subject to gain a deeper understanding of how media affects our circumstances and try to use this information to combat the evils of the world while I can.

Final Reflections – Sam Wacks

I think one of the most interesting topics we discussed during the semester was that of surveillance in its many forms. Biometric information, NSA spying, and face-recognition technology all combine to make the modern world the most surveilled time in history despite relatively peaceful global conditions. The simple availability of information seems to be enough of a reason to gather it even when there is not much justification for it. Reading about it can feel like reading science fiction or a paranoid conspiracy theory site, but all of these things have been well documented. It seems like most people have simply accepted that their data will be collected in exchange for convenience. I am interested to find out whether there is a limit to such complacency, some tipping point that will cause public outrage about surveillance, or things will just continue this way for the foreseeable future.

What I Liked Best – Briana Li

My favorite material from the course was Bandersnatch. I had watched the film before in my free time but never analyzed it as deeply as I did when writing the essay about non-linerarity and interactivity. It was so interesting to me because I had never seen anything like it on a streaming platform like Netflix. It so seamlessly integrated the interactivity that is used as a tool throughout the film and I really enjoyed breaking down the choices that were made by the creators of the film and explaining why they made them. It made me think a lot about how the editing, sound and whole production of a film can really affect the delivery of the story it is telling and how interactivity in film can add a whole other layer of meaning to a film. The essay was also really fun to write!

Automation of My Future Career – Rachel Groth

I am still pretty undecided about my future career, but I will probably be working in social services and/or the non-profit sector helping those in disadvantaged communities, whether it’s through therapeutic services, community education, or something similar. I believe these kinds of jobs would be some of the last to become automated— it takes a very human power to be able to understand the subjective, complex nature of human minds. Some AI softwares already exist, such as Woebot, a robot that checks in with you about self-care and mental health. While this robot is very smart, it still can’t understand the complexities of one’s experiences, behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. I think software like this is awesome, but there will continue to be a need for humans to help other humans.

Automation Workship – Briana Li

My dream job would be a product designer. Product design is designing user interfaces to meet the needs of the business, the users and the engineers building the product. A lot of the tasks can be automated such as automating the ui prototype designs from a software like Sketch or Adobe XD to HTML/CSS code. However, thinking from the perspective of a designer is not something a robot could automate. It requires empathy and other human-like qualities that automated systems cannot learn.

Automation Workshop – Alice Wu

My dream job would be to assume the role of a UX designer or a product manager. I am very interested in how users interact with modern technology, and how we can evolve from what currently exists. I can not imagine my tasks being automated as it is so central on focusing on the user experience and how people think. It has been proven that existing machines have an explicit bias, and so giving machines the ability to dictate how users should consume information would express this bias.

Automation Workshop – Sam Wacks

My dream job is to do neuroscience research, either in academia or R&D for a corporation. There are some parts of this career that have already been automated somewhat, as I’ve found while working in a lab this semester. The analysis of brain waves can be done by algorithms to determine what stage of waking a rat is in (REM sleep, active wake, quiet wake, etc.), but the algorithm is not very accurate and so I have to check all its results by hand. If data analysis methods are improved significantly it is possible that this could all be automatic in the future, but scientists are not likely to trust a computer to do this without human checks. Working with live animals in the will probably not be entrusted to robots due to ethics and safety concerns, and surgeries on lab subjects must be done by hand. Overall, I think that “intellectual” work like scientific research is probably mostly safe from automation due to the fact that it involves a lot of creative thought and analysis. This is one of the reasons I chose this career in the first place.

Automation Workshop: Lin-ye Kaye

I think I will try to become a database administrator. Since this job involves a lot of programming and decision making, tasks that are difficult to automate well, I do not foresee many of my daily tasks becoming automated.

Anatomy of a Battery – Team

Click here to view our presentation on the anatomy of a lithium-ion battery!

Selfie Workshop – Briana Li

Selfie Workshop – Alice Wu

Selfie Workshop – Sam Wacks

Rachel Groth

Lin-ye Kaye (Selfie Response)

Venezuela Crisis Meme Response – Briana Li

Alice Wu

Rachel Groth

Lin-Ye Kaye

Venezuelan Crisis Meme – Sam Wacks

Becoming a User – Alice Wu

My siblings, who are older than me by seven and eight years older, were my first exposure to social media. I diligently stood next to them at the screen looking at them play neopets or club penguin in awe. As they got older, the animated characters and games was visited less and less communicating online became the next big “thing”. Instant was more private than calling on the phone and also gave the ability to talk to multiple people simultaneously. Instant messenger such as MySpace or aim replaced the colorful characters that made up neopets. When I was finally able to use the computer on my own, the inspired six year old made my first social media account. It was an aim account, and my username was ‘sweetiepiie047’. I had three friends: my brother, my sister, and the aim bot that I would talk to occasionally if my other two friends were busy. There were some features of aim that I really loved: the logo of little yellow cartoon person, the away messages that people would have if they were busy, and the faces that were being sent via instant messenger. I was not of age to carry a phone, so Aim was my ‘connection’ to the outside world. I was the only one among my friends who had an aim account – I guess it was not popular for six year olds to have an aim account. This was my first encounter of the digital world. I learned the nuances of the different emoticons for its time (i.e smiley faces, annoyed faces, sad faces), abbreviations for terms such as lol and lmao, and different social cues that make up using an instant messenger.

At eleven I made an entered a new social media platform – facebook. It was the platform that all of my friends were using, and therefore the account where I would have the most interactions with friends. There was something thrilling about lying about my age to make an account. My current user identity could be exemplified through my facebook profile. I have had it since I was eight years old, and although there is significantly less activity from me, it is still a very active part of my life as a college student.
As more and more years are using social media, companies began to notice a profitable opportunity for them and have been selling user data. As a result, there has been noticeable change in activity as trust between the internet and users are dissipating. There is now less activity on the home page of Facebook but one of Facebook’s major features, Messenger, is one of the most downloaded apps. People are choosing to download Messenger instead of the Facebook even though Messenger. This goes to show how essential it is for people to try to connect with one another.

My Becoming User Story – Briana Li

My first experience being a user was on Webkinz when I was around 9 years old. Webkinz are stuffed animals that each come with a unique code that when entered online to webkinz.com allow you to virtually play as your pet in the “Webkinz World”. The website allowed you to name your Webkinz and customize the clothes it wore and how your house looked like. I felt like my identity online was formed by these customizable elements of the game. It also allowed you to play a variety of games, invite other friends over to your house where you could chat and interact with them, and collect money by answering general knowledge questions and completing minigames every couple hours or so. It is the earliest memory I have of feeling like I was addicted to an online game/website.

My current user identity is shaped by the social media accounts I use. These are primarily Facebook, Spotify and Instagram. While I am not actively posting on Facebook, I think my identity is primarily formed by the posts that I share which often are promoting extra curricular activities I am involved with on campus and the photos that I am tagged in (show who I am close with). My Spotify plays a large role in defining my identity because I am constantly streaming music (walking in between classes, while I’m doing homework, etc.) and I am a musician myself. It allows me to easily discover new music and create playlists for the types of music I want to listen to depending on my mood. A lot of people know me for my music taste and I love to curate playlists for close family and friends. I am most active on Instagram and use it up to 2 hours a day. I feel like I have a complicated relationship with Instagram (as most people do) where I am constantly feeling torn between wanting to curate my feed to represent the most ideal version of myself to the world whilst still maintaining an identity of not caring what people think of me. Most of my posts are of me, me with friends, or something I see in my day that I think is aesthetically pleasing. I scroll through Instagram whenever I am bored or want to keep up with what my friends are up to. I also use it to keep up with friends that I am not as close with anymore.

I’m using technology for at least 4 hours a day for homework, reading and sending emails, listening to music and communicating with friends. I think the only times where I truly do not engage with it is when I am showering and sleeping, which is kind of frightening to think about.

Workshop 1 – Sam Wacks

I became a user of social media around the age of 13. The platform I used is no longer in existence; it was Google Buzz, Google’s attempt to respond to the popularity of Facebook. The platform ultimately failed due to problems with user data privacy, but I didn’t know about that at the time. I and my fellow middle schoolers used it to complain about homework and post the lyrics to pop songs we liked, as well as early forms of memes. After a while the platform was shut down and most of us had Facebook accounts to use instead. Currently I mostly divide my use between Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. A Facebook account feels almost mandatory in the current culture, so I’ll occasionally update my profile picture and ‘like’ my friends’ birthday wishes, but the fact that it’s so connected to real life acquaintances prevents me from posting much. I use Instagram to post art that I create, as well as curating aesthetically pleasing snapshots of the world around me. Lastly, I use Tumblr to post and re-post about things I’m interested in, like cartoons, discussions about queer issues, and other people’s art. Technology is almost entirely integrated into every moment of my life. I use it for homework, to communicate with friends and family, and to find out what’s going on in the world. I think the only time I’m not using tech is when I’m working with my hands, doing art, knitting, embroidery, or making and eating food. Even then the results of that work may end up being posted on social media. It feels impossible to extricate oneself from being a user of technology at every waking moment.

Social Media as Curation (Lin-ye Kaye)

Shelfari, a website that has since merged with Goodreads, was a social cataloging platform that allowed people to keep track of the books they read. I created an account when I was in middle school because it was a requirement for a library and technical literacy class. I didn’t make original content but used the site to keep track of which books I read, when I read them, and general comments I had about them.

Currently, I use Tumblr, Facebook messenger, and Spotify the most. On Tumblr, I “reblog” or share content that other people make, be it stories, visual art, gifs, music, or analyses of video games and TV shows I enjoy. Since my blog is public, and I share content, my user identity is the most pronounced on this platform. However, I choose not to write about myself or post personal information, using my blog to curate my interests instead. I’m pretty thorough about tagging what I reblog, partially out of courtesy to people who block specific tags and partially so I can find things again later. I use Facebook Messenger to talk to my friends. Ironically, most of them are on campus, but spotty cell service made it easier to use Messenger instead of texting. This is the platform I share the most personal information, but feel reasonably secure in doing so because I can choose who I write to. I used to post things to Facebook, and while I never posted anything very personal, I barely post at all after the Cambridge Analytica fiasco. I use Spotify because I’m a stingy college student who doesn’t want to pay for or pirate music, and I enjoy making and listening to playlists.

I spend several hours on these apps each day, either for personal enjoyment or communication. I won’t use Spotify when my friends and I are being social or during class, but all other times are fair game because I enjoy listening to music. I won’t use Tumblr when I’m trying to be productive. I feel like I need to be accessible to my friends, so I only disable notifications on Messenger when I need to get work done without being distracted.

Becoming a Cyborg – Rachel Groth

I became a user far before my memories expand, so I had to call my mother to learn more about my becoming user story. She told me that I was two years old when I first started playing CD-ROM games. These included Reader Rabbit, Madeline, and Muppet-themed games. I have vague memories of sitting by the computer, learning, and enjoying myself thoroughly for long periods of time. When I asked my mother what exactly I did on those games, she realized that she did not quite know what exactly I was doing on the computer, even at that age— analogous to the way our relationship is now, where each day I spend with her she asks me several questions about how to use her digital objects. She said there have I have always instinctively understood computers in a way she hasn’t— even when I was a toddler.
This leads into my current identity as a user. Realizing that I don’t even remember a time when I was not a user, I now own up to my identity as a cyborg. Digital objects were a crucial component on my own development— as I got older, I graduated to more advanced video games, Neopets and Webkinz, email and instant messaging, music and gaming apps, social media, and eventually coding. I have trouble being away from my digital objects (i.e. my phone and laptop) for too long because I rely on them, in a similar way to how I rely on parts of my own body. When I don’t have them around, I get a sense of uneasiness— they are comforting to me.
A particular software on which I rely heavily is Google. I use Google as a constant encyclopedia to whom I can ask any and all of life’s questions, without judgment, and oftentimes get a pretty decent answer. When my friends ask for advice on any topic, oftentimes my answer will be “Google it” (to which sometimes I get eye-rolls— not everyone thinks the answer to everything is in a highly algorithmic Internet search engine). Similarly to the uneasiness I feel without my technology, I also despise the feeling of having a question but being unable to Google it in the moment for whatever reason. I have realized that technology has lended me an intolerable impatience that I have been trying to work on.
Overall, I am okay with my identity as a cyborg. Digital objects have enriched me and made me more well-rounded and knowledgeable. However, in recent years I have realized that my reliance on technology has made it more difficult for me to be fully present in the outer world. Therefore, I have been putting more effort into curbing this issue by finding other hobbies and setting limits on my use of technology.