Final Reflection
Web 2.0 has evolved a great deal throughout the past decade or so, and has brought about significant changes in American and global civic life. The interactive nature of Web 2.0 has made it easier to create and share user-generated content (UGC), and have led for great opportunities for many to gather and share information and research. Throughout the course of the semester, we have covered many different aspects of Web 2.0 — and as the semester comes to an end I would like to reflect on the many concept and ideas that have helped me understand how Web 2.0 practices created shifts in everyday life.
A useful resource we have been given in class is Feedly, an RSS feed that organizes news sources and stories so that we only are shown what we follow. In page 29 of the textbook, An RSS feed “delivers to us blog postings based on a simple formula that selects only postings from blogs we have subscribed to.” RSS feeds are a valuable tool for staying up to date with news, content creation, and keeping digital information organized. RSS feeds can be customized by adding websites you’re interested in and using the information for various purposes, such as social media, news, etc. I use my Feedly account to learn more about social media marketing by following accounts like Hootsuite or Hubspot. RSS feeds do not have to be specific to news, but can be customized to various cateogries and niches.
We have learned that attention economies is defined as “a state in which cognitive resources are focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others.” Today, in modern times, technological advancements have made an excessive amount of information easily available, with the intention of capturing our attention. This sets apart the current era, as attention has always been scarce and valuable. Social media has made it easier for the general public to gain personal, deeper levels of attention. The idea of a parasocial relationship comes into play here, we watch influencers, youtubers, or celebrities share their lives on social media and oftentimes it feels like we have a direct relationship with them because we have a sense of comfort. This also means that we heavily trust what they say or promote.
Another thing I have learned throughout the semester is to be careful where I gather my information and news from. The various activities in class, and resources such as the Interactive Media Bias Chart have been extremely resourceful to me. As we have learned, we all hold biases. Unconscious bias is something we have discussed in depth throughout the semester and it has personally made me more aware of the content I consume. While there are those mainstream news outlets or publications that are known to be biased towards a certain affiliation, there are some outlets that are not as obvious, but still hold a bias.
One notable tip I have learned when it comes to web verification is that breaking news stories will be reported by multiple outlets. This can mean in all forms of news: celebrity news, health news, political news, etc. If you do a quick Google search on the topic being reported there usually should be multiple other articles that appear.
My favorite activity from the semester was the activity where we had to do reverse image searches and fact check images that we were shown. Reverse image search can be extremely helpful, especially in a social media world where deep fakes are often used to get a rise out of people. In class we looked at the viral video of the man cooking rice. This was fairly easy to be proven as fake and a prank because a simple Google search including “man cooking rice” or “rice wave” will instantly show the picture in question.
Another thing I have learned in class is that students are gullible about information on the internet, so educators need to cultivate more suspicion in them. It was not a shock to me to learn that there is currently a crisis around truth and facts. As we have discussed throughout the semester, social media is a large factor of this. Given the rice wave photo alone, many people fell for this prank and believed it to be real. While this is a harmful prank, spreading misinformation can be more damaging than we think. It can ruin reputations, images, and even cause threats to many.
The Check Please! activities that we have done throughout the course of the semester have been especially helpful in spotting misinformation. SIFT stands for: Stop, Investigate, Find Trusted Coverage, Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to the Original Context. “Stop” reminds us to stop and ask ourselves whether we know and trust the website or source of the information. “Investigate the Source” helps us learn more about where exactly the news or information is coming from, we should be asking ourselves questions like : is it a reliable source? What is the agenda of the publication or author? “Find Trusted Coverage” is to remind us that if we are skeptical of the resource we found, we should keep researching until we reach one that we know is reliable and trustworthy. Finally, “Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to the Original Context” reminds us to look for the original context based of media or quotes provided. SIFT can help us overall be better digital citizens — I know that since learning about it is has helped me remind myself on important practices.
One thing that has shocked me throughout the course of the semester is that Wikipedia is not as bad as everyone has made it out to be for the majority of my life. Wikipedia pages have to actually go through a lot of verification before they can get published and many with inaccurate information do not make it to the point of being published. I would have never known this if we did not learn it in class, and I now have been inclined to use Wikipedia more while gathering information and research throughout my Writer’s Blogs.
A final topic I wanted to discuss, and the one that inspired me to choose my medium feature story was the Ted Talk on Youtube algorithms for children videos. I found this video quite disturbing when I saw just how unfiltired algorithms can be. When children watch a pre-recorded video to Youtube of Cocomelon or Peppa Pig, James Birdle describes that there is no way to tell who is posting these videos, they just do it to get ad revenue, he even calls it “fake news for kids”(3:35). The problem is when these random accounts are linked to other random accounts, who are not posting kid-friendly content. There are millions of stimulating content on platforms such as YouTube, that feed off children’s attention spans and use it to their own benefit.
The way these people gain traction on their videos is by using search engine optimization terms that align with children, such as “paw patrol”, “peppa pig”, “suprise eggs”, or “shopkins”. These words are combined into videos that have nothing to do with the tags. The software can take a simple video of Thomas the Train, and then somehow the algorithm will find its way to an inappropriate video about Mickey Mouse (7:48). These videos that are not kid-friendly such as violent or sexual videos are crossed over with the “innocent” videos of children’s shows or toys. This can become a serious problem and it is important to understand how the algorithm works. On page 29 of the textbook, technological algorithms is defined as many of the algorithms involved in delivering data to us are executed by technological tools, mostly computer programs. After watching James Birdle’s Ted Talk, this makes much sense.
It is extremely important that we as digital citizens are conscious of what we distribute and consume. When we post something to the public, it is there for everyone to see. We must not be posting misinformation and be aware of our biases and try to avoid it at any cost. Given any sort of platform is important, whether I have five followers, 500, or 5,000, my content is reaching somebody. Words and actions can have significant impact on a reader, and small things like trigger warnings or viewer discretions can be vital in building trust and relationships with our audiences. By following online ethics, a digital citizen can be deemed credible and contribute to a safer and respectful online community.
