diff --git a/content/notes/ethics-essay.md b/content/notes/ethics-essay.md index 3d37bb22b..fd4079135 100644 --- a/content/notes/ethics-essay.md +++ b/content/notes/ethics-essay.md @@ -23,16 +23,16 @@ The role of the IT sector in the wellington protests is clearly a significant on # 2 - Fire and Fury The documentary Fire and Fury created by a team of journalists from Stuff.co.nz, investigating the wellington protests, what caused them, and some of the key people behind the protests. It showed the progess of the movement leading up to the occupation [^7]. The documentary recieved mixed reviews and a very low score of 3.9/10 from IMDB [^8]. An in-house review by stuff praised it as "journalism at the peak of its powers" [^9], while others have said it "veers into the absurd" [^9]. Of course each of these third parties have biases of their own which must be taken into account. Everyone online is able to present themselves however they like, and masquerade as something they are not. It is incredibly difficult to separate the good from the bad. -The stuff article praising the documentary [^9] says the team behind it "interviewed the right people", "spoke to a vast audience", and "told us 'what lies behind the cloud'". However, those critical of it [^10][^11] suggest it fails to consider the viewpoint of those it depicts, and that is itself state-funded propaganda and "is part of the very problem the makers purport to deplore" [^12]. These critics also assert that "the makers set out with a preconieved objective" [^12], and that there was no attempt to understand what drove the protesters and consider both sides of the story. They say the documentary failed to ask an important question: "why so many people no longer trust the media". They say the mainstream media "have lost sight of what was previously their primary objective which, was to reflect society back to itself and report, as neutrally as possible, on matters of interest and concern to the communities they purported to serve" [^10. +The stuff article praising the documentary [^9] says the team behind it "interviewed the right people", "spoke to a vast audience", and "told us 'what lies behind the cloud'". However, those critical of it [^10][^11] suggest it fails to consider the viewpoint of those it depicts, and that is itself state-funded propaganda and "is part of the very problem the makers purport to deplore" [^12]. These critics also assert that "the makers set out with a preconieved objective" [^12], and that there was no attempt to understand what drove the protesters and consider both sides of the story. They say the documentary failed to ask an important question: "why so many people no longer trust the media". They say the mainstream media "have lost sight of what was previously their primary objective which, was to reflect society back to itself and report, as neutrally as possible, on matters of interest and concern to the communities they purported to serve" [^12]. -Each of these two documentaties, Fire and Fury and River of Filth depict a different perspective of the Wellington Protests. Their are many differences in the production of each of the pieces. Firstly the stuff documentary had significant funding, took significant time and effort to complete, and was backed by a large team of successful journallists REF. Conversely, the River of Filth had very little funding, and was made my a very small team REF. Despite this, both videos demonstrate +Each of these two documentaties, Fire and Fury and River of Filth depict a different perspective of the Wellington Protests. Their are many differences in the production of each of the pieces. Firstly the stuff documentary had significant funding, took significant time and effort to complete, and was backed by a large team of successful journallists [^10]. Conversely, the River of Filth had very little funding, and was made my a very small team. Despite this, both videos demonstrate ADD MORE -I am not able to go into depth about what good journalism looks like, however as a computer science student, I can consider the impact that the IT profession can have on the issue. +I am not at liberty to suggset what good journalism looks like, however as a computer science student, I can consider the impact that our work as IT professionals can have on the issue. # 3 - The spread of information -We live in an online age. Vast amounts of Information is widely accessible to everyone. This is made possible by various websites, applications CHANGE. Although the benefits of these technologies are great, they come with great responsibilty. Not only do they provide a platform for individual to access information, they also enable the spread of potentially harmful, false, and misleading information. +We live in an online age. Vast amounts of Information is widely accessible to everyone. This is made possible by various websites and applications. Although the benefits of these technologies are great, they come with great responsibilty. Not only do they provide a platform for individuals to access information, they also enable the spread of potentially harmful, false, and misleading information. -The spread of information has evolved. What news is shown is carefully considered by algorithms built into social media platforms such as Facebook, and Twitter. Rather than show you each post in chronological order, algorithms consider the amount of engagement posts are getting, and show more popular posts higher up in viewers feeds, thus it reaches a larger audience. This helps to improve the experience of the viewers as the posts they see will be of higher quality. However, by promoting content that gets are large amount of engagement, these algorithms have a tendency to promote controversial content. This is because controversial content creates a stronger emotional response in a viewer REF. The algorithms have no way to determine whether engament people sharing something because they dislike it or because they like it. Futhermore, there are many groups with the intent of creating horders of fake accounts to spread a particular agenda and create controversy REF. +The spread of information has evolved. Articles show to users are carefully ranked by algorithms built into social media platforms such as Facebook [^13], and Twitter [^14]. Rather than show you each post in chronological order, algorithms consider the amount of engagement posts are getting, and show more popular posts higher up in viewers feeds, thus making them reach a larger audience. This helps to improve the experience of the viewers as the posts they see will be of higher interest. However, by promoting content that recieves a large amount of engagement, these algorithms have a tendency to promote controversial content. This is because controversial content creates a stronger emotional response in a viewer [^15]. Unfortunately, the algorithms are unable to determine whether engagement is from people sharing something because they dislike it or because they like it. Futhermore, there are many groups with the intent of creating hordes of fake accounts to spread a particular agenda and create controversy. This has been termed - "Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour" within Facebook [^13]. Some social media sites such as Reddit and YouTube have employed some interesting, and sometimes effective techniques to combat these issues REF. The main one being the youtubes dislike button and reddits Karma system ADD MORE. This allowed users to condemn posts that they believe are harmful, wrong, or contain misinformation. However, users can just as easily downvote posts simply because they disagree. A similar system existed is youtube however they recently stopped showing the number of dislike on each video. This was to combat a few issues including hate campaings against particular channel is which groups would spam a channel with dislikes with the intent of damaging the channel. ADD MORE HERE. @@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ d [^10]:https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/fire-and-fury-is-often-funny-unintentionally [^11]: https://www.thedailyexaminer.co.nz/state-funded-fire-and-fury-documentary-unbalanced-hyperbole/ [^12]: https://karldufresne.blogspot.com/2022/08/a-few-thoughts-on-stuffs-fire-and-fury.html +[^13]:https://open.spotify.com/episode/51gxrAActH18RGhKNza598?si=c97b379af53445b9 +[^14]:https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-algorithm/ +[^15]:https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/consumers-respond-to-emotional-content/en-gb/38426 [^]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/26/so-many-rabbit-holes-even-in-trusting-new-zealand-protests-show-fringe-beliefs-can-flourish [^]: https://time.com/5929252/edelman-trust-barometer-2021/ [^]: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/05/09/how-misinformation-spreads-on-social-media-and-what-to-do-about-it/