mis program and facebook
I logged onto Facebook not long ago and was met with the survey question: "Please agree or disagree with the following statement: Facebook is good for the world." I considered the following:
· Facebook allows me to connect with friends around the world. Physical distance is removed. I can play a part in their lives, make them laugh, and cheer for their accomplishments. This is an awesome technological feat. Check in the box for "agree."
· Rodrigo Duterte, a brutal dictator, uses Facebook to silence and intimidate his critics in the Filipino media. With his support, an army of followers send aggressive messages, insults, and threats of violence against reporters. Check for "disagree."
· My elderly relatives write on the virtual walls of childhood friends, distant relatives, and others they assumed were lost to distance and time. They can comment on pictures of each other's grandkids and share stories about their dogs' mischief. Another "agree."
· In 2016, Facebook was the epicenter of a Russian propaganda campaign to sway the results of our election. Bot accounts posted incessantly to stroke racist sentiment and sow distrust in the systems of American democracy. Huge "disagree."
I closed the survey without an answer.
For better and worse, technology has shaped my life in innumerable ways. My generation is the first raised with the full possibilities of the internet. From an early age, the tremendous possibilities of computing were enthusiastically espoused. Tomes of information, once confined to libraries and archives, all at our fingertips. Whatever questions needed to be answered, we were told we could find them behind a monitor.
In unpredictable ways, the computer also became a way to connect with the world. My first foray into basic HTML and social computing happened in the late 90s on a now-defunct precursor to modern social media aimed at pre-teen girls. I grew up in a small town. I didn't get along with my parents, school was socially difficult, but behind a dial-up modem, I was able to talk about music, politics, shared anxieties, and the difficulties of adolescence with a freedom removed from physical limitations or the social stigma of appearance. I used the web of the late 90s in all its brutalist glory like an open diary. The connections I formed and the information I learned about my body may have saved my life. At the same time, the jump from my days playing Oregon Trail, to sharing my life with other morose teens worldwide was not without troubling experiences.
I was first exposed to Holocaust denial on a message board related to music. This being the nascent of online community discourse, I believed I was speaking to someone who stumbled upon bad information. I naively thought If I showed them factual resources they would realize they were wrong. This did not happen. For all the wealth of information I could find about the Holocaust, they possessed a countering slew of websites saying it never happened.
Of course, hate and false information are not unique to online media. Individuals have always been susceptible to believing unreliable sources if they're told what they want to hear. Holocaust denial is surely a concept I would have been exposed to at some point. However, it would have been presented as lunacy, confined to pamphlets and ravings, never as an acceptable idea worthy of defense.
I had largely forgotten about that encounter until the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. I wondered if I was witnessing the aftermath when false information is presented as truth to a young audience lacking the ability to distinguish fact from fiction. When the truth and a falsehood are presented in the same browser, written in the same HTML markup, how do you give someone the skills to decipher the difference? In primary school, we were told not to trust the internet, and to only trust government and organizational domains, and now technology is such a complex, ever-present part of our lives, finding the truth has only grown more opaque.
I believe it is possible for a connected world to help bridge differences of culture and viewpoint, but I often do not feel like this potential is being utilized. I have wondered if the online communities which felt like my only solace during a difficult adolescence still exist. In fact, if I were to meet a 13-year-old girl facing similar circumstance today, I would not suggest looking for refuge online.
In her post, "Google and Facebook Can't Just Make Fake News Disappear," Danah Boyd describes the dilemma facing our connected world:
"In my head, the design imperative that we need to prioritize is clear: Develop social, technical, economic, and political structures that allow people to understand, appreciate, and bridge different viewpoints. Too much technology and media was architected with the idea that just making information available would do that cultural work. We now know that this is not what happened. So let's put that goal at the center of our advocacy and development processes and see what we can build if we make that our priority. Imagine if VCs and funders demanded products and interventions that were designed to bridge social divide. How can we think beyond the immediate and build the social infrastructure for the future?"
The ability to anticipate the social influence of an application and knowing what tools can combat its abuse is equally as important as design or usability. The amazing strides the field of Human-Computer Interaction has made in understanding the way people use technology should not be separated from the social dynamics ubiquitous computing reflects and amplifies.
I am applying to [school] because I don't want to design a perfect workflow or an intuitive interface and then see it used as a tool of polarization, or bullying, or spreading false information. I want to expand what I know and learn better processes for creating prototypes, identifying user needs, and documenting research results. At the same time, I want to counter the toxicity technology can bring. I hope my contributions of to the field of information will mesh the intersection of optimal user experience and optimal social impact. Most schools do not have the forward-thinking and progressive nature of the [school]. [school] is unmatched in providing an interdisciplinary approach to the study of information. Being able to leverage a comprehensive understanding of data and user interaction combined with courses on social influence and persuasion would be invaluable for my aspirations.
Furthermore, I am impressed with [school] research into tracking rumors on social media, and particularly [project]. Expanding my capacity for great user-centered design is a goal, but helping women find safe havens from the harm that exists online and off is a passion. I began designing and developing for the web because I wanted to marry my love for art with the enjoyment I got talking to others and sharing my beliefs online, and I still enjoy a clean looking interface and applying creativity to technology. At the same time, I sometimes feel as though the positive online communities which were so important to me growing up are few and far-between. [project] reminds me they can still exist. It is my ambition to bring this technical experience and empathetic understanding of the way information effects individuals to the MIS program.
Thank you for considering my application.
