Thu Sep 15

Writing & Thinking Workshop

DURING CLASS:

1. Writing & Thinking workshop

ACTIVITY A: Focused Free Write and Thought Chain

Guiding Question: How is the internet changing the way we live?

Read the prompt below.

Write a few sentences supporting the University’s action. Share.

Write a few sentences challenging the University’s action. Share.

Source: Daniel Solove, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet (2008)

In the ordinary criminal justice process, a person is innocent until proven guilty. The world of shaming works differently, as people are punished without a hearing. In 2006, the University of Colorado used a website to post surveillance photos of students and other individuals it wanted to identify for smoking marijuana on Farrand Field. It was long a tradition at the university for students to smoke pot on Farrand Field each year on April 20 — a party called “420 Day.” The university wanted to stamp out this tradition, so it created a website on which it posted pictures of 150 students captured in the act of smoking pot. According to the website:

The University is offering a reward for the identification of any of the individuals pictured below. After reviewing the photos (click on a photo for a larger image), you may claim the reward by following the directions below:

· Contact the UCPD Operations section at (303) 492–8168

· Provide the photo number and as much information as you have about the individual.

· Provide your name and contact information.

· If the identity is verified to be correct, you will be paid a $50 reward for every person identified.

· The reward will be paid to the first caller who identifies a person below, multiple rewards will not be paid for individuals listed below.

The website consisted of a grid of thumbnail photos that people could click on to get larger, high-resolution images. Pictures of students who were identified were stamped with the word IDENTIFIED in large capital letters. The Farrand Field website purported to investigate “trespassers” on the field. But it really appeared to be an attempt to use shaming to try to snuff out the embers of 420 Day. The Farrand Field website exposed students engaging in a minor infraction to being forever memorialized as drug users, and it did so even before students were convicted of any wrongdoing. Some of the students might have been smoking cigarettes; some might have just been there with friends. But their inclusion on the website implicated them.

ACTIVITY B: Scan the four prompts below. Select one prompt via class vote. Respond via Focused Free Write and then share via Text Explosion.

Source: Bruce Schneier, Data and Goliath: Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World (2015)

1

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said it: “We believe that modern technology platforms, such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple are even more powerful than people realize …, and what gives them power is their ability to grow — specifically, their speed to scale. Almost nothing, short of a biological virus, can scale as quickly, efficiently or aggressively as these technology platforms and this makes people who build, control, and use them powerful too.” What Schmidt is referring to is the inherently monopolistic nature of information. A variety of economic effects reward first movers, penalize latecomer competitors, entice people to join the largest networks, and make it hard for them to switch to a competing system. The result is that these new companies have more power than those they replaced.

2

In the 17th century, the French statesman Cardinal Richelieu famously said, “Show me six lines written by the most honest man in the world, and I will find enough therein to hang him.” Lavrentiy Beria, head of Joseph Stalin’s secret police in the old Soviet Union, declared, “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” Both were saying the same thing: if you have enough data about someone, you can find sufficient evidence to find him guilty of something. It’s the reason many countries’ courts prohibit the police from engaging in “fishing expeditions.” It’s the reason the US Constitution specifically prohibits general warrants — documents that basically allow the police to search for anything. General warrants can be extremely abusive; they were used by the British in colonial America as a form of control. Ubiquitous surveillance means that anyone could be convicted of lawbreaking, once the police set their minds to it. It is incredibly dangerous to live in a world where everything you do can be stored and bought forward as evidence against you at some later date. There is significant danger in allowing the police to dig into these large data sets and find “evidence” of wrongdoing, especially in a country like the US with so many vague and punitive laws, which give prosecutors discretion over whom to charge with what, and with overly broad material witness laws.

3

Most censorship is enforced by surveillance, which leads to self-censorship. If people know the government is watching everything they say, they are less likely to read or speak about forbidden topics. This is the point behind a 2014 Russian law requiring bloggers to register with the government. This is why the Great Firewall of China works so well as a censorship tool: it’s not merely the technical capabilities of the firewall, but the threat that people trying to evade it will be discovered and reported by their fellow citizens. Those who do the reporting don’t even necessarily agree with the government; they might face penalties of their own if they do not report. Internet companies in China often censor their users beyond what is officially required. Jeremy Bentham’s key observation in conceiving law panopticon was that people become conformist and compliant when they believe they are being observed. The panopticon is architecture of social control. Think of how you act when a police car driving next to you, or how an entire country acts when state agents are listening to phone calls. When we know everything is being recorded, we are less likely to speak freely and act individually. When we are constantly under the threat of judgment, criticism, and correction for our actions, we become fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — data we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has then become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. In response, we do nothing out of the ordinary. We lose our individuality, and society stagnates. We don’t question or challenge power. We become obedient and submissive. We’re less free.

4

During the 2012 election, Facebook users had the opportunity to post an “I Voted” icon, much like the real stickers many of us get at polling places after voting. There is a documented bandwagon effect with respect to voting; you are more likely to vote if you believe your friends are voting, too. This manipulation had the effect of increasing voter turnout 0.4% nationwide. So far, so good. But now imagine if Facebook manipulated the visibility of the “I Voted” icon on the basis of either party affiliation or some decent proxy of it: ZIP code of residence, blogs linked to, URLs liked, and so on. It didn’t, but if it had, it would have had the effect of increasing voter turnout in one direction. It would be hard to detect, and it wouldn’t even be illegal. Facebook could easily tilt a close election by selectively manipulating what posts its users see.

2. Review Fall 2016 course description, objectives and expectations

Course Description

Each semester, we gather to consider the internet’s profound impact on contemporary society and its wide range of effects, from impacts on privacy and intellectual property to technology’s evolving effect on socialization and the changing neuro-circuitry of our brains. Within our learning communities we give critical and creative thought to the cultural, economic, political and social implications of evolving internet technologies, borrowing from our everyday experiences and making connections to ideas and arguments presented by external audiences. For each class, we will examine ideas and arguments excerpted from books, blogs, news articles and scholarly journals and will demonstrate active engagement with this material by annotating this text with marginalia. We will also explore a wide range of video material, including the movies Her and Citizenfour. We will share ruminations via classroom seminar, online discussion, Twitter, original video (using iMovie and Vimeo) and Medium. My goal is to be a facilitator through texts that we examine together. Your contributions should be thoughtful, on topic, and respectful of others. You will do well to remember that this is not my class, but ours, and its success is dependent upon the contributions of every class member.

Course Objectives

• Consider the internet’s impact on society and our daily lives
• Sharpen skills in using the internet as a tool for inquiry (reading, listening and watching)
• Practice higher order thinking in writing, discussion and media production
• Develop a personal plan for living in the digital age with focus and integrity

Expected Time Commitment

• As a general guideline, you should invest at least two hours of outside work for every class meeting. If you have questions as you prepare for class, I am invariably available via email: robert6011@gmail.com.

Timeliness and Academic Integrity

• You will be penalized for submitting late work and/or unexcused class absence. Plagiarism or other acts that violate the integrity of our creative learning community will incur consequence.

Grading

• Connections among course texts, personal experience and the external world
• Interactive participation and leadership within our learning community
• Innovation, originality, risk-taking
• Thoughtful and honest self-assessment

Tuesday and Thursday classes

1. WATCH/READ/LINK: Examine the assigned video, reading and/or links

• Demonstrate active engagement with the text (e.g., by sharing a comment online, marking up paper text with pen and/or highlighter and bringing it to class)

2. WRITE/TALK: Participate in online and classroom discussion:

• Extend the conversation (e.g., by demonstrating that you are listening to others, offering a guiding question)
• Teach us something new (e.g., by sharing a link to a related article)
• Demonstrate higher order thinking (e.g., by going beyond understanding, offering connections to text-self-world, sharing analysis or original creation)
• In-class: “Raising your hand on your own” > “respond when called upon”

Classroom Leadership Assignments

• Homework classroom leaders (3): Read, Write, Links
• Digerati classroom leader
• Before class: Email me your draft lesson plan, receive and integrate my feedback as necessary.
• In class: make a coherent/compelling introduction, offer guiding questions to prompt discussion/debate, lead discussion and call hands, keep discussion moving forward

Sunday Stories

• Share a creative and course-related reflection via Vimeo (original video) or Medium (formatted text, integrated with media)

3. Distribute iPads and set up “Find My iPhone”

1. Receive iPad, case and charger. Record serial number. Verify NYC DOE wifi is working on your iPad.
2. Sign-in to iCloud with your Apple ID. Create a new Apple ID if you don’t have one already. Be sure and write down/keep track of your Apple ID email and password.
3. Turn on “Find My iPhone”. Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone — toggle to the ON (green) position.
4. Email me your Apple ID: robert6011@gmail.com

4. Preview

Complete iPad setup

• Respond to the pre-course survey (sent to you via email)
• Join our Internet and Society class on Google Classroom. I have emailed you an invitation to join, this account is tied to your bhsec.bard.edu account.
• Create a new Twitter account for use in this class. Follow our class account on Twitter: @bhsecinternet
• Create a new Medium account for use in this class. Use the “Sign in with Twitter” button so that your Medium and Twitter accounts are linked. Note that setting up your Medium account includes verification via email. Follow our class account on Medium: Internet and Society. Note that our lesson pages are published in the Medium Publication: Fall 2016.
• Create a new Vialogues account for use in this class. I have emailed you an invitation to join, you will be prompted to create an account.

Preview Sunday Story #1 assignment, due Sun Sep 18 (midnight)

• Should Apple comply? video. Publish your completed video on our shared class Vimeo account. Login: bhsecbooks@gmail.com Password: cutandpaste

Preview homework for class 1 (Tue Sep 20)

• Homework: write, watch, read, links