CCDN 271 - Assignment 2 & 3

CCDN 271

Assignment Two & Three

Make a Claim and Substantiate It

Julio Inglez - 300237929

Statement of Intent:

Contemporary society is surrounded by technology and social networks in which they are incentivised to distribute their personal information in order to fit within the standards of these network and technological frames. This scenario arises a discussion topic that explores the privacy contained in people’s exposed data not only within social intention, but also in relation to technology as a whole. A strong and substantial standpoint generated from this discussion is that personal data should be private from any external use, focusing towards a more restricted system of data collection, leading to limited information being transmitted between one party and another. Being cognizant of the importance retained in people’s private data, I will research a perspective that differs from the idea of restriction and coincides with the perception that massive data collection can be used for good purposes and lead to self-humanity and environmental development.

Elaboration and development of the given subject will be my main focus as well as targeting a convincingly standpoint that explores the several comforting prospects linked to the correct and ethical use of gratuitous data propagation.

The book Digitalia by Susannah Hagan 2008 will be my source of information extraction since it cites several examples of data that are collected towards the development of architecture in relation to the environment as well as the avant-garde.

I will assign ‘Massive Change’ to my thesis as my intersecting theme considering my interest in environmental and architecture augmentation. It will also cooperate with my standpoint by convincingly expressing massive environmental and architectural changes as positive artefacts. My starting point reference that quite often relates back to this subject is the book Architecture and Beauty by Yael Reisner and Fleur Watson. It contains a few examples of data being expressed as architectural work as well as creative abstract art created by well recognised artists and architects.

[Start of assignment three:]

Data privacy concerns can get in the way of mass data collection for relevant sociological research due to its enforced restricted and public unawareness.

Companies that have the job of managing huge amounts of personal data such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr automatically have the task of restricting the use of the same. The same way that people are insecure about the idea of what is done with their data, they are also unaware of how restricted its access is already set. For example, Sprint, one of the largest phone companies in the United States will allow only specific data to be shared with their researchers that are related to their topic of focus. Several laws are applied to their employment system so that their data is never exposed all together. The reason being is that the business does not want to get involved with lawsuits for breach of privacy, which would lead to excessive fines and a bad reputation. This can be related to many other big companies and also be the background reasoning to why such companies are so popular and trusted the way they are (Monavich, 2011, p. 2-4).

The first time men stepped on the Moon in 1969, was the earliest stage of a new ecological era, where Earth could be then analysed as a whole and humanity could then start to predict massive and smaller possible environmental changes. This moment in history was only achievable through one of the most spectacular mediums of data collection at the time, photography. Since then, the idea of capturing data that exposed Earth’s ecological information has only developed and has helped humanity reach a point where thirteen-thousand satellites are in orbit around the globe at this right moment only to monitor its conditions (Gurevitch, 2013, p. 3-4). The measurements taken to improve on Earth’s ecological system can only develop and bring society a better future, thus, several aspects about data restriction that involve environmental factors can be rather concerning, such as Google’s “Street View”, which is also based on the collection of data but becomes restricted due all of the lawsuits it is involved with (Monavich, 2011, p. 5).

Data distribution can be seen as a breach of privacy to many people and there will always be ethical reasoning behind it, however, an awareness of the rules that are already applied to companies that manage such important information need to arise. Such restrictions could very easily slow the process of self-humanity development and even affect discoveries made about our own environment.

Bibliography:

 Monavich, L. (2011). Trending: The Promises and the Challenges of Big Social Data. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from http://www.manovich.net/articles.php

 Gurevitch, L. (2013). Google Warming. From Media Ecology to Ecology as Media in Google Earth, p. 3-4.

Reisner, Y., & Watson, F. (2010). Architecture and the beauty: Conversations with architects about a troubled relationship. Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hagan, S. (2008). Digitalia: Architecture and the digital, the environmental and the avant-garde. New York, United States: Routledge.

CCDN 271 - Assignment One

Everyday Design:

In the very early stages of text messaging development, around 1993, SMS – Short Message Service – was considered to be something relatively minor, but just like many other technologies, the power of ‘txting’ was only discovered by the users. The use of a cell phone to transmit data without having to make much physical effort caught the attention of many people and became very popular due to its convenient use. Even though SMS was only considered part of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), the concept was pressured to be further developed due to its massive and successful use. The book “Cell Phone Culture” elaborately explains how text messaging became a part on people’s quotidian and how it shaped social, media, and cultural practices through its everyday use. The book gives emphasis on the fact that instant messaging was actually an incident and provides several rather insightful elements about its history.

Reference:

Goggin, G., (2006). Cell phone culture: mobile technology in everyday life. New York, United States: Routledge.

Critical Design:

Since the 17^th century women have been embedded to the idea that their perception of reality is generally naïve or contained, however, in some cases this has been their source of inspiration to express their opinions by painting and designing unexpected as well as criticizing art-work, some of which have taken place into history. The book “Danger! Women Artists at Work” cites nine different moments in history where women that felt oppressed by their own surroundings or went through unfortunate life experiences expressed their emotion-driven standpoints through mediums of art. From the early years of the 17^th century until the 20^th century, artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654), Käthe Kollowitz (1867-1945), Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985), Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), and Marina Abramovic (1946), have explored the idea of not playing it safe. They created provocative and incendiary art-work that transmitted very strong meaning through appealing aesthetic. Their views were represented with the exposure of shock and pain which they found the most appropriate to represent their rigid opposition.

Reference:

Mancoff, N. D., (2012). Danger! Women artists at work. London, England: Merell Publishers Limited.

DIY:

In the book “Interior design of the 20^th century”, Anna Massey (1990) explores the different interior decoration’s stages on a before and after schedule. She comically refers to the profession as a mere exchange of antiques before the twentieth century and the reason lies within the inexistence of the specialisation in the time period. The convincingly pattern of well-executed interior decorations were only recognised after the First World War due to a series of social and economic changes, when men came back from the war and incentivised woman to spend more time at home. Massey quotes Jacob von Falke (1879) agreeing that the good taste of design is natural to the female gender, and even though the elaborate decoration that was executed at the homes of Victorian middle-class women was well respected and gave them control over the environment, most of the lower class was encouraged to work in factories during the war, thus having very little opportunity to express their gifted handicrafts. In 1877, Candace Wheeler (1827-1923) took a step further and opened the first establishment targeting the exploration of the specific subject, and since then the profession has gained its well earned recognition and added a whole new perspective to the professional world of design.

Reference:

Massey, A. (1990). Interior design of the 20^th century. New York, United States: Thames & Hudson Inc.

Google Warming:

Ubicomp, as well referred as ubiquitous computing, is the main subject of the book “Divining a Digital Future”, written by Paul Dourish and Genevieve Bell. In the chapter “Rethinking privacy”, several arguments towards the unawareness of technological privacy within our global society seem to have proven that when it comes to Google Warming, the subject of largest importance – not only as the stand point of the book, but also throughout the history of computer development – is how much people value and understand the flows and exchanges of their given information. People’s concerns about their own privacy are clearly expressed and identified in numerous cases; however, their acknowledgement on the several risks that are linked to the slow paced but continuous development of the unnoticed ubiquitous computing is quite superficial, and as the book suggests, the interpretation of the restricted self-data’s concept does not go very far since it lies within a “specific series of cultural and legislative frames” (Dourish & Bell, 2011, p. 139).

Reference:

Dourish, P. & Bell, Genevieve. (2011). Divining a digital future: mess and mythology in ubiquitous computing. London, England: The MIT Press.