Version Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life

lecture: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

THE ALGORITHMIC PUBLIC SPHERE AND YOU

Event large

Today’s tech companies have enormous power over what we can access and share, and the input we—as users and citizens—have the ability to provide is minimal. Increasingly, algorithms are being deployed to control how information is delivered to us, as well as for the purpose of moderating user-generated content. These algorithms are proprietary, created by human beings at companies that fail on nearly all measures of diversity, and accountable to few. As user-generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter reach monopolistic proportions, it has become more difficult to “vote with our feet” (or, more accurately, our data) than ever before. This talk will examine the state of the networked public sphere, the actors determining our destinies online and, most importantly, what we can do about it.

#Society #Privacy #SurveillanceState

Our networked public sphere—that is, the privately-owned online spaces in which a majority of contemporary discourse takes place—is both mediated by algorithms and centrally controlled. Unaccountable actors—corporations, sometimes working behind-the-scenes with governments—have the power to determine what kinds of speech are acceptable, as well as what content we see or don’t see.

Increasingly, algorithms are being deployed to control how information is delivered to us, as well as for the purpose of moderating user-generated content. These algorithms are proprietary, created by human beings at companies that fail on nearly all measures of diversity, and accountable to few.

Today’s tech companies have enormous power over what we can access and share, and the input we—as users and citizens—have the ability to provide is minimal. As user-generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter reach monopolistic proportions, it has become more difficult to “vote with our feet” (or, more accurately, our data) than ever before.

As the far right ascends, terror attacks threaten European cities, and governments and corporations alike impose their views of morality, ownership, and acceptability, we are at an impasse: We can walk away, decentralize our networks, or continue to fight the corporate giants that seek to take ownership not only of our data and online expression, but of our physical sphere as well.

This talk will examine the state of the networked public sphere, the actors determining our destinies online and, most importantly, what we can do about it.