Number of Posts: 4
Posts 1 - 4
Big data’s power is terrifying. That could be good news for democracy
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 6.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | fake news, politics, social media, threat
Summary | Big data makes big new innovations possible. It has already been assumed that recent elections were manipulated by fake news targeted to gullable individuals on social media. Other people are looking into options of how big data can be used to improve democracy, for instance the Pirate Party in Iceland.
Image Description | An illustration of hands 'cracking' a computer and an image of female Icelandic politicians from the Pirate Party.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), keyboard
'I can’t trust YouTube any more': creators speak out in Google advertising row
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 21.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | marketing, YouTube
Summary | YouTube has faced much crticism because they have failed to withhold advertising from grossly offensive content on their platform, for instance terrorist or anti-semite videos. Advertisers have pulled back their payments in response. YouTube creators are also unhappy because a lot of their non-offensive videos are deemed not advertiser-friendly by the algorithm so they cannot monetize from those videos. This has led to a lot of censorship of eating disorder and LGBTQ content. YouTube overall seems to be more advertiser-friendly than creator-friendly.
Image Description | Hand pointing at YouTube logo and a tweet by a YouTube creator.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), logo, Twitter, YouTube
The five lessons I learned from breaking my smartphone
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 24.1.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | brain, research/study, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | After dropping her smartphone in the sink, the author lives without one for six weeks and discovers that she sleeps better without a smartphone, enjoys being unavailable, few things need to be tended to urgently, that she spends less money, and her memory suffers from having a smartphone. Studies have also confirmed that it is detrimental to one's sleep pattern to sleep next to a smartphone because notifications release dopamin in the brain similarly to a nicotine or recreational drug addiction. She values the time she now has to just not be available for messages from work because we tend to respond to any and all messages as if they were urgent when really they are not. The author reports to spend less money because she can no longer do online shopping on the go without a smartphone. She has also realized how dependent on Google she has become. Neurological studies confirm that our brains are adapting to the constant accessibility of all information by remembering how to find it and googling again if necessary rather than remembering the little snippets of information.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman's hands holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone
Darian Leader: how technology is changing our hands
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 21.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction
Summary | Today's digital era is marked by the effects of new technologies. For instance, space and time do not have as clear boundaries as before, and relationships have changed too, whether it is a good or a bad thing. One of the ways in which new technologies impact us is related to the use of our hands. We use our hands and fingers for new movements, and as a consequence, more people suffer from hand problems now. We have always used our hands and kept them busy; they are a very important part of us. As some movies exemplify, our hands sometimes act without our will. The same thing happens with new technologies; it is almost as if we cannot help touching our digital devices. Hands are agents with power. When people are addicted to something (e.g. smartphone), they cannot control themselves.
Image Description | Series of five photographs: Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam", poster of the movie "The Hand", screenshot of Elsa from the movie "Frozen", keyboard with silhouette of a hand, screenshot of a scene of "The Hunger Games".
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)
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