MCS 164 in a Nutshell
This summer I took a class about digital media and participatory citizenship where we explored the nature of the digital world and how we as individuals are active participants in media. As our final assignment, we chose 5 pictures that depict the topics we focused on in the course with a brief explanation and posted on Instagram.
1. At the beginning of the course we focused on the privacy aspect of media. A lot of us are aware that once you post something on the internet, it is no longer yours and anyone can have access to it. We learned that multiple corporations and social media companies sell our own information to other companies in order to present advertisements on our news feeds giving us a higher probability that we purchase their products. Also, social media sites are connected to one another which is why sometimes you see advertisements for a website you were browsing within a different social media site.
2. We began to discuss the workforce in the digital world, specifically how gender comes into play. We watched a documentary that revealed how underrepresented and how unfairly women are treated in the digital workforce. There is a significant amount of males over females within coding/computer science careers. This has been due to the late exposure to computing and coding for females. Males are shown to code at early ages while females aren’t even introduced to the subject until late high school/ early college.
3. A topic that really caught me by surprise was the exploitation of workers in the technological world. This picture shows children in the Republic of Congo who are forced to mine for materials like iron that are used in producing digital devices. In addition, there are numerous factories, particularly in Asian countries, that force young children to work under harsh conditions with long hours and with little pay.
4. We also discussed how technology has shaped the way we communicate and influence relationships with one another. Nowadays, individuals communicate through text messages and online messaging rather than face to face interaction which can drastically affect personal relationships. We discussed the concept of “media switching” which means communication switches from one form of media to another (Facebook to texting or texting to phone calls). Individuals found it hard to communicate in different forms of media because different types of “languages” are seen on different types of media (texting uses emojis whereas emails are more formal).
5. Our last topic focused on how social media allows information (real or fake) to be spread so readily and easily. With the click of a button, you can share news, articles, headlines to thousands of other individuals and those individuals can repeat the process. But people must share information with caution. It is just as easy to share fake news and problematic information that can easily mislead people. We need to have the right sources in order to share accurate information.
This class has made me more aware about the digital world and its effects on individuals as active participants. Instead of blindly using our devices and social media platforms for entertainment we need to start posting with a purpose
