The writing reflection for this week covers the lectures "Big Data Business Plan" and "Attack of the Anons". This reflection is due on 10/10 at 5pm.

Note that the course staff are looking for your own thoughts on these topics. Writing in the first person, taking divergent viewpoints, and bringing in ideas from outside of class are encouraged. Write as if you are targeting a public audience. Particularly insightful or convincingly contrarian statements might be shared with the entire class in lecture or in the course slack.

This week's writing reflection considers the good that can come out of exposing or hiding your true identity on the Internet:

1. Most takes on the big data business plan criticize the arrangement that has users constantly uploading personally identifiable information to private corporations. What can be good about this arrangement though? It's rather suspicious that in spite all of the hand-wringing, nothing seems to change when it comes to how tech companies, and especially social media companies, create and market their Internet products.   
2. Describe a scenario where maintaining perfect anonymity on the Internet would be desirable. Recall that in the early Internet period, the idea that one could be anonymous was novel and intriguing to many new users. Over time, this changed, with users desiring as much public exposure as possible. In 2022, where might this still make sense?

Grading

Each reflection should be between 500 - 1000 words. It will be graded in terms of:

Does the reflection adequately address the prompt?

Does the reflection reference the readings and class discussions to support the writing?

Does the reflection exhibit thoughtfulness and creative expression?

Does the reflection utilize proper grammar and style?

Is the reflection an appropriate length?

Submission Instructions

• Prepare a doc in your folder named using this convention: lastname_firstname_duedate. Example: Joyce_Ellen_101023
• The TAs will collect each assignment directly from your drive after it is due