Social Media and Digital Cultures – Page 5 – Educational Opportunities and Considerations

Searching the Cyberspace Galaxy

As I am writing this post, I have a sense that every word I type is entering, not a black hole, but rather an internet galaxy of trillions of gigabytes (correction, zettabytes) of other words and images. And rather than entering what used to be deemed as a mysterious cyberspace, my words are now searchable, indexable, and can even be claimed and named by another person altogether. Scientists are finding, and naming, thousands of new planets and stars daily; the universe is not nearly so obscure. We are empowered by knowing we can now come to know what we don’t yet know.

But do I want to be discoverable – and discovered? How do I manage this vulnerability, when there is part of me that is drawn to the idea that others might be interested in, even impressed by, the words I have written? To be discovered, or not to be? I now have no choice either way.

So, what are my thoughts about online safety, security, and privacy? It is fading and getting beyond our grasp. I can only hope that Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is correct, that “these problems can be solved, and one of the great things about our society is that you can write these predictions out, and people will attack them and they will solve them.”

Maybe this is a non-issue, since these are public words I am writing – at least I am releasing them to be. But there are private words and images, or so I might desire, that are accessible as well, text messages to family members, personal photos posted for friends, locations identified where I have been, or even where I am right now.

I am relieved to have some resources now to start the long journey of ‘cleaning up’ my digital footprint. But, ironically, I am also aware that I need to take steps forward to actually add more footprints. However, my steps will be more cautious now, more intentional, probably rewritten many times over, and certainly not posted in haste.

So, I am choosing to be in an online world. And I want to be an informed mentor to those just now joining me in this galaxy; but even more, to those younger who have been born into this internet culture and who might feel disconnected even within their online connectedness. Danah Boyd shared a profound solution for helping young people who are overwhelmed by this social media world and “who are frustrated with the destabilized network landscape around them.” Both offline and online, young and old, “we must build and support sustained networks of people… [we must] protect people as networks” (Boyd, 2018). In other words, create and uphold real live communities, even if they are built within a virtual neighborhood. This allows for the proverbial “it takes a village” mindset, with people who can be mentors, internet navigators, and social media moderators of sorts. In these communities there can be the safety and security that comes from belonging and the mutual respect that will, hopefully, result in more online kindness.

NPR’s All Things Considered. (2013, Apr 22). Google Execs Talk Privacy, Security in ‘The New Digital Age’. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/04/22/178424347/google-execs-talk-privacy-and-security-in-the-new-digital-age

Boyd, Danah. (2018, Mar 7). What Hath We Wrought?. SXSW EDUCAUSE. [YouTube].

Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?

The young children’s song of “Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar” is a classic nursery rhyme where kids try to guess who took the cookie as they go around the circle. Oddly enough, with the addition of data mining, computer cookies, and data caches we are back trying to guess who took our cookies and in this case our search history.

So what exactly are computer cookies and what does this mean for our privacy? Whatarecookies.com addresses many frequently asked questions related to computer cookies and describes them as “small files which are stored on a user’s computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer.”

Cookies will record our usernames/ log in information as well as what we are searching or clicking on while browsing and then customizes web pages and advertisements accordingly. This is why you might notice the shoes you searched up weeks ago continues to pop up along the side of websites you are visiting or in suggested posts on social media applications. While it is very nice to not have to constantly log in to facebook and similar websites every time you visit the site, where my worry sets in is when I put in credit or debit card information.

The graphic above illustrates the distrust in our privacy and in no area is there more than 10% of the sample population that is very confident in our cyber security. I operate under the assumption that as long as I am online, privacy is not guaranteed because you never know who’s hand is in your “cookie jar”.

Scary social media

A quick search of Google Scholar of “Social Media Effects of Youth” will turn up a number of academic studies ranging from the effects of binge drinking of teenagers because of social media, to possible effects on how the mind processes information, to the social structure of the family, changing, all because of social media. All of these concerns have valid points; however, it is important to remember that every type of new technology has met some type of resistance.

The printing press, for example, came with its fair share of critics. Abbot Johannes Trithemius stated:

[The writer,] while he is writing on good subjects, is by the very act of writing introduced in a certain measure into the knowledge of the mysteries and greatly illuminated in his innermost soul; for those things which we write we more firmly impress upon the mind…While he is ruminating on the Scriptures he is frequently inflamed by them (Brann).

In other words, the printing press would take the writer, usually a monk, further from God. While one could argue that handwriting a book would put you more in touch with the author, the speed, by which new ideas could flow because of the printing press outweighed the need that every book be hand-copied.

Early Press, etching from Early Typography by William Skeen

The telephone, electricity, and even vaccinations have all come with critics voicing concerns. Some of those concerns have been valid, much like some of the criticism for social media.

Some of those concerns can be found in this article about students coming into the classroom already either having watched a video that only gives a one-sided surface level video about the topic being taught, or even to harass teachers because of something they said that was recorded.

Social media, much like these other leaps of technology, have their uses for the good of society as a whole. Because these are tools being used by humans, another, more sinister reason for use can be had as well. Think about the things that have been printed that have led to the loss of life, the number of people who are contacted by phone and scammed out of money, or the harm that social media can do to students/teachers in a classroom.

It is incumbent on all of us to call out the behavior we do not approve of and that can cause harm. This tool can be used for such good and can connect people and groups that no other technology has been able to before. My hope is that we can come together as a community and ignore divisive forces.

Brann, N. L. (1981). The abbot Trithemius: (1462-1516): the renaissance of monastic humanism. Leiden: Brill.

Skeen, William (1872). Early Typography. Ceylon: Government Printer, Colombo. p. 122.

Online Safety and Privacy: Is Ignorance Bliss?

What are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? What are your concerns? What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of social networking and media?

As I read the articles and watched the assigned videos on privacy and security this week, I threw myself in the fetal position, feeling the hopelessness that I no longer belong to myself.

via GIPHY

But seriously, according to WebHostingGeeks and Privacy International, we have very little knowledge and control about what personal information we share on the web and to whom. Apparently, we have been profiled, not only by the information we shared but by our online behavior. Should we panic?

I started worrying. So, out of curiosity, I googled myself and I found my personal information in pages where I have never participated or consented to share it, yet there it was. Mylife.com, zoominfo.com, voterrecords.com, to mention some. These pages had my full name, age, home address, working address, and they even offer a background check on me!

To access these records, you have to agree to the following: “I WILL NOT use this information to stalk anyone. If I see someone I know, I WILL NOT use this information for blackmail. I WILL NOT harass people whose criminal records appear on this site”. They even give you ideas!

As I stared at the screen, I wondered how they got my info –somehow, I must have given it to them. It took me a few seconds to decide to be proactive about it and found out how to request that my information is erased. I followed the recommended steps –with my fingers crossed that it wasn’t another trap. I am giving them a few days to see if it worked.

In case you are wondering, I did this:

So, all the reading and the googling made me aware of a problem I didn’t know I had. For me, it was just about being careful, and just thinking before posting. As one of the week’s readings said: “…privacy is the currency of our online lives, paying for petty conveniences with bits of personal information. But we are blissfully ignorant of what that means”. (Hess, 2017)

I haven’t decided yet if I liked it better when I didn’t know I had this problem. As I write this post, I still have more questions than answers. My stream of consciousness goes like this: What are my thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? Am I concerned about my safety? Is ignorance bliss? Who cares about my data? What do they use it for? Is it for selling me stuff? Can a cybercriminal use my information to steal my identity and buy a house in Timbuktu?

Lessons Learned

Whereas I don’t feel utterly unsafe for what I discovered with this assignment, I will be more careful the next time someone –or something– asks for my information. Here are some ideas on how to take advantage of the value of social networking and media while protecting my privacy and keep myself and my data safe.

Lesson 1: Take control!

Shape your digital footprint and make your online presence what you want it to be. This is not that difficult to achieve. Have “public” accounts for your professional online activities and let people find you. Be in charge of what the internet says about you. For example, it makes me happy that when I googled myself, I found my LinkedIn Page and some of my Prezi presentations, they make me look good!

Lesson 2: Just say no!

Do not give away your info. Next time you go shopping and the cashier interviews you to enter the rewards program, just say no! Don’t click on the “Accept cookies” button on random webpages. Don’t open suspicious e-mails. Don’t answer the phone if you don’t recognize the number (let them leave a message; if it’s important they will.) Personal information has a lot of value, keep it safe!

Lesson 3: Technical Precautions

Stop leakage of sensitive information by preventing the transmission of confidential data from your computer and mobile devices. How? Use the incognito browser, delete cookies frequently, check the privacy settings of the apps you use and the sites you visit. Disable your microphone in your phone and computer –someone or something may be listening. Likewise, disable the location services for mobile apps so they cannot collect that data. You can never be too cautious.

Lesson 4: Think before you post!

This one is obvious, but it’s worth remembering it. This is a classic:

Spiders, the web, and me

Flowering plant with a spiderweb attached.

I am pretty phobic about spiders, so when I saw one hanging out (literally) in the shower tonight as I started to step in, it occurred to me that my uphill battle against spiders in the house has some parallels to my efforts to maintain decent barriers within my internet and social media usage. (I would say I’m slightly less paranoid about the internet tracking) First, autumn seems to be on its way, and the spiders are either moving in to the house, or just being more visible. We’ve dealt with a minimum of a dozen spiders in the last week. I think spiders are marvelous outside the house, which I consider to be their proper setting. I enjoy watching them scramble around in our garden space, eating pests and keeping their numbers in check. They have amazing physical characteristics and an ability to go almost anywhere. Various internet providers, online services, and social networks can also be extremely useful and have a similar, more metaphorical ability to be everywhere. I recognize that my house will never be spider-free, and my network interactions will never be surveillance-free. On the other hand, I’m willing to go to some effort to minimize both spiders and data surrender. We try to minimize obvious cracks and food sources for arachnids in the house, and online, I pay attention to what information I’m willing to share and how I access various sites.

As I read through the various resources about what gets shared, stored, and tracked, I was edified to see that there wasn’t a ton of information that was entirely new to me. I use minimal profiles and background on my social media that I use for truly social purposes, like Facebook. For my more professional usage, I focus on more narrow, work-oriented background and contacts. I use multiple email addresses, including an essentially throw-away option for signing up for online services and the occasional online purchase, which I also try to minimize. I started using DuckDuckGo as my search engine a few years ago, and prefer the interface and results lists to Google. I clear history and cookies with some regularity, and the fact that my job as a librarian has me using multiple different computers in the course of a day or week, and searching for a wide variety of topics and products well outside my actual interests feels like a bit of extra camouflage as well.

There are certainly levels of privacy protection that I’m not ready to tackle yet and don’t really feel a need to utilize. I’ve been tempted to play with Tor browsing on occasion, but I am not really interested in the attention that can also arise from that usage or that of some of the more anonymous email providers. I’m also not ready to go to a progression of burner phones or drop boxes that start to feel more like I’m playing a role in a spy thriller than managing communication. Since so many industries and jobs expect some form of an internet presence, I’d rather manage and curate one that sends a message I want rather than be completely invisible to potential colleagues and employers.

Test Editor’s Thoughts on Privacy

My thoughts on privacy…

These are my thoughts on privacy…

Private Eyes, They’re Watching You…

Privacy by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

Privacy in the digital realm is of major concern. Which is no wonder as the number of data breaches of big companies continues to grow.

There is another concern, however, and that is the question of how companies and governments will use this information to influence society.

On need only look at China’s “Social Credit System” to bring up ideas of Orwell’s 1984 and Big Brother watching you.

This social system has been in development for a while. The system has roots in Mao’s rule, but in its current state, was created in 2001 (Hoffman). Sold as a way to build up a system for distributing credit, and illustrating trust, this program has a number of much more sinister applications. One can listen to what happens when a Chinese citizen gets a low social credit score, as this episode of NPR’s “Planet Money” covers.

In addition, there is a not so far fetched episode of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” that shows what could happen when someone’s social score drops so low that services are denied. Do people think that this episode mimics China’s Social Credit System? This video explains just that.

In this article from the Washington Post, there is an exploration of what the Chinese people think about this credit scoring system. Could this happen in the United States? This article in Fast Company suggests that it has already happened.

Is it as bad as most people from the West seem to think? According to this article in the MIT Technology Review, the answer may not be as straight forward as we think. In addition, the fact is that Chinese tradition is that of finding ways to incentive moral behavior.

Is this program a simple nudge to get people to behave in a way that is better for the greater good? Does this program make free-thinking citizens into robots who simply follow rules and do not question authority? What happens to those who are marginalized by this system? These questions might be answered with more study of this program.

Regardless of what one might think, as many of these videos and articles suggested, it is impossible not to have your data out there for companies or governments to use. In the end, every time we click “Accept terms” for forfeit a little privacy to get what we want or need from those companies.

Clement, J. (2019, July 9). Global identity theft data breaches 2018. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/215794/identity-theft-data-breaches-worldwide/
Elgan, M. (2019, August 26). Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/90394048/uh-oh-silicon-valley-is-building-a-chinese-style-social-credit-system
Kostka, G. (2019, March 21). What do people in China think about ‘social credit’ monitoring? Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/21/what-do-people-china-think-about-social-credit-monitoring/
Hao, K. (2019, April 23). Is China’s social credit system as Orwellian as it sounds? Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/f/613027/chinas-social-credit-system-isnt-as-orwellian-as-it-sounds/
Hoffman, Samantha (12 December 2017). “Programming China: The Communist Party’s autonomic approach to managing state security” (PDF). MERICS CHINA MONITOR. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
Netflix. (2016, October 21). Nosedive. Black Mirror. New York, New York.
NPR. (2018, October 26). Blacklisted In China. Planet Money. New York, New York.
YouTube. (2018, April 4). Is China Becoming A Black Mirror Episode (Social Credit). Asian Boss.

Safety, Privacy, Security Thoughts

As you think about your own use of social networking and media tools and platforms, what are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy?

In 2001, the Patriot Act was born out of the events of September 11th. The government openly said to the public that they were monitoring computers and telephones to find terrorist activity.

I remember the debate well between people back almost two decades ago. One side would say “We have a right to freedom! I don’t want some stranger peaking into my private life.” The opposing view would counter with “It’s for our own protection. They could be stopping thousands of terrorists attacks before they ever occur.”

Memes about government surveillance are still incredibly popular online today.

It’s funny that 18 years later, we are still discussing this issue. Only this time, it revolves around the social media platforms we use everyday.

In my opinion, as soon as you log onto the internet you are forfeiting your right to privacy. Your favorite search engine is building a profile on your search habits. Your go-to shopping website is keeping track of your purchases, updating what they advertise to you, and selling your information to other websites. Even insurance providers purchase your online data from companies to confirm or deny claims.

I have always grown up with some form of the internet for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t great when I was a kid, not like it is now. Ask Jeeves was still the premier search engine for school projects.

I’d imagine that my views on privacy are quite different than those who didn’t have internet growing up. In my mind, if I have to get an x-ray and take off my shoes at the airport, why should my online experience be any different? How about those pages of user agreements no one ever reads? Or the permissions granted to applications you use on Facebook? Privacy is not obtainable if you want to be “plugged-in” to society. That’s the world I was raised in.

What are your concerns?

My concern is not exactly about privacy. It’s more about how our online data is used to manipulate us. Facebook used targeted ads during the last presidential election to spread hate-filled messages and misinformation. Social media determines your political views and makes sure that what you are presented matches what you believe. Social media tricks kids into spending their parent’s money on micro-transactions.

At some point, the data being collected stops helping us. It started innocently enough. Targeted shopping advertisements, helpful automated search queries, and news articles that you might find interesting.

However, when social media begins to impact society as a whole in negative ways, that’s when I start getting concerned. Social media often seems to bring out the worst in people. There is no filter online. The ignorance and hate flows through message boards and comments. People spout hate speech, festering like a sore. Pretty soon, it spurs others to act out against other groups.

Churches get shot up. Gay night clubs get shot up. Schools get shot up.

I firmly believe that social media is one of the top catalysts for domestic terrorism. Security is not what these platforms aim for. Sensationalism makes money. Safety does not.

What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of social networking and media?

Personally, I am very weary of which platforms to utilize. I do not subscribe to a lot of sites. I am not a part of Twitter. I post occasionally on Facebook to advertise my shows, but I never engage in the community. During vacations, I post pictures to Instagram to store my photos and to let people know where I am and that I am safe.

That’s it.

My solution to my concerns has been to minimize my time in these social media communities. I use them when I need something specifically. I don’t use them to kill time or to follow strangers. I never use social media for news anymore. To get my news, I listen to NPR and go on to the BBC website for articles.

Often, I will use a VPN and clear my cookies to help keep my data collection to a minimum. If you haven’t tried this, I’d recommend it. You’ll notice a difference in your online experience. Ads will be different. News headlines will be more varied on Facebook. Most importantly, your data will be encrypted and protected from hackers.

Connecting with Connectivism

Connectivism has a core proposition — knowledge is not acquired.

As you know from our readings/viewings this week, connectivism is a learning theory advocated by George Siemens (and others) that emphasizes the importance and role of networks and connections; and learning, therefore, involves the ability to construct and navigate those connections and networks, and apply the results of forming networks and making connections to enhancing understanding, addressing problems of practice, and pursuing unrealized opportunities. So for a quick recap, recall that the principles of connectivism are:

Learning is a network phenomenon, influenced and assisted by socialization and technology.
Connectivism externalizes knowledge, with knowledge residing in a distributed manner across a network.
Learning is a process of connecting information sources, and nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
Capacity to know more is more important than what is currently known. (Or, as George Siemens articulates so well: “The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today.”)
The ability to see connections and patterns between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
The networked act of learning exists on two levels:
- Internally as neural networks, and
- Externally as the networks we actively form.
We externalize ourselves in order to know and be known. As we externalize, we distribute our knowledge across a network.

As a new blog post or page here on our WordPress site, please share your views on one of the following four questions related to the readings from the first few weeks of the course. I’m asking you to select one of the following prompts to expound on, contributing to our shared understanding of connectivism and how it applies to our work in this course and beyond:

Prompt A. Connectivism has a core proposition — knowledge is not acquired. What does that mean? If knowledge is not acquired, then what instead?

Prompt B. What is your response to the following quote from George Siemens? “Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking.” In what ways do you agree with this quote, and in what ways do you not agree with it? How does social media and social networking play into this?

Prompt C. What do you want to share about connectivism? Create your own prompt.

Note: We will be taking what we contribute here regarding connectivism and accomplish two additional tasks: (a) I will be inviting you to turn this conversation into a blog post for your base camp, and (b) I will be inviting you to use your new understanding of connectivism to correct and enhance the Connectivism page in Wikiversity.