Throughout this term, we have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. At first, we dealt with how media has evolved to what it is today, but also, how we lost some in the process. There are media that, while they have influenced new media, they are no longer used today. Also, those who believe that digital formats aren’t as effective as “traditional” media like books and paper. There is fear amongst some academics that essential values of humanity are being lost via computers and smartphones. Them, we transitioned into remediation and discussing how “new” media are really just an evolution of previously existing media. For example, Twitter drew inspiration from telegrams; Instagram drew inspiration from polaroid photos; laptops compile features that are based on typewriters, encyclopedias, etc.

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This last module focused on the dark side of digital culture. While at first glance, there are a lot of benefits to this growth and evolution of technology, there are definitely some down sides. During Dr. Koopman’s lecture, he discussed “redlining” – what started as real state mapping turned into a tool for racial segregation. These maps collected data on those who lived in each household, and based on that data, real estate companies would create maps that showed the profitable neighborhoods. This is an example of personal data being used without people’s knowledge. In 2018, this has become quite the controversy. For years, we created social media profiles, email accounts, profiles in shopping sites, etc., without knowledge of the potential of the data we were so comfortable given away.

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One of the first Facebook data breaches (that we know about) took place in 2013 (Shih, 2013). The company admitted that the emails and phone numbers of 6 million users had been exposed to unauthorized viewers. Facebook started in 2006 – how many breaches could’ve taken place in those 7 years that the company might not have disclosed? Despite this initial incident, early in 2018, the New York Times exposed that Cambridge Analytica had been harvesting the data of over 50 million Facebook users (Rosenberg, Confessore, & Cadwalladr, 2018). The data was used to create highly-tailored political advertisements. By the time the New York Times had published the story, which revealed that the breach and the misuse of data by Cambridge Analytica had been going on for years, Facebook had yet to make a statement or go public on the matter. This makes me wonder what would’ve happened if the reporters and researchers at the New York Times hadn’t exposed the breach. Would Facebook users still be in the dark about how their data was being used?

In addition to these type of data breaches – websites are always collecting data on our behavior. Google Analytics can track anything from how we landed on a page, the pages that we visited, and for how long we were on a specific website. There are tools like HotJar who record the behavior of users on specific web pages – videos included. All of this is used to better understand users and figure out how best to market them. While I knew about some of these before working at a Digital Marketing agency, being in that environment opened my eyes to all the ways through which our behavior online is tracked. There really is an endless amount of possibilities. Usually, companies do have a Privacy Policy and a Terms and Conditions that lists how the data is being used, stored, and disposed of, but no one ever really takes the time to read these.

As a result of the Facebook breaches, the European Union decided to set in place a set of regulations to protect the data of users accessing websites from within the EU. They called the set of regulations – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The goal of the GDPR is to make website users more aware of how they’re data is being used, and also, provide them with more power over that data. Under GDPR, businesses and companies are obligated to inform their website users of any data breaches their websites or servers might have been exposed to (Palmer, 2018). Playing a role in keeping citizens informed.

Overall, the Internet is a scary place and I think we’ve lived in ignorance for a really long time. Websites have been collecting data since the beginning of the Internet, and that data has been exposed endless times. The difference is that now we’re aware that our data has been exposed. So, what does this mean for us as users? What dos this mean for corporations like Facebook? Do we need to set policy in place to held them accountable? Where does the responsibility lie?

Works Cited:

Palmer, D. (2018, August 03). What is GDPR? Everything you need to know about the new general data protection regulations. Retrieved from https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-an-executive-guide-to-what-you-need-to-know/

Rosenberg, M., Confessore, N., & Cadwalladr, C. (2018, March 17). How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html#click=https://t.co/UAg1Q5t1BG

Shih, G. (2013, June 21). Facebook admits year-long data breach exposed 6 million users. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/net-us-facebook-security/facebook-admits-year-long-data-breach-exposed-6-million-users-idUSBRE95K18Y20130621

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While social media presents a lot of new opportunities to share content, create and produce content, and connect with people all over the world, social media has presented issues when it comes to copyright. There are types of media that social media apps can easily identify and flag as copyright violation and remove. For example, applications like Instagram can identify if a copyrighted song has been used on a video and take down the video. While this is great for artists who are already established, musicians who use Instagram to share their music might face issues with unauthorized parties sharing their it without permission. I have encountered the issue of people reposting images without giving appropriate credit to the owner. Unfortunately, a technology has not been developed that facilitates the process through which images are flagged for copyright.

Where does the responsibility lie? Is it Instagram’s job to patrol their platform and make sure people are only uploading their own content? What are the consequences for those who share content without the owner’s permission? Should Instagram stop being available until they find a solution? At this time, users can file a copyright claim if one of their photos has been shared without their permission to get it taken down. Unfortunately, unless you stumble upon your image on a different account, there is no way of knowing how many times and who has reposted an image without the owner’s permission. What about the captions that accompany these images? It is very common to uses quotes from famous texts, how are these texts protected?

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The class discussion when we talked about copyright and authorship made me think about what Petrarch would think about the OPOB Twitter and about my Instagram project. Would he be okay with people changing his work and sharing it on social media? Not only are we sharing his work, but we are changing it, adapting it to the platform based on what we believe fits best. What if he didn’t like the translation? Would he have it right to request it be taken down? I have always thought that while remix and mashup are great ways for artists to develop their creativity, I think artists should have the power of deciding how their work is used.

In addition, traditionally, only “professional” work has been protected by copyright on social media platforms. Professional photographers, published text, music released by record companies are just a few examples. What happens if I take a photo on my phone and post it on Instagram? Will this image be protected? There is definitely work to be done when it comes to drafting law and policy in regards to creative work on social media. How do we protect the creativity of those who use these platforms to share their passions? And, how can we set a technology in place that easily identifies if someone else’s image has been reposted without permission?

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Everything that gets shared on social media is data that is being collected by tech companies, used by brands to advertise, and who knows what else. Not only is what we share being collected, but also our behavior on these platforms. The posts that we like and accounts we engage with are only a few examples. In addition, our behavior online is like a network – the data from one site gets transferred on to another, which is why after we’ve been browsing a clothing site, we are then inundated by ads for that specific brand when scrolling through Facebook. While there is a lot of uproar over “big data” right now, a lot of concern, I wonder how things will develop. It reminds me of WikiLeaks and that type of scandal that gave the impression of things changing… but have they?

The word is not dead. And the book is not dead. They have suffered an evolution. They’ve changed shapes and shifted the way they operate. In today’s world, there are some many ways through which the word can be displayed and through which the word can be executed. There are also new methods through which the word can be studied and analyzed. While there have been some who have lost hope, clinging to the traditional paper-book format, there are other scholars who have taken it upon themselves to take advantage of the new technologies and what they have to offer. Some examples include Dr. Massimo Riva and the Virtual Humanities Lab, Dr. Marc Olsen, Dr. Serena Ferrando, and Dr. Crystal Hall.

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When listening to scholars speak about the various ways through which they’re navigating the ever-changing environment, I couldn’t help but feel inspired. During Dr. Massimo Riva’s guest lecture, he discussed how he and his team were working on displaying the Garibaldi panorama in a 3D YURT exhibition. I kept thinking about how people were going to get the chance to experience art as if they were a part of it. A feeling and perspective that had never been possible before. Another example he gave was having the artwork be interactive, using touch screens that people could use to steer the art work. It was amazing seeing little kids wanting to be a part of the art and engage with it, something the traditional framed-art form might have not achieved.

Another example, and one I was fascinated by, was Dr. Serena Ferrando and The Navigli Project. Up until now, I thought of maps as what takes me from point A to point B. Maps was the app on my phone that tells me where to go. During this lecture, Dr. Ferrando introduced a brand new use for maps and mapping I wasn’t familiar with before. Using maps to trace the location and time of poetry in relation to water in Milan is incredible, and it made me think about all the other ways maps can be used to illustrate other type of text, not just poetry. As we have discussed in class, sometimes displaying texts in different ways adds something to what the text says. In this case, I think mapping text, any text, can provide additional context, show that the text occupies geographical space, and also, the text exists beyond the words/art.

Image from https://colbycollege.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=4882d326c5364e0a9b3a79d96b3c2c4d

These two examples were the ones that really inspired me. The others projects were equally inspiring in that they showed how technological development have opened new doors for textual analysis, but they didn’t resonate with me as much as the others. In the case of topic modeling, while I think it is a useful tool for exploration, I fear that it is the kind of tool that can make us lazy. This method helps us identify patterns in text, but in my opinion, there is only so much algorithms can do in terms of analyzing and interpreting.

All of these projects only served as a way to reiterate the medium is in fact the message. While working on my final project, I’ve started thinking about the benefits of exploring how the message can change depending on the medium. On Instagram, not only is the character limit 2,200 compared to Twitter’s 280, but also, there is the possibility of including up to 10 images or videos to accompany the text. This will add an additional layer to the reading of Petrarch’s Canzoniere. Another component is the use of hashtags, also available on Twitter, to encourage discovery from other accounts and create a community around the Canzoniere. It will no longer be a one-person reading, but it will be available for the world to engage with.

When I first signed up to Digital Cultures, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought I would be learning about online communities, but it has been a lot more than that so far. As someone who grew up before there was a computer in every household and experienced the dial-in internet, I find the debates this transition stage has caused fascinating. In my head, we have been adapting our way of reading and interpreting since the beginning of time. I wonder if the transition between writing in walls to writing in papyrus or paper caused this much controversy. Communities went from interpreting symbols and drawing inside of caves, to distributing content and messages in writing.  

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During Jeff Steiger’s guest lecture where he discussed the changes the academic community has been facing with the possible death of the book and expanding into digital journals and enhanced monographs, it presents the question of how will the experience differ? How will the reading experience be affected or altered by changing the medium through which the message is presented? And these questions really brought everything that we have discussed in class so far together for me. Perhaps we should be thinking of new words to describe what it is that we are doing – reading has a lot of history and I think this is part of where the issue lies. The experiences that we are able to have now thanks to technology go beyond what we’ve known as reading, maybe having a new name for it would help us reconcile the new media where text can be presented and consumed.  

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Furthermore, the evolution of technology and digital platforms have allowed for text to be made of more than just words. Before, books were limited to words, plain words on paper, but with ebooks and audio books, now we can have those same words accompanied by voice, or images, or links to new avenues for knowledge. I believe that these complementary elements can help us expand and deepen our understanding of the text, but I do think that we need to make adjustments to the way we read. When we were taught to read as children, we were given physical books that had some colorful images, or elements that popped out, but as we grew older, the books were reduced to words on paper. Maybe if we incorporated newer versions of text during the learning and developmental stage, kids growing up now would have an easier time adapting to the changes we’re experiencing now.   

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In addition to the reading experience, I think we also have to think about the writing experience. Learning from Dr. Massimo Lollini and the process of translating Petrarch’s work into “tweet” format has been really interesting. At first, I thought they were just literal translations, line by line, but there’s actually a lot more editing to make sure the message is appropriate for the medium. As I begin to think about my final project and translating the tweets for Instagram, I am realizing how what Marshall McLuhan (1994) said about the medium being the message is even more relevant now with so many avenues to display and publish content in. It is not only adjust text to fit digital, but adjusting text depending on the online platform or technology that will be used to display it.  

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Overall, the first module presented the challenges academia and society have been faced with as a result of the rise of digital platforms and technology’s evolution. While the future looks a little grim with those who mourn the death of the book, it is encouraging and hopeful being presented with scholars who have decided to take on the challenge to adapt and evolve.

Works Cited

McLuhan, Marshall. (1994). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 1994.