We are Data... Or are we? : LJ2

 

We Are Data... Or are we?

    In a technological world, in order to process and compute information, often that information is converted into numbers. Information has to be sorted, data is categorized, and part of using that data includes becoming a part of that data. The reading We Are Data focuses a lot on the way way computers interpret data after learning via algorithms. "That tour around the Internet can become quite meaningful. It might even suggest that the user is 92 percent confidently male" (19). The article suggests this like it is a breach of personal security, when it's really just data that can be placed in an algorithm and interpreted. 

    Personally, I think the over analysis of the way computers interpret data via algorithms made by us in order to place it in a negative light is tedious. It's more important to criticize the way data is being stored and utilized against people. We live in a surveillance state, absolutely, there is no privacy. Yet, demonizing the algorithms and software itself is not necessarily helpful. Often, the algorithms and programs used to analyze and categorize things are made for extremely useful reasons. 

    I have worked under the assumption for a long time I don't have any privacy on the internet. My data is being bought and sold by companies, my conversations may be listened to, and the algorithms work *really* well. After you accept these notions are possible, and likely, you lose the sense of fear. I don't do anything that I'm "not supposed to," so why should I care? I'm relatively private online regardless.

Cheney-Lippold, J. (2019). We are data: Algorithms and the making of our Digital Selves. New York University Press.