{"id":1075,"date":"2019-09-14T19:52:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T01:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/?page_id=1075"},"modified":"2019-09-20T12:35:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T18:35:08","slug":"jacki-soister-reflections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/our-individual-pages\/jacki-soister-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Soister Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Design Renaissance – To Be or Not to Be (9\/20\/19)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we continue our conversation about the use of social\nmedia for social change, we come to design thinker, Tristan Harris, whose\ntagline states that he \u201chelps the technology industry more consciously and\nethically shape the human spirit and human potential.\u201d In his TedTalk, \u201cHow\na handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day\u201d (April 2017)<\/a>,\nHarris describes how YouTube, Facebook, SnapChat, and just about every other social\nmedia platform are in a race for our attention and time. Drawn in by\nSnapstreaks, Facebook notifications, and YouTube and Netflix autoplays, we hand over\nour time unwillingly, never to be seen again. Harris poses a sobering question:\n\u201cAt the end of our\nlives, all we have is our attention and our time. What will be time well spent\nfor ours?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, Harris doesn\u2019t leave us there. Once he has explained the way\nbig tech companies use \u201cbig data\u201d to direct our minds and our moments, he turns\nthe idea on its head, with his inspiration for a design renaissance<\/em>. What\ndoes this mean and how do we get there? Admittedly, this is a hard concept to\ngrasp\u2026and even harder to imagine coming to fruition. For somehow these tech\ncompanies, particularly Apple and Google which design the operating systems and\nsoftware on our phones, must make an about-face and use their big data in a\nmore altruistic fashion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ay, there\u2019s the rub. Rather than steering our attention toward matters that\nmake them money, data controllers working behind the curtain of social media\nsites and entertainment streamers will literally change their tune and ask us\n<\/em>how we want to spend our time. Based upon our answers, Harris suggests, personalized\ndata would be employed to our benefit and direct us in paths that can make our\nrequests come true. In an interview with Wired<\/em>\nonline (7\/26\/17)<\/a>, Harris presents it this way: \u201cLet\u2019s\ndo a massive find-and-replace from the manipulative timeline to the timeline we\nwould\u2019ve wanted to have happened.\u201d So what do I say in response? I say \u201cLet\u2019s!\u201d\n\u2013 indeed, \u201cLet\u2019s do it!\u201d But wait. Who is us <\/em>exactly who are going to initiate\nthis design renaissance<\/em>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the best of intentions, I pursued Harris\u2019s Time Well Spent<\/em>\nmovement and investigated his commendable non-profit, Center for Humane Technology<\/a>, whose mission\nis to \u201creverse \u2018human downgrading\u2019 and re-align technology with humanity.\u201d However,\nalthough I was impressed by his three years as a Google Design Ethicist studying\nways that \u201ctechnology should \u201cethically\u201d steer the thoughts and actions of\nbillions of people from screens\u201d (tristanharris.com<\/a>),\nI failed to see how and when Google, or any other tech company or SNS (social networking\nsite), had made efforts toward such a realignment, or any indication that they\nwould ever be incentivized to do so.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In both his\nTedTalk<\/a> and the Wired interview<\/a><\/em>, Harris presents the idea\nof Facebook replacing the Comment button with a Let\u2019s Meet button. Rather than\nranting and raving inside a comment box, site visitors could invite their Facebook\nfriends to meet for dinner to discuss their views in a more \u2018humane\u2019 setting. But\nWired<\/em>\u2019s Nick Thompson asked the obvious question, would people\ncommunicating with their friends on Facebook really rather get together for\ndinner? If you were to ask me, I would say, not really. And even if so, I don\u2019t\nknow that such a button would help me feel empowered over my attention and\ntime. Or, maybe Harris is talking about taking baby steps toward a better\nhumanity. But I think the tech giants<\/em> are not very interested in coming\ndown to his, or my level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris goes on to suggest that a major next step is to force greater\nbusiness accountability in the internet economy, especially when it comes to advertising.\nI couldn\u2019t agree more. But then Harris goes on to say that the real problem is\nnot the advertising itself, since it is often targeted exactly to our needs and\nwants, but rather it is the \u201cattention economy\u201d that is the problem \u2013 the advertising\nmodel that wants users to keep their time and attention on their platform as\nlong as possible. Certainly, I cannot argue with the latter, but I would<\/em>\nargue that the former, the advertising itself, has its own inherent evil in the\nonline realm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Possibly I am too much a cynic \u2013 but, if so, I am a reluctant one. I do want\n<\/em>to believe. I hope the brilliance of Tristan Harris will be enough to\ninfluence the powers that be to join together to launch his design\nrenaissance<\/em>. In the meantime, I will continue to propose that those of us\nwith some media literacy help other users better navigate their online\nexperience, rather than expecting that the internet economy will transform\nitself anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generational Movement From Slacktivism to Activism<\/strong> (9\/14\/19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are not many issues of more concern to me and thousands in Colorado than gun violence.  Not just gun violence; but mass shootings.  Not just anywhere; but in our schools.  In the midst of these events, social media is used as an avenue for expressing views about gun ownership and use.  Some use SNS (social networking sites) to argue for stricter gun control laws, while others promote looser gun carry regulations within their own interpretations of Second Amendment rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the latter, Patrick Parsons, Georgia Gun Owners Executive Director, is a good example. In the KUNC.org report about how Activists Are Using Social Media to Redefine the Second Amendment<\/a>, Parsons describes how he makes a Facebook post every day<\/em> on a Facebook page with over 400,000 followers in order to publicize his version of a gun rights bills that eliminates permit requirements in Georgia and makes a weapons license optional.  Even more, a lobbying app on his phone shows over 6,000 messages (as of March 2019) sent to Georgia lawmakers supporting a \u2018constitutional carry\u2019 bill.  Whether or not you are a proponent of Parson\u2019s cause, he is certainly taking advantage of several of Jennifer James\u2019s 8 Tips for Effectively Using Social Media for Social Change<\/a>, including her recommendations to: (1) Gather advocates, (4) Create sustained conversations, and (6) Identify your core demographic.  While Georgia Gun Owners members cover a range of ages, Parsons as a Millennial knows that his social presence and the lobbying app are crucial to his cause, and Tom Spengler would agree that \u201cthe ability to offer mobile and online apps to citizens is vital to engaging this generation\u201d (Civic Engagement: Why Millennials Have Outpaced Seniors<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Parsons is not the only young activist capitalizing on social media.  Even as \u2018far back\u2019 as 2013, the Pew Research Center on Internet & Technology in their Civic Engagement in the Digital Age<\/a> report stated that 63% of SNS users had \u201cgotten involved\u201d with fellow citizens in a meeting or group to solve some identified problem in their community \u2013 the national average is only 48%.  It is noteworthy that the PRC identified this as \u201cinvolvement\u201d in social activism rather than simply awareness, or what some have called slacktivism<\/em>: mere Facebook posts (or the like) of support for social change without the political activism to back it up.  On the other hand, Jonathan Moyer felt that from 2012-2016 slacktivism was alive and well (Political Activism on Social Media Has Grown Some Teeth<\/a>), even amidst mass shootings and terrorist attacks.  But late 2016 saw a major shift, which some say was initiated by the Trump campaign and presidency, and followed up by such events as the Women\u2019s March<\/a> and the March for Science<\/a>.  By early 2017, Moyer argued that the era of slacktivism had ended<\/a>, because \u201cpeople are now faced with real, personal, unavoidable issues that drive them into public spaces to attempt to break down oppressive structures [that] has resulted in a sort of national renaissance of political activism.\u201d  The study conducted by Howard, Savage, Saviaga, Toxtli, and Monroy-Hernandez in late 2016, Social Media, Civic Engagement, and the Slacktivism Hypothesis: Lesson’s from Mexico’s “El Bronco”<\/a>, came up with similar results.  Their research suggested that in recent years, when political leaders and citizen share a social media platform such as Facebook, there is a higher likelihood of positive civic \u201cengagement\u201d that results, an activism that goes beyond SNS slacktivism.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the trend continues, evident in the now-adulting Generation Z who are carrying the activism banner even higher.  January 2019 brought yet another Pew Research Center study, this one in Social & Demographic Trends, where it states that Generation Z Looks a Lot Like Millennials on Key Social and Political Issues<\/a>.  Furthermore, Gen Z continues to use social media to spread the word, not just to voice support online for a cause, but to invite its fellow members to act, to actually show up<\/em> at a rally or event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us back to gun violence in our Colorado schools.  After the most recent mass shooting at The STEM School in Highlands Ranch (May 7, 2019)<\/a>, students used social media to publicize a gun control rally, but then returned to the same platform to decry what they considered a politicization of their gathering.  The event began as somewhat of a vigil in honor of Kendrick Castillo, but soon transformed into a stage for various politicians to voice their political agendas about restrictive gun laws.  Even though many of the students would consider themselves gun control proponents, still hundreds of them marched out of the event within its first 30 minutes, exclaiming that their good intent had been turned into a \u201cpolitical stunt.\u201d  Soon social media was aflame with support for the students\u2019 counter-protest, but many SNS posts were by gun rights activists that identified the student walk-out as in their support.  Social media became a platform for who\u2019s on whose side, rather than communicating care and support for victims of yet another traumatic event in a Colorado community.  Danah Boyd had expressed a related concern in her lecture, \u201cWhat World Are We Building?\u201d (Oct 20, 2015)<\/a>: \u201cI watched activists leverage technology to connect people in unprecedented ways while marketers used the same tools to manipulate people\u201d \u2013 and the same can be said about those using SNS for political aims.  This brings us to an important moment of reflection about social media for social justice and change.  Social media as a platform for \u2018spreading the word\u2019 can be used altruistically or destructively, depending upon the word being spread.  We must keep a watchful eye and a discerning mind in our SNS communities and do what we can to help our younger generations navigate online so they can truly change their world.  As often as needed, we must quote Boyd in saying that \u201cwe need those who are thinking about social justice to understand technology and those who understand technology to commit to social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related article: \u00a0Should People Have To Pass A Social Media Check To Get A Gun?<\/a> (CBS Denver, Dec 4, 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Design Renaissance – To Be or Not to Be (9\/20\/19) As we continue our conversation about the use of social media for social change, we come to design thinker, Tristan Harris, whose tagline states that he \u201chelps the technology industry more consciously and ethically shape the human spirit and human potential.\u201d In his TedTalk, \u201cHow … Continue reading “Soister Stories”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"parent":81,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1075","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1407,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1075\/revisions\/1407"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}