All Narratives (355)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 6 min
- Wired
- 2019
Spreading of harmful content through Youtube’s AI recommendation engine algorithm. AI helps create filter bubbles and echo chambers. Limited user agency to be exposed to certain content.
- Wired
- 2019
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- 6 min
- Wired
- 2019
The Toxic Potential of YouTube’s Feedback Loop
Spreading of harmful content through Youtube’s AI recommendation engine algorithm. AI helps create filter bubbles and echo chambers. Limited user agency to be exposed to certain content.
How much agency do we have over the content we are shown in our digital artifacts? Who decides this? How skeptical should we be of recommender systems?
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- 3 min
- TechCrunch
- 2020
This short article details a pledge inspired by the practices of the French government for tech monopolies to be more responsible in the areas of taxes and privacy. As of 2020, many have signed onto this initiative.
- TechCrunch
- 2020
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- 3 min
- TechCrunch
- 2020
Dozens of tech companies sign ‘Tech for Good Call’ following French initiative
This short article details a pledge inspired by the practices of the French government for tech monopolies to be more responsible in the areas of taxes and privacy. As of 2020, many have signed onto this initiative.
What does accountability for tech monopolies look like? Who should offer robust challenges to these companies, and who actually has the power to do so?
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- 5 min
- ABC News
- 2020
The United States government is pushing its interest in breaking up the tech monopoly that is Facebook, hoping to restore some competition in the social networking and data selling market which the company dominates. Facebook, of course, is resistant to these efforts.
- ABC News
- 2020
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- 5 min
- ABC News
- 2020
Facebook hit with antitrust lawsuit from FTC and 48 state attorneys general
The United States government is pushing its interest in breaking up the tech monopoly that is Facebook, hoping to restore some competition in the social networking and data selling market which the company dominates. Facebook, of course, is resistant to these efforts.
What role did data collection and use play in Facebook’s rise as a monopoly power? What would breaking up this monopoly accomplish? Will users achieve more data privacy if one large company does not own several platforms on which users communicate?
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- 7 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2020
This article details a new approach emerging in AI science; instead of using 16 bits to represent pieces of data which train an algorithm, a logarithmic scale can be used to reduce this number to four, which is more efficient in terms of time and energy. This may allow machine learning algorithms to be trained on smartphones, enhancing user privacy. Otherwise, this may not change much in the AI landscape, especially in terms of helping machine learning reach new horizons.
- MIT Technology Review
- 2020
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- 7 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2020
Tiny four-bit computers are now all you need to train AI
This article details a new approach emerging in AI science; instead of using 16 bits to represent pieces of data which train an algorithm, a logarithmic scale can be used to reduce this number to four, which is more efficient in terms of time and energy. This may allow machine learning algorithms to be trained on smartphones, enhancing user privacy. Otherwise, this may not change much in the AI landscape, especially in terms of helping machine learning reach new horizons.
Does more efficiency mean more data would be wanted or needed? Would that be a good thing, a bad thing, or potentially both?
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- 7 min
- Wired
- 2020
In discussing the history of the singular Internet that many global users experience every day, this article reveals some dangers of digital technologies becoming transparent through repeated use and reliance. Namely, it becomes more difficult to imagine a world where there could be alternatives to the current digital way of doing things.
- Wired
- 2020
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- 7 min
- Wired
- 2020
Hello, World! It is ‘I’, the Internet
In discussing the history of the singular Internet that many global users experience every day, this article reveals some dangers of digital technologies becoming transparent through repeated use and reliance. Namely, it becomes more difficult to imagine a world where there could be alternatives to the current digital way of doing things.
Is it too late to imagine alternatives to the Internet? How could people be convinced to get on board with a radical redo of the internet as we know it? Do alternatives need to be imagined before forming a certain digital product or service, especially if they end up being as revolutionary as the internet? Are the most popular and powerful digital technologies and services “tools”, or have they reached the status of cultural norms and conduits?
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- 5 min
- TechCrunch
- 2020
At the end of 2020, Twitch, a social network predicated on streaming video content and commenting, expanded and clarified its definitions of hateful content in order to moderate comments or posts which harassed other users or otherwise had a negative effect on other people. However, as a workplace, the Twitch company has much to prove before validating this updated policy as something more than a PR move.
- TechCrunch
- 2020
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- 5 min
- TechCrunch
- 2020
Twitch updates its hateful content and harassment policy after company called out for its own abuses
At the end of 2020, Twitch, a social network predicated on streaming video content and commenting, expanded and clarified its definitions of hateful content in order to moderate comments or posts which harassed other users or otherwise had a negative effect on other people. However, as a workplace, the Twitch company has much to prove before validating this updated policy as something more than a PR move.
How can content moderation algorithms be used for a greater good, in terms of recognizing hate speech and symbols? What nuances might be missed by this approach? What does the human part of content moderation look like? What responsibilities does such a position come with? How might content moderation on digital platforms moderate harassment behaviors in real life, and vice versa?
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Hidden Figures Part II: Goals of Equity and Women of Color in the Workplace
“Hidden Figures” chronicles the journeys of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), three black women who worked on the space missions at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia in 1961. All three women persist against segregation and abject racism as they climb the ladder and make important contributions to the space mission. While Katherine becomes the first black woman on Al Harrison’s Space Task Group, Mary Jackson pursues her dream of becoming an engineer at NASA by petitioning to take courses at an all white school, and Dorothy Vaughan attempts to learn the programming language Fortran in order to ensure that herself and fellow human computers are not replaced by the newest IBM 7090 computer.
How is the history of the oppression of Black people in America responsible for a lack of diversity in workplaces, including those involving science and technology in the present? What do technology companies in the current day need to consider in order to ensure that their workforce is diverse and equitable? What does the specific case of Dorothy being initially denied access to the Fortran book reveal about the past and present accessibility of minority groups to fluency in digital technologies? What needs to happen inside of and outside of the technology industry to ensure better opportunities for women of color in technology-focused workplaces? What role does implicit bias play in all of these considerations?
Hidden Figures: I Work Like a Dog