Chapter 5 & 6
Answer one of the following:
What was Gamergate?
What is one way in which social media facilitated networks can have a negative impact on society?
Gamergate was a phenomenon where women who spoke up about inequalities or lack of representation in the video game industry were harassed, threatened, and made fun of. An example for your consideration is the game, beat up Anita Sarkesian. (Trigger Warning: extreme violence against women and misogyny).
What is one specific story of fake news in relation to COVID-19?
Many answers possible.
2) For years, Uber has not considered its drivers to be employees, why is this?
1) Many answers possible. Uber/Lyft/Doordash drivers, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Fiverr, etc.
2) Because Uber considered its drivers to be independent contractors (and thus does not have to provide them with benefits, healthcare, etc.), and actually, considered drivers to be customers of Uber and not employees because Uber provided them the service to connect with passengers.
What institution governs the Internet in Canada
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
What is one take-away you have from this course?
Many answers possible but try and think of one so that when someone asks you what you learned in 253W you can have a response.
What are some examples of the creative industries?
Many answers possible. Video games (production and playing), "content creators", visual arts, museums, architecture, etc.
Many answers possible. Potential obstacles are: difficulty of separating irony/sarcasm, difficulty due to scale of social media posts, infringing on free speech, etc.
What is the platform economy?
The platform economy refers to companies like YouTube or Amazon which are a "platform" for other people to set up businesses or sell their goods. These platforms provide the service of connecting users of the platforms.
Many answers possible: Size of the companies (Google, Facebook), but especially the international nature of the companies. Can a court in Ghana tell Google what to do about content in Canada?
How many questions do you have to answer and how much should you write for each question?
You must answer 4/8 questions and you should write between 300-500 words per question (+/- 10%).
What is the origin of the term "Creative Industries"?
The term "Creative Industries" has its origins in the Frankfurt School, in particular Horkeimer and Adorno who use the term to describe a social change where artistic practices, historically removed from the commodification process, increasingly were bought and sold as other commodities.
What is the difference between disinformation and misinformation?
Disinformation refers to false information spread with the intent to harm whereas misinformation refers to false information spread with no intent to harm.
This statement is true insofar as Google does not sell individual's personal data (such as where Devan shops). Instead, they use Devan's information to build an aggregate profile, comprised of people similar to Devan and sell that to advertisers. In other words, data is not the product that Google is selling, data is the raw materials for the product that Google is selling (which is aggregate data).
What is one example of a regulation applied to the Internet?
What day is the final exam and how long do you have to write it?
In the context of video games, what is "modding"?
Modding refers to user generated content on video games such as Minecraft and counter-strike. This can create an intellectual property debate over who owns the rights to the game.
What is one fake news story which circulated in an election (USA, Canada, or other)?
Many answers possible. If you cannot think of a concrete example, look online and try one which could work as a case study.
Explain 2 of the following properties of digital goods:
1. Non-rivalrous refers to the fact that multiple people can use the same goods at the same time with no decrease in quality. (In fact, often times, use by multiple people increases the quality)
2. Infinitely expansible. unlike, physical goods, there is very little cost to reproduce digital goods.
3. Discrete means you need the whole thing. For physical goods, you can buy half a loaf of bread or half a jug of milk. But can you buy half an app? Visit half a website? No, you would end up with random code which would go nowhere.
4. A-spatial digital goods exist in cyberspace and are not limited by location. Ex. online books.
5. Digital goods can be edited by other people. Ex. Memes, Wikipedia, YouTube reactions, etc.
What is one risk of regulating the Internet
Many answers possible. Often, the classic risk with regulating the Internet is that it will interfere with network neutrality or that the state will begin monitoring/moderating what happens on the Internet.
Two possible answers: From the perspective of the people doing the surveilling, advanced in technology have made it such that people can be surveilled and tracked without their consent or knowledge. From the perspective of the people being surveilled, people self-censor themselves due to the fear of being surveilled.
In the context of activism, what is one pro and one con of social media activism?
Pro: Easy to gather, low barrier to participate.
Con: Slacktivism/clicktivism, questionable effectiveness and prone to trends.
What is the difference between black, grey, and white propaganda?
White propaganda is information which is totally true
Grey propaganda is information which is partially true, taken out of context, or modified such that the reasoned conclusion may be false. All are forms of persuasion and can be used by state and non-state actors.
What is the innovator's dilemma?
The innovator's dilemma refers to a situation were tech companies have a choice to either gamble on a new invention which may not sell, or continue to innovate for an existing technology, which might become obsolete in the future. There are many examples of bot of these, Sears for example, did not really innovate or make use of its distribution centres, Tesla innovated in electric cars and, so far at least, has done well in that space. VR is an example where the technology has not quite caught on yet so the dilemma applies here.
What is min 1 pro and min 1 con of having high-speed Internet be declared a basic right (specifically in Canada)?
Many possible answers.
Pros: Increased access to democracy, better connection for marginalized communities, etc.
Cons: Not everyone wants Internet, due to land size, it is also very expensive in Canada, etc.
What is the difference between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)?
Bonus point for if you can provide an example for each.
Augmented reality is blending the virtual world with the physical. An example is Pokemon Go which uses the phone's GPS and data connections to interact with the physical world. Virtual reality is an immersive, totally virtual space usually mediated through a special goggle. An example of VR is Occulus.