{"id":1146,"date":"2015-04-20T22:34:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T22:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2018-09-04T17:06:27","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T17:06:27","slug":"reading-week-12-alissa-emily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/?p=1146","title":{"rendered":"Reading Week 12-Alissa & Emily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Anxieties of Big Data, Kate Crawford<\/em><\/p>\n

Art, Activism, and CCTV<\/em><\/p>\n

The Anxieties of Big Data by Kate Crawford discusses the ways in which big data collection affect users on an every day social context.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In recent years, the public has started to become more aware of their thinning privacy and increasing surveillance by the United States government. Much of this surveillance has been defended as being in place for the safety of the general public, especially in a post September 11th with the fear of terrorism being a main threat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former employee of the National Security Agency (NSA) came forward leaking documents to the media stating that would show the United States government was performing illegal and unethical surveillance on other countries and it\u2019s own citizens.<\/p>\n

The Anxieties of Big Data discusses the type of society that is evolving as a result of big data collection.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Crawford mentions that the reality of big data is\u00a0surveillant anxiety<\/i><\/b>.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>She defines this term as \u201cthe fear that all the data we are shedding every day is too revealing of our intimate selves, but may also misrepresent us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford also references Plan C\u2019s manifesto, \u201cWe Are All Very Anxious\u201d, to address a significant problem society faces today, arguing that anxiety is the affect of our current structure of capitalism that is the causation of political apathy, insecurity, and social segregation.<\/p>\n

Crawford also argues that anxiety comes in two places \u2013 the anxiety of the surveilled and the anxiety of the surveillers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This is a crucial catch 22 in the surveillance divide.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The general public is told their safety is at risk which enables the surveillance, but the surveillers become increasingly skeptical of the public.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Then, as Crawford describes, the actions of those exercising control of data collection are hidden by government documents that the public does not have access to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>As their actions remain hidden, the public becomes defenseless as to what is being done with their information and remains blind to any real intentions.<\/p>\n

Many people have accepted data collection as an increasing part of every day life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The question that has been apparent however, especially since Snowdens leak of government documents, is how much this data collection really benefits the public.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Crawford describes the \u201ccurrent mythology\u201d of big data as being more data = more accuracy, more truth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Many argue however that this just isn\u2019t true, and correlation doesn\u2019t imply causation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Many worry, understandably so, that big data leaves too large a chance of misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

Crawford expands her argument to everyday trends and fashion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>She uses the current style of \u201cNormcore\u201d as an explanation of consumer anxiety and being a reaction to surveillance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Normcore addresses how blending in was once a tactic used by protestors (ex. Occupy Wallstreet) to avoid police detection and surveillance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>As big data collection increases however, blending in is now more important than ever, and everyone must partake.<\/p>\n

Art, Activism, and CCTV<\/em><\/p>\n

Dead Drops- Adam Barthol \u2013 art project that involves exchanging files through USB devices in public places<\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity generates tactics. Art can be a weapon. It is valuable enough to society that forces of power have worked to subvert it.\u201d<\/p>\n

System Azure- Jill Magid –<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting to point out here is the way the perception changes when someone approaches a situation as an artist versus other jobs titled \u201cprofessional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Do you think your privacy is a fair trade off for the feeling of safety?<\/p>\n

2. Do you think someones online data is an accurate representation of them as a person? Could they be misconstrued?<\/p>\n

3. Do you think every day users have any control over the future of big data collection?<\/p>\n

4. In what ways do you think data collection has benefitted your safety and\/or general well being and happiness?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In what ways has it inhibited?<\/p>\n

5. What anxieties do you think surveillers experience versus the anxieties that those being surveilled?<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Why do you think the police rejected her proposal after finding out she was an artist? What is the power in being an artist in these situation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Anxieties of Big Data, Kate Crawford Art, Activism, and CCTV The Anxieties of Big Data by Kate Crawford discusses the ways in which big data collection affect users on an every day social context.\u00a0\u00a0In recent years, the public has started to become more aware of their thinning privacy and increasing surveillance by the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.courses.tegabrain.com\/SS15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}