How We Use Social Media
Thu, Sep 28
We'll be joined in-class today by the group of computer hackers presenting at the Hackers' Roundtable Event for some Q&A on computer security. The material for today will be self-guided readings and reflections.
In today's readings, we'll learn about the current Internet landscape, and understand how it is rather different from the original design of the network. We'll reflect on the centralization of the backend infrastructure, and on how social media companies and cloud providers have played a role in it. We'll also consider our own use of social media, which has been, in some sense, guided by the restructuring of the Internet.
We have two main learning goals. You will:
- Learn about the evolution of the Internet from a highly distributed network to a network that directs much of its traffic through a handful of very powerful services.
- Consider our behavior on social media, where we have access to a global audience.
Read This:
Stephen Marche asks if Facebook is making us lonely in the Atlantic.
From the Wall Street Journal's 'Facebook Files': Facebook Knows Instagram is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show
From the Wall Street Journal's 'Facebook Files': Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead
Rani Molla explores how the pandemic has changed social media in Vox
Ian Bogost says So Much for the Decentralized Internet in the Atlantic.
The Mozilla Foundation wants to know Who controls the Internet?
The following supplemental readings discuss other aspects of the centralization of the Internet:
Tech Giants, Once Seen as Saviors, Are Now Viewed as Threats
Gmail and Other Popular Google Services Experienced a Partial Service Outage at a Very Bad Time
Amazon Cloud Sputters for Hours, and a Boatload of Websites Go Offline
Here's How Google Makes Sure It (Almost) Never Goes Down
2019 Internet Society Global Report: Consolidation in the Internet Economy
Do This:
Writing Reflection 04
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 10/3 at 5pm.
Next Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Schedule your group meeting for next week. The new prompt is: Is there a social media platform out there that's doing things better than the others?
Project 01
This project is due Thursday 11/2 at 5pm.
The project for this unit on social media will be the production of a video that summarizes your group's dialogues over the course of the next several weeks. Review the instructions that have been posted on the Project 01 page.
Watch This:
Watch the segments "Acid Flashback" and "Altered States" from the 2016 documentary film HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis. If you happen to have a lot of time on your hands, the rest of the film is very much worth watching.