Making and Unmaking Digital Wor(l)ds III

García — Milani

Today

Morning:

  • Last theory-practice iterations: copyrights layers
  • Exercise example: a platform analysis
  • Questions?

Afternoon:

  • Oral group exam
  • Questions?
  • Questions for the written paper

Quick recap from iterations III theory and II-III practice

Can you define?

  • Network structure: Internet, Web, Deep Web, Dark Net, Dark Web
  • Filter bubble
  • Algorithms

Theorical iteration: Copyright etc.

Internet wor(l)ds - the game of definitions

Knowledge regimes

COPYRIGHT

  • Right to copy: related to intellectual property
  • Expressed by the symbol © or simply (c) or (C).

LICENSES

  • A License specifies a concession by one person to someone else.
  • In the case of software, the license “grants” the use of the code under the conditions established by the licenser.
  • In the case of other intellectual work, they give exclusive rights on the fixed supports (distribute, display, perform, make derivative works…). Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed

Trademarks

  • A name or symbol on a product that shows it was made by a particular company
  • It cannot be used by other companies without permission.
  • Indicated by ™ or ®

NDA

  • A Non Disclosure Agreement is a legal contract between at least two parties
  • outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another
  • but also wish to restrict access to or by third parties.

COPYRIGHT != AUTHOR’S RIGHT…

  • Copyright was born in early 18th century England. Strictly patrimonial. Common Law countries.
  • Author’s right comes from late 18th century French droit d’auteur, German Urheberrecht. Moral right (can protect a choreography, no need to fix the creation on a support, the owner is always the author, not the publisher)

Questions & discussions

please mind the pad: https://go.circex.org/stgallen

Example: let’s analyse a platform

Remember

  • 1. Observe the visible (interface)
  • 2. Explicit interactions
  • 3. Evaluate the interface (user experience ux)
  • 4. Analyse technical layers
  • 5. Unveil interaction bias exploitation

1. Observe the visible (interface)

What can you see

Observe the elements of the interface. Try to focus on the details: where are the buttons are situated, what is the color palette, take a look at the shapes, the fonts, the kind of noise/music (and when it is triggered)…

2. Explicit interactions

Focus on the interactions

List the possible explicit interactions and the calls to action in the interface, (clicking, filling a web-form, choosing an avatar, etc.).

3. Evaluate the interface (user experience ux)

What does it produce on you? on the others? Compare

  • Associate interface elements (1) and their related interactions (2) with the perceptions they produce (work on the feeling and thought)
  • Focus on signs and conveyed meanings in order to evaluate the efficiency of the interface: for example, a green button is commonly perceived as a green light (what meaning could it have). But… it cannot be perceived by a person affected by color blindness.

4. Analyse technical layers

The technical part

Conduct a more technical analysis by listing the possible implicit interactions within the interfaces, such as logging and tracking systems in web platforms (IP, location, WHOIS, cookies, third-party trackers, previous versions from webarchive, etc.).

Unveil layers, find clues, and make hypothesis.

5. Unveil possible interaction bias exploitation

Put everything together. And find out how biases can be exploited by the platform.

Retrace the steps of every interaction. Try to identify possible cognitive biases exploitation.

For example, the ranking results in search engine interfaces are commonly affected by a confirmation bias, because the underlying algorithms tends to show before the results that confirm the user’s previous research, thus confirming one’s preconceptions and contributing to the filter bubble effect.

About the term paper

Remember

From the factsheet: “The written paper (single term paper) will consist in an analysis and account of personal interactions with an existing platform/app encompassing a conscious identification of cognitive biases involved and possible measures to consciously deal with them (between min 12,000 and max 18,000 characters incl. spaces).”

How?

  • Write a short narrative about your interactions with one/some digital tool(s)/platform(s) (if you don’t want to talk about you, you can talk about a friend, or an acquaintance, or invent a situation based on your experience). This narrative will take into account the 4 first steps of the IBA.
  • Find 3 biases, describe them (like step 5 of the IBA)
  • For each bias, imagine a different behaviour.

Lost? Read the stories written by Agnese Trocchi: https://ima.circex.org/en/ Criterion

General criterion

  • The paper must be written for a non-technical reader. If you use technical terms, you have to explain them clearly.
  • The tree points in the “How?” section must be fully respected.
  • Particular criterion
  • Even if it is invented, the narrative must be plausible and realistic. It must not sound “fake” (just observe your practices or the practices of other people).
  • The description of the biases should be detailed and logical. It has to fully correspond with the situation described.
  • The “different behaviors” must be really viable and adapted to the situation. They may be perceived as desirable and possible.

Practical iteration: exercise (group)