SAC 08 July 29 Jad Melki - American University of Beirut presentation

1. Web Connection Density

2. Word Airplane Traffic

4. myths and tensions
of the digital age

5. the illusion of diversity
global media access = diversity?
If the global flow of atoms is constrained by trade restrictions and by taste, and
the flow of people by employment opportunities and immigration laws, the
flow of information is constrained by our interest and attention…
We pay attention to what we care about and, especially, to persons we care
about.
Information may flow globally, but our attention tends to be highly local and
highly tribal; we care more deeply about those with whom we share a group
identity and much less about a distant “other.”
Ethan Zukerman
Digital Cosmopolitans: Why We Think the Internet Connects Us, Why It Doesn't, and How to Rewire It

6. How much media use?
http://onesecond.designly.com/

7. myths and tensions
The parity of digital media access

8. Global Internet Penetration
http://thewebindex.org (visualizations)

9. Word Airplane Traffic

10. Internet Traffic: How evenly distributed globally?
Real time: http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/dataviz1.html

11. Global Air Traffic vs Global Internet

12. Online Censorship

13. Internet Penetration & Accessibility

14. Consumption vs Production

15. What do we produce… Revolution?

16. Internet Access vs Mobile phones
7+ billion people on Earth
Only 40% have access to internet http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
75% have access to mobile phones (2012)

17. Global Internet Penetration

18. Mobile vs desktops internet access

19. Mobile vs desktops internet access
Syrians (and Syrian refugees) during war

20. Social Network vs Email

21. myths and tensions
The homogeneity of digital media access

22. World Dominant Social Network?

23. World Dominant Social Network?
but that was yesteryear….
Social Networks video

24. myths and tensions
The benefits/risks of digital media access

25. Location-Based Services: “Geolocators”

26. Monitoring illegal forestry…
Zimbabwe

27. and disaster.
Haiti Earthquake

28. Facets of privacy threats in the digital age
• TMI (Too Much Information)
• Data Tracking (Commercial)
• Data Tracking (Government)

29. TMI
• Silly
– Does anyone really care what you had for breakfast?
– How many “selfies” are too many? Narcissistic or empowering?
• Serious
– Cyber bullying, risk to minors, stupid/criminal behavior
• 78% of kids in the US experience cyber bullying.
• In 2012: 15-year-old Amanda Todd committed suicide after 2 years of
relentless harassment online.

30. Photo by Ela

31. Narcissistic
Photo by Ela

32. TMI
• Silly
– Does anyone really care what you had for breakfast?
– How many “selfies” are too many? Narcissistic or empowering?
• Serious
– Cyber bullying, risk to minors, stupid/criminal behavior
• 78% of kids in the US experience cyber bullying.
• In 2012: 15-year-old Amanda Todd committed suicide after 2 years of
relentless harassment online.

33. TMI: Privacy threats

34. TMI: Privacy threats

35. TMI: Privacy threats

36. TMI: Privacy threats
Mind Reader Video

37. Data Tracking and Gathering
(Commercial)
• What is the primary goal of Facebook?
• How many of you read the conditions before signing up?
• How valuable ($$) are data for companies?
Terms and Conditions Video

38. Data Tracking and Gathering
(Commercial)
• How much can companies know about us?
Target video

39. Data Tracking and Gathering
(Government Surveillance)
• All this data: a goldmine for governments!
• Government surveillance is on the rise globally.
– USA (NSA), Russia, Iran, China, Syria, Germany, Brazil…
– Guardian report on government surveillance

40. Data Tracking and Gathering
(Government Surveillance)
Data requests received by Google

41. Data Tracking and Gathering
(Government Surveillance)
Data requests received by Google (by country)

42. myths and tensions
The neutrality of digital media access

43. Understanding Search Engines
• Components of a search engine (keyword based)
– Crawler: Constantly explores the web, copies, updates (ping) &
delivers pages to the search engine provider.
– Indexer: Analyzes delivered pages, extracts search terms and
indexes them in a database
– Runtime system: answers queries, returning most relevant pages
from the indexer.
• Key is the meaning of “most relevant”
– Implications of Google’s “PageRank”

44. Search Engines
• Search engines are not neutral but follow intentional
algorithms
• Increasingly personal and invisible algorithms that may
create “filter bubbles”
Filter Bubble (until 4:45)

45. Net Neutrality
• A two-tier internet?
John Oliver Net Neutrality

46. myths and tensions
The diversity of digital media access

47. The illusion of diversity and global access
Global Access = diversity?
If the global flow of atoms is constrained by trade restrictions and by taste, and
the flow of people by employment opportunities and immigration laws, the
flow of information is constrained by our interest and attention…
We pay attention to what we care about and, especially, to persons we care
about.
Information may flow globally, but our attention tends to be highly local and
highly tribal; we care more deeply about those with whom we share a group
identity and much less about a distant “other.”
Ethan Zukerman
Digital Cosmopolitans: Why We Think the Internet Connects Us, Why It Doesn't, and How to Rewire It

48. Facebook app