Mtg 5/24: Tue-25-Jan-2022

Outline for Today

Social Media

{"desc"=>"Happy Tuesday"}

{"url"=>"https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-vaccine-triage-omicron-1.6319844", "desc"=>"Public outrage over the unvaccinated is driving a crisis in bioethics"}

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Transcript

Zoom Audio Transcript

morning.
morning.
morning morning.
morning.So, how was your weekend.
Was fired.
was shot.
Yes.
No seem to be too short.
Any football any nfl fans amongst you.
yeah sunday's Games were unreal.
yeah. I was thinking it just like it's. Just like a CFL game, the last one. So scoring in the last three minutes. Anyway, okay. First. sorting out switching between classes. Class sections. So I got an email. Yesterday morning from it support that. said that my understanding was correct, but if you switched. If you dropped one section and then enrolled in the other section of this class that your. Your data would be preserved because. What happens when you drop the class a drop the class or. Any class you drop that's on your courses. You you're not removed completely you lose your role as a student. So what would have happened is. You would have temporary last year rule of students, that will then you transferred you regain the role, then so everything that you did in the class. Previously, would still be available to you. So did anyone have any. questions or concerns about that. We can address. So i'd say. Today, you could still talk to Connie renwick in the CS and math office. If you didn't get a switch done that you want to get done. Okay, so. If you have. If you need some help through registration, I would suggest getting in touch with Connie renwick first, but let me know how it goes and. Or if you write her an email and copy me that would be fine as well. Okay. So. And then. you send me a direct message can I. Can you send me. Okay, can I i'm going to talk about that direct message. to remind everyone, please don't send me direct messages, because then I get. Oh, then, if I reply and i'm not paying attention. i'm trying to always pay attention. But if you send me a direct message, then the default is for me to reply directly to you. So. you're so you want to switch to the remote section madman. Okay. Let me just take a look here what the situation is. Okay, and I said I was going to do this last but today for sure i'm going to fix groups. Okay, so. I just wanted to confirm. That there was space in. 01 are. And there is. A check on. Okay, so let me just write this in the chat. switch back sending to everyone. Space in both sections, so please check. Okay, so. Your space, according to the class schedule builder. Their space in both 01 are in 01 F. So please check with Connie renwick. And that's your email address Connie dot renwick at your child at CA. You can copy me as well. If you're having trouble switching between sections so. My understanding is that she can help you get that done today. it's. likely no longer available. for you to do from by yourselves, but can still be done. Okay. So that bright light on top of my head is light shining off my bald spot. My my balding head it's just an unfortunate. position of the light behind me. On a video. Okay. So here we go. get some improvements done. To the course here, of course, page. So there are still a few outstanding issues but. it's getting. getting better. So. I have a different background color for the header in the footer and these cards. So our meeting five today. so happy Tuesday, make sure I say that loud. And then. To get you get our attendance sorted out. Okay. So the problem we were having last meeting on Thursday. Was that. Even though I didn't change anything about. This attendance activity. Because I had added another one. And then deleted it. The ID number of the. Pre existing over original attendance activity changed, so I had to. fix that. we're gonna talk about assignments today so let's do that next. So this is still on my laptop not publish it. late in the next couple hours. I have too many things here. So there's going to be. A writing assignment for a blog. And that's going to be worth a total of 16 marks. A critique of someone else's blog. that's for marks. there's going to be a group assignment. related to the new website. that'd be 10 marks. So that makes very well together.
projects.
Is five marks for proposal. In 20 marks for the deliverable. So that. gives us 55. final exam. Another 25 cent makes at. And then responses. 10. participation. 10. So that. Still adds up to 100.
I have a question.
sure.
How many blog entries do we have to do is it to two or just one.
it's one.
And that's word 16% on.
yeah. So the reason it's a bit more than i've. done previously is because. I want. I want you to. do a bit more work about assessing the reliability of your sources. So that portion of it will be. More getting more weight. Would you like to have more assignments. No one.
No.
I mean i'm good with less so yeah no i'm good. Okay.
Well, I mean there's still. there's still five things. Okay. So we'll talk about. assignments now so. So I have to figure out. i've made a mistake. Opening up the assignments, so it should work that click on this will take you to the assignment. But they're all on the page here. So that needs to get that sorted out today. So I want to mention the other thing. that's. fairly new here. Not from today, but. recently. As a list of topics that we're covering in this class. So this is. This materials, based on a 2013 computer science curriculum report, which is described. Here, and you can you can see the details. So a new one is coming down the pipe very soon. Next year too, I think. So anyway, some. of us will be refreshed but. They still have a good idea. So s&p SP stands for. social and professional. So that's the bulk of. The knowledge area in which. we're working. it's time for the social context. And so the stars decide particular topics learning outcomes. Two stars, are the most important, so their core in that 2013 report. One star is. Their core. In. So two stars should be core for everybody. One star is core for some. Zero stars indicate elective. and With this great text. we're not going to talk about them. So social context as one analytical tools. is another. professional ethics. Intellectual property. privacy and civil liberties. Professional communication. Human computer interaction. foundations. And some. hca. focused on designing interaction. And then. sustainability. So the blog entry. going to ask you to prepare and submit a blog style posts that was a topic within one of the course related knowledge units. They. they're just above the summary page. and So something that would that is currently or was recently in the news. So list of knowledge it's also includes learning outcomes associated the topics. So you may consider those learning outcomes i'm just reading. This. So they might provide some suggestions about how to approach. The topic find a personal connection to the topic. You may, for example, consideration about the current social trade offs in technical decision or analyze the role of. Computer professionals. In a global computing issue. So. identify some online sources that are reputable. and detail how. We use. you've come to your assessment at the reputable. And then, here are some. Guidelines for. writing for the web. And some of the details i'll fix up. So. i'm looking for length of 900 to 1000 words. And I wonder. If maybe we can set the due dates to be on. Mondays. Yes, I mean.
Are you going to host the assignments requirement on on your words.
yeah.
So.
I will have a link. To the description on your courses.
Okay, so I. quoted we're multiple.
it'll be posted today.
Oh Okay, thank you.
you're welcome.
What is it gonna be do again. well.
I propose. The blog entry or we do February 28. Which is a Monday. After the reading week.
I just have a question says, this will be like around 900 to 1000 words is there, like a specific outline you want it like you want it to be have like No five paragraphs an introduction three main paragraph on one conclusion or doesn't matter for you.
So. So i'm including some ideas for structuring in the description i've included some. Guidelines for good writing for the web. So that can give you a basis to work with. But i'm not. going to say you need so many of these kinds of paragraphs and so on and so forth. So if there are questions about. Okay sorry, let me go back and say, I think the description will be will give you enough structure to work with. If there are some questions will clarify them. In our discussion about the assignments okay.
sounds good, thank you yeah you're welcome.
And, Sir, whenever we pull reference about other blogs or other writers, or any other world news like she should be followed the Emily format, or what would you like us to use whenever we are trying to pull reference from other writers or other bloggers.
Emily is fine. me. Well it's not. it's only a subset of MLA that we'd be dealing with. So. i'll post some guidance about that, but yeah you can, if you're familiar with MLA. Go ahead and use that. Okay.
Okay sounds good.
OK, so the other thing. project proposal. So you can do this, individually or with a small group. of up to four. So. Proposal shooting included with the following headings. topic so you described a topic and how it relates to class. The deliverable that you were choosing to create. and Why you've chosen to do that. So you could do a research paper a book review. read a Wikipedia article. or add to an existing Wikipedia article. Create. Some an end promote. Some online content such as video. which could be recording of a presentation with narration a podcast or. or a blog. Identifying discuss role models of. Current competing professionals. And how they can be role models in your life as a competing professional. discuss your contributions to open source project. write some code to test, an idea. So then have a tentative plan. For how you're going to address. Your topic. So the week of February 21 is our reading week. and Some. stuff we do a Monday. could do the 14 to February at 2340 2359. present proposal. We could maybe make that the 18th if that's. let's say the 14 To begin with, and then. We need some flexibility we can push it to the teeth. Sound okay.
So what are we talking about.
The project proposal.
Was the project proposal.
That I just talked about.
So is the project proposal different than the project, or is it the part of project doing that we is 25% of our total mark.
So the proposal is five marks and the deliverable is 20 marks. So the 25% project is divided into two parts, with five marks. And with 20 marks.
Okay, and the project will be like individual or will be like.
So my.
Okay.
It can be either. project we didn't individually or in a small group up to four. So i'm. details. today. So you don't have to. I said I was going to talk about today in class so that's i'm doing I just had a couple of issues. held me up a little bit, so I haven't got the push to public website yet.
Excuse me. So what what the response i'm going to talk about today.
Well, I will get this done and then we'll.
kind of problem i'm just asking yeah.
And I will. create the assignment for the place for you to rate, the response. Right after class. So I encourage everyone. To keep an eye on the news. For. And look for connections. between what you read the news and what's. going on in our class discussions. So this is. I found this on CBC over the weekend and I thought this is really. An important. As contains some very important issues for us. Because we're going to talk we're going to talk about ethics. And really related to our. discussion with social media. So I found this one line. That makes a connection this discussion of bioethics from bioethics mixed makes the connection. To our current discussion about social media. and more generally. The. The need. The need for. A strong sense of professional ethics. amongst people who are. today's computer professionals. Right, so the idea is. The quandary that's being expressed. In the medical medical community is that people who are unvaccinated. If they're limited when treating people who are unvaccinated. Should that be a factor. When it come becomes necessary to. To triage or to decide. which patients. Get the look. At the limited resources for treatment. And so. The connection here is a quote from one of the doctors speaking about this. So these people have made the decision based on poor social media algorithms it could be easily argued that. They have been manipulated down this path path that there's no such there's not as much free will, as we would like to think we have. So it's it's a long article, and I will post, the link. In the chat right now but also. On our reading page.
feel like that's kind of a weak argument to say, well, we have no free will, because an algorithm made me like. make this decision, like if someone convinces you of something and then you go do it doesn't mean you have no blame in that in that thing, so if an algorithm is is based on. Putting you in a bubble of your own thoughts. it's not to blame for your actions.
Right.
That is suggesting. Suggesting otherwise would basically say that, like we're basically just drones out here listening to everything and everyone that tells us anything, and we have no blame for anything.
What about over a lifespan do you think like if every day you're influenced.
By an algorithm.
yeah yeah exactly like the algorithm influence influences you every day at the end of the day, like you know five years 10 years. It might completely change your mindset or completely like make you make a decision that you might think is smart but it's definitely not something along those lines i've kind of just playing devil's advocate.
yeah yeah. yeah I the way I kind of think about it is OK, if someone's in like a cult and they get convinced to like go kill people do they have a blame in that like murder, or are they completely blameless because they got brainwashed by the cult. it's kind of an extreme version but. It kind of has a direct way to blame the person or the call for. The the responsibility.
I don't know i've got to admit I feel like it makes your kind of assuming that everybody has this base level knowledge or a base level education. Where I don't think that is the case, all the time.
Almost 99% of us have some level of high school education.
But even high school education. is not sufficient to be able to fact check things.
I think the term you're looking for is common sense is not common anymore.
Like the average person has little to no understanding of what it means to fact check a resource.
People need.
Your MIC it's. it's very hard to hear you. i'm not sure who is it Ahmed who is speaking.
No. No, but he was.
Speaking can you. check your MIC and see if.
I think it's pooja.
yeah.
it's very robotic.
it's yeah it's just a little bit better than it was before.
It can be here Internet for all I know.
Things that.
yeah or you can you can say it again, or posted in the chat.
Okay, does this work.
It does.
This works.
Much better.
Better yeah.
Thank you, but yeah what I said was the same people who use social media as an excuse, can just Google it it's literally one to the search only everything so people believe what they want to believe, at the end of the day.
yeah but going to Google just takes you to i'm right calm and confirms your bias.
yeah as was stated in that the video we watched last week, even everyone's Google searches is different so.
Exactly information, information and Google is not accurate anymore, not all information is accurate.
Well, I don't know if people want accurate information, maybe they already have a bias and just looking to confirm the pious so.
I disagree, as long as you. do a proper Google search, you can find good information.
For mean conspiracy theorists existed before the Internet so it's not like the Internet created conspiracy theorist.
yeah but no, you have to. Have a place to congregate now and why you just said yourself that most people don't have. The ability to fact check a source so that's why the problem with Google itself.
Well, the problem is they don't they don't get any source at all, they get. Some weird source that somebody posted in like a Facebook group that is very biased if you just do a straight Google search about a topic and read the first few articles, more often than not you'll get good information.
about that. Though is if somebody is doing a Google search and they kind of want to confirm what they want, they can kind of word it in a certain way that will make. Yes, that will. Like a group.
where you can frame the question. In in in a sense, where it'll give you the answers you want.
To just basically cherry pick information to fit the narrative for.
yeah exactly that's literally just cherry picking information rather than googling a question about the topic.
You know that's what they're gonna do with Google they're not going to. regain everything's gonna have a.
slight biased or opinion in the question that they're searching.
So what should we do, should we like if people education on how to fact check stuff I mean, I learned that in high school, most people did does it really change. The fact if they know how to fact check.
I think everything will be.
On the matter is that I think everything should have like a tag saying either like factual this is factual information or, this is not factual information, and this is required by. Like I don't know there's so many different, the problem is the codes like and where you're viewing from like there's no like really set codes, but I think if, like, for example on social media platforms. A news article is posted. about something that they don't know the facts on it has to be tagged as hey this is isn't a factual article versus something that is scientific proven, you know gone through the methods of testing and rigorous. Rigorous tests and disapproval from other scientists, basically, is only way to come up with. True scientific or fact.
What regulatory body or entity is actually going to. step in that isn't going to be biased or opinionated, though.
sure.
I like.
Taking the checker.
For the.
I don't know if there's no right now, though.
Facebook facebook's like this is not factual information thing it's been like there's so many recorded incidents of it just spreading misinformation.
Well, they just admitted in court that they're fact checkers or it's actually opinion based it not factually based. right because they were sued over it.
So it's like I mean I mean, in the end it's basically a debate of whether or not you think no I mean like I use I use. social media and i'm pretty sure everyone else here uses social media we're not completely in a bubble of conspiratorial ideas about vaccines so like it essentially comes down to whether or not you believe people have free will.
that's that's kinda overhearing second level education to that kind of puts us all in a class of people who are interested in learning more.
And I work with people that haven't gone to secondary education, and you know they're they're still not brainwashed either.
missing people burned, which is up until like the 1800s based on conspiracy theories like people don't necessarily have the best judgment if they weren't educated like properly throughout their life.
This is what he's trying to say is. The more educated someone is the more. likely they are to be proficient at. fact checking information.
Okay So what do we do, do we then or two people to learn and what if they can't learn, I mean there's a reason not everyone goes into secondary education, some people it's just not for them.
Well, even though we can always with people who are hardcore conspiracy theorists who will trust anyone but. Teaching this stuff instructing people will get these get more people to understand how to do it, and that they should do it, even though, if it doesn't affect everyone, the more just, allowing us into the public consciousness means more people who will. be able to do it's a offer more sources stuff like that that'd be a good first step, the very least.
I think, would it be a big issue is there's a lot of people that are already out of school to to how would you, you know reteach those people are informed them when they're already in the workforce, like would you have companies put out mandatory training for that, like.
I don't know operational health and safety.
or basically blocking the website that post unreliable or missing from information because so many people are scared because of the goon visit website or groups or fake it can. Post misinformed information about the vaccine for example 100 years ago there was this anish flee and same thing so many people were debating on, we should not take the vaccine reaction, or can affect us and. 100 years now we're still alive nothing happens and we're still facing the same issue again by so many people so many political parties and also companies. posting so many entrusted misinformation just to make no opinionated opinions and just to make money from those people and, just like you know posting. missing from an information for their rights, and so I, so I believe that blocking. People who posed by unreliable information. educating people by just posting the only counted, like the government accounts or like something that's reliable to. get them the right information from there, and also, if we do believe that vaccines, already been why the doctors and nurses are actually getting the vaccine so. For example, for war and the third like what the what will we give what day is today, you know soldiers, but then like that do not work and it's the same thing with the doctors and nurses. If the vaccines dangerous, then why are they vaccinating themselves so am I missing, if anything, would happen to the doctors and nurses, we cannot do anything about the miners.
feel like saying blocking everything it's like it's like an easy decision, because then no one has access, but then it's like. that's a problem because you get stuff like in China when coven just happened, the government started blocking I can't remember the name of the doctor that discovered coping. But they just started blocking his information. on whether or not cold, it was real and what you what you start getting is the they block facts and non fact and so it's like a slippery slope there.
You just get as a. sensory things. And it's a bit extreme I think the main problem is not education it's about our open people are to be challenge to get their ideas challenge right and it's like a personal thing, so I don't think it's an education awesome.
I mean, and how many of us have been in conversations with people that were anti back, Sir, Sir or conspiracy theorists and no one really talks to them because it's just not worth it. And so, then you get their beliefs just keep getting getting worse because the only people they talked to her other anti boxers.
Exactly yeah so in a way was kind I like swimming an ECHO chamber for them.
as well.
And yourself.
it's almost like they're influenced by their algorithm.
Right so there's like two different types of conspiracy theorists to the ones who are ensures that always hesitant like that other people who. Mostly believe that vaccines are goodbye or not sure, so they wait and just keep waiting until they know for certain but there's always going to be those groups of hardcore conspiracy conspiracy theorists who are almost impossible to reason with, but most of the. things we can do, or to help those people who are instead has a tent or just not sure it's give them the information so that they can. Not just the information but make sure that they understand so they're competent in the facts, they can check, so they can find out. Things they don't all into these conspiracy theorists areas.
I mean clearly like algorithms have a role to play, but what do we do about them, I mean Facebook tried the the whole, this is not factual thing that didn't really work. i'm pretty sure if they implemented the different system with like the Government doing the same thing would it be any better.
So let me just interject here a little bit about. So Facebook and. The whistleblowers testimony from recent months were where she talked about. The. The different. The people who. were charged with finding ways to improve Facebook, are not the same ones who. were given the authority to make the changes. and it's very hard to deal with. requirement to make changes that's going to make your business less profitable. You know so. i've read stories about. Facebook, promoting pizza gate. Groups and theories to people who are not. Not otherwise so inclined to begin with. And just as an example, but it. So they've learned. That. Negative current content. Driving drives interest and so. The more polarizing the content, the better it is for Facebook, because they can charge more for ads. So. It just seems to me there's a little bit of a. it's not a it's not necessarily about getting to everybody. and helps improve their fact checking skills. But the platforms. That people use if if they were. Better. Better constructed and. Just using that. For the moment, not suggesting. That, I have a metric for that. Yet. know that the platforms didn't fan the fires. start fires and fandom to. raging infernos. That might be another approach so. Just going back to the article night I mentioned. about the poor algorithms that push people nudge people in a certain direction. This computer professionals. So we have. On the one hand. it's just a computer program. This will help me make more money or, on the other hand, this is a. i'm writing software that impact society as a whole. And I need to be responsible. So I mean Those are two examples of decisions that we have. So right at time. It was quite a lively discussion. And I realized I couldn't keep track of who was speaking because. I thought your rectangles would be highlighted, when you're speaking that wasn't the case, but in the transcript. transcription cat should have caught those things for me. Okay, anyway, thank you very much for a lively discussion. And we'll take it from there on Thursday okay. And we'll take up. where we left off today on Thursday thanks, very much for today. Take care have a great day and we'll see you on Thursday. And I have officers 10 to 12 and 230 to 430 today. Either I see you Thursday morning. Take care and stay well. i'm gonna sorry.
i'm just wondering, is there, like any videos or articles, we have to read for the next meeting.
A. i'll ask you to look at the. code vaccine i'll post the covert vaccine triage articles that. I put in the chat. So we'll talk about that and i'll give you an activity to do, based on that. Okay, but we'll we'll stick with what we have there will unpack it. From from what was from last Thursday or last meeting. Okay.
sounds good, thank you. yeah.
you're welcome, thank you, Professor.
you're welcome take care.
Have a good day.
thanks you too.
Excuse me Prof.
mm hmm.
So sorry about the assignment that we have to do individually like are we are supposed to choose a topic regarding our class discussion and and topic that have been listed in the syllabus isn't it. Like are starting to use thats related to that.
it's on the web page for the course. list of topics.
Okay.
Okay.
yeah.
So, Sir, the assignment is going to be based on one of the topics that we select and see a one hour and we can work on another topic like that, for the project or it should be something different.
well. If you're going to deal with the same general topic. Doing in two different ways. Or if you're going. yeah that's right. So you know, doing the same thing for both.
Know like I mean not the same topic, but like we can it's going to be like more or less of the same kind like both of them. with different news or different.
we're not necessarily.
i'm giving you. So the writing the blog is. Is a writing assignment. The project may not doesn't have to be a writing assignment could be different things. or it could. there's an option to do things. that are similar. In form. But. that's not a requirement.
I see so for the project weekend we can. suggested to make videos or like podcast or stuff like that.
that's one one option Those are some options. yeah. yeah.
There was a word limit given like 101,200 1500.
That was meant to be more help than endurance. Oh. i'll give you some more detail in the final right up I post today. Okay.
yeah, and so the podcast like a sorry sorry the the projects there's this one thing, the proposal project proposal like when is that going to be do.
I suggested February 14.
Oh. That makes sense okay. Thank you so much.
you're very welcome.
I hope you have a good rest of the day.
thanks you too. Professor yeah.
I had some issues with zoom and I just realized that I missed 20 attendance was taken, I can see the option in my your courses, is there any way I can. live in record my attendance.
not really. So what's your name. anyway. If you miss one. One or two days it's not. can be a big problem okay.
Okay.
Sorry, I don't have. A better answer but. yeah so just in future will have been standing but attendance needs to be handled within the within the timeframe of our meetings. Okay, and if you have. Issues. But we're not getting the. password and so on, just post a note in the chat. Okay.
Okay.
Okay. Thank you.
Have a good God yeah answer about the meeting response, are we gonna have a meeting response for today's class.
Yes.
Okay. So the people who are. hanging around if you want to talk some more i'm gonna be in my office hours shortly so we can switch to that zoom location okay i'm going to end this one. thanks again for today have a great day, see you Thursday.

Zoom Chat Transcript

good morning
Good Morning.
Good morning
Morning
Good Morning
mornin
Good Morning!
Morning
Good Morning.
morning
good
Good morning!
Fantastic
morning
awesome weekend of NFL
Too short
Sir I registered on last day i would need some help
Thank you
There is space in both 01R and 01F. Please check with Connie Renwick (connie.renwick@uregina.ca) and copy me if you are having trouble switching sections.
Happens to the best of us.
Student password
where can I find this?
When will we find out details on this blog assignment?
http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/teaching/CS-280/202210/
No thanks
It is also a link on the UR Courses website called 'CS 280 on Dr. Hepting's website'
Probably not, I'm just wondering if we get details on this blog assignment.
Will you post the assignment on urcourse or are you going to post the assignment on the CS280 website “
Monday next week?
when is the project proposal due again?
March 11 I believe
Grouping 4 people will be better I guess
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-vaccine-triage-omicron-1.6319844
Pooja ur mic Is muffled
social media platform algorithms have been studied and have been proven to put people into "bubbles" of ideology and it has been shown that doing just this is radicalizing people
can you post the recording on ur courses
so basically fake or wrong information always existed but internet has now made it easier to find wrong information
Sometimes people aren’t looking for factual information, they simply want to prove or back up what they think is correct
even facebook misinformation can lead to propaganda
I don't think it has anything to do with education level. even smart people join cults when they are manipulated
oh so should we make internet available to only certain group, maybe like age restriction, but we all know that doesn't work
True it is not entirely based on education, however, education is a major factor.
A mix of different solutions is needed. Their will always be people who don't trust the government/ big companies/the man/ whoever .But people need to be instructed on how to check information and taught that doing so is nessacry. Not everyone will do so but the more that are taught to do so the better. Companies should also be required by law to at least offer options to change their filter options.
But if someone is proficient in fact checking information, I would argue that they are more likely to fact check information correctly.
(I will post transcript of audio)
^thank you
Yeah just look at Tom Cruise Mohammed lol
Yes, but majority of people don't even bother to fact check.
Once they have information supporting their pre-existing bias they take it as the law.
Fact-checkers’ personal biases may also influence their choice of which statements to analyze and their determination of accuracy.
That's because fact checking is hard. We need to find ways to make fact checking things easier.
Oh I see, so they may choose to ignore certain incorrect information being circulated.
Very good point, most people can not accept their beliefs being challenged
I dont think you need to fact check on a person to person level but mainstream media companies do need to be fact checked. (I still dont know how to get around the fact check bias)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory
We must also take in context a larger group of people (people in third world countries) where literacy rate is not as high. These people's minds can be molded in whichever the search engine wants and in a way which benefits someone. Rather than putting biased information and enforcing that people must fact check themselves, the platforms should create an unbiased algorithm to fact check their sources.
We all know big tech companies use algorithm to increase their bottom line. But just to play devil advocate: there are too much information out there that a person alone cannot possibly consume all of it. An algorithm is a way to optimize information delivery, if we don't use that then what other solution do we have?
The best ways would be to have laws that require some level of fact checking.
thanks have a great day
Thank you. Have a great day everyone!
thank you
Thank you
Thank you.
thankyou
Thank you
Thank you
thank you, see you
thank you
thank yoh
Thank you
Thank you
Is there a meeting response?
thank you
See you Thursday!
thank you
thank you! Have a great day everyone!
Thank you Proffesor.
thank you
Chidera Onimoe

Responses

The most important thing that I encountered:

we learned the importance of Algorithms in IT. That how big companies are manipulating the facts by the use of algorithms. We even learned that how the audience can be targeted with use of factual information.
The point of confrimation bais in what people search on google is very imporant and relevant. The search engine works based on what you search so if someone words their search in a certian way, they will only find information relevant and macthing information they already agree with. Another imporant thing was that if you change to remote your class data will still be saved.
Today we had a sneak peak at the topics which we will go throughout the semester and after that we have dissuade about the 1st blog assignment which is due on 22 February. Dr.Hepting explained each and every thing point about the blog like how we need to write and make a research on it.
I learned today that everyone has a solution that no one agrees to about how to solve the distillation of information of the internet.
Even with proper knowledge on how to validate any form of information can be hard.
In today's class we have discuss how the media algorithm generate misleading information. In the ted video elipariser clearly explain how Facebook, Google algorithm works. If two person search for same thing it is highly possible that their results will be different, the reason is the website algorithm show that kind of information based on your last searching. Even if we are not logged there are 57 signal from which algorithm will jugged from what kind of place we are sitting, which browser, location etc.
The algorithm control people to get information they most want.
Today we discussed how social media algorithms are biased. We suggested that one of the reasons for this is they benefit significantly from the increased ad revenue generated from polarizing topics. These algorithms are designed to make money not provide balanced views. We see this on other media sources as well where news stations will frequently cover whatever gets the most views (death, disasters, etc) rather content which doesn't hold people attention as well so its not just facebook.
Creating a more "mainstreamed" way of fact checking sources to boost the credibility of an article/topic can be extremely beneficial in today's and age. With people generally skimming and potentially not receiving the full story or not knowing where their information is being received can cause some serious issues.
Today we discussed the social media and search platform algorithms and their role to spread misinformation, especially in the pandemic situation. The question comes into place whether the society takes responsibility for what they find in social media and search platforms or the tech companies who control the search engine and algorithm.
The information we get today is probably all guided. Some opinion-formers only show us what they want us to see. We need to learn how to screen information for authenticity.
The most important discussion in today’s class was about how the algorithms used by various social media platforms produce different results for the same search for different users. These algorithms play a huge role in molding a person’s mindset based on sources that aren’t always reliable. I think it is the responsibility of these platforms to fact check information and distinguish the sources produce on their websites. A law mustbeinstated which requires these platforms to differentiate between sources
The most important thing I learned today is more information on the blog entries and the project. I am glad to know more about what to expect from these assignments, so I can better prepare myself to complete them before the deadlines. I like that we can choose from many topics relating to the course, and I am excited to see what myself and others can come up with for the project.
The most important concept learned today is that algorithm is putting people in bubbles. Social media platforms are manipulating people and forcing them to see what they wanna see. Even educated people are being driven in a single direction that leads to the spreading of more misinformation. Even when these biased people go to google, they just search accordingly to confirm their bias.
I'd say the most important thing that I learned during today's meeting was more info about the project we will work on during the semester. I learned that the project has to be around 1000 words, have 2-4 sources and will be assessed based on a project proposal and the project itself. Another important thing I learned today was that we are expected to leave a critique on our fellow classmate’s blog posts. I am actively thinking about which topics to investigate.
Based on the Chapter 1 reading, I can say that technology is steadily advancing. It also definitely has some cons to it. Since most people have access to the internet, they could easily post false information online. To check the validity of a post, it is important to fact-check everything we read to make sure if the information is real or not. People's opinions about a certain topic could easily be manipulated and would benefit other people.
In today's class, Professor Hepting discussed in detail about the project that we'll do as individual or up to 4 members in the group. I learned about the marking scheme of the project and how there are different parts of the project. I also learned about the blog that we have to write and also about the blog that we have to write as a critique to someone else's blog. Towards the end of class, we also discussed about a covid related article and heard some good points from that discussion.
I think the discussion regarding how to reduce misinformation is a critical one, but unfortunately I don't think it's one with any good solution. If we give the power to the government, or a company, then suddenly we are at their mercy regarding what we see on the internet. Further, it's been shown that Facebook was basing their screening on internal opinions rather than true fact checking. I think the Ted Talk regarding journalistic ethics is a good start, but not total solution.
The most important thing I learned today was how manipulative social media companies can be, especially with their algorithms. They have a responsibility to act in a non biased approach but it is clear that the programmers code with their biases. The question then becomes how can we insure programmers are ethical?
The first task was discussed. Many students said why fact check is important. As there are more data in modern society, we should always doubt and be wary of whether these data are true or not.
In today's class, we talked about how easy it is to get wrong information in the internet. Some of the results are biased. It is important for everyone to know how to properly look for right and unbiased information.
Based on today's discussion, I think that information on the internet is sometimes both believable and questionable since some articles are sometimes opinion based and evidently factual based. But another question would be how do we categorize something as factual? Nevertheless, what I learned from the “Blown to Bits” chapter is that since technology is developing everyday, it is getting more dangerous as everyone's digital footprint is stored in bits which can be an advantage and disadvantage.
Was that this class will soon be changed with a different class to teach more relevant information to today.
The responsibilities, risks, and potential issues with doing online research. How algorithms can help to confirm our biases, and how in order to stay properly informed you must be extremely proactive when looking for online information.
One thing that caught my attention this class was our discussion about fact checkers and social media algorithms. The topic that stood out in my mind was how much of the internet isn't fact checked, or how much of the internet is claimed to be fact checked. I have always thought that some people are paid to write whatever online, makes me wonder how much of the internet I can trust nowadays.
Learning how social media algorithm helps with the spread of news and information, creating awareness at different locations on earth and also enlightening the masses. I also learned how those social media algorithms pass across false information to deceive the masses and also how big companies fail to maintain a polarizing algorithm because it increases ad revenue by increasing views.
I think the most important thing I learned today was that although the internet (search engines and social media) are designed to display information that is catered to what we want to see, it doesn't mean that we are being brainwashed. free will still exists and it is up to the individual to decided for them selves to be openminded enough to be okay with the beliefs and values to be challenged. it Is a matter of taking a closer to look to see if the info is accurate.
The most important thing I learned is that information is very powerful, and it has the power to influence not only how people think, but also how they behave. Therefore, it is important that the government/society implements measures to tackle false information in circulation. One of such measures is a fact checking system. For Example, Facebook made considerable efforts to verify information being circulated on its space. Although measures like fact checking has its benefits, it also has some cons; The fa
In today’s meeting, we have discussion about in class and remote section class. We have also discussed individual assignment which blog post of around 900-100 words. Waiting to post in the assignment section page.
the class started with the discussion of the remote or inperson classes. Also daryl hepting said to contact connie renwick for any help related to the section change from remote to inperson or inperson to remote. Then in today's meeting the most important topic was project for the term related to the course for 25 marks. 5 marks for the project proposal and 20 marks for the project itself. Project can be done in group or alone with maximum of 4 members. Professor then discussed the social media algorithms
Pretty interesting meeting today especially that discussion about the trucks going to Ottawa which passed through Regina the other night.
Learned about the assignment format and project proposal
In today's class I have learnt the most important thing is that we got outline for our first assignment which is due on 28th Feb.
Today Professor Hepting started the class with discussing assignments and project, he let us know about a lot of important topics and explained the weightage of each of them. then we learned about Social media algorithm and their role in the spread of misinformation. We also learned about how polar algorithm has been used by social media company , just so they can increase revenue and viewers.
As the debate was going on in our class session today, I learned that people that are biased to a particular idea are always looking for things that assure them of this bias. The applications that we use are also smart in keeping us in this bubble. I guess this all comes up to how our information is used against us to provide relevant results or ads and thus affects the way we think.
As web companies work to custom fit search results to their users people are only being shown a small percentage of the information that is available online. This can often trap people in a filter bubble where they are only exposed to information that doesn't challenge their worldviews. To fix this issue governments need to pressure companies to allow people to choose their own filters so that they can access more information.
I learned a lot about how people perceive social media, and how their algorithms interact with their users. The discussion was pretty interesting today.
Social media algorithms and their role in the spread of misinformation.
Social media, nowadays, has a lot of influence on real life issues. Over the years its influence on social issues has been increasing. A nation’s political debates are often on the internet. In addition to this cult groups now have a way to communicate and spread their word as well. COVID-19 has shown us the adverse effects of social media in broad detail. A lot of incorrect information is spread on these platforms
The most important thing I have learned today is that we cannot force people to belief that they should vaccinate or not. Also, to reduce the number of accounts that post incorrect information on social media, we should educate the antivaccine people and doing our best to let them understand that vaccine is safe for everyone. We cannot rely on the news that are posted from unreliable websites but rather we should follow the news that are published by public health. If we don’t talk to people who have faulty
I enjoyed learning about the different opinions shared with the class in regards to misinformation online.

The most difficult thing for me to understand:

The concept of creating a polarizing algorithm for views. It showcases the ability for media to scapegoat a common enemy but Its dividing factor does have its limits. Consider anti-vaxxers: Majority of Canadians are vaccinated yet their is still many restrictions. I don't mean anti vaxxers aren't a problem but the media overstates them. Canada has had underfunded healthcare for years before covid. I don't understand the media stance on that minority when there are multiple factors for return to normal.
The most difficult thing for me to understand is how COVID-19 will continue effecting our education and university career. It seems as nobody knows what truly is going on or how to handle the pandemic situation and education. It is truly frustrating and hard to get a grasp of.
The most difficult thing for me to understand is how so many people seem to just believe what they see on social media and the news. They talk about fact checking and education like its this end all be all thing that somehow makes them more likely to be correct. However when you look at the actions of the government censoring speech and banning doctors that don't follow the narrative and you reference such actions with history the correct side is never the side afraid of people with opposing opinions.
Today i faced difficulty in every topic we discussed about. sorry but may be somewhere it's my fault

The thing about which I would most like to know more:

Today we had discussed about social media companies create the content in such a way which makes it look interesting for the user to read and share to their friends and family, It includes creating fake or sometimes editing original article. The main purpose behind this is to attract more and more users to the social media which will help them in making revenue through advertisements. how these companies are able to get a customer for a longer time as user know they don’t get real or much important article.
What is the balance to be struck between controlling misinformation and allowing freedom of speech? Censoring the internet does not seem practical nor desirable, yet leaving it as a free-for-all also seems unreasonable. This is even more difficult when answers to questions are not immediately obvious, especially in a new area of research where even academics will not agree on any one answer.
I would love to see more people's ideas for the upcoming assignments. I think the creative liberties given to us for this makes it a very good reflection into someone's point of view.
The thing from todays lecture that I would like to learn more about is ways for people on social media to get factual information without the hassle of having to do your own research all the time. Is there a way for social media platforms to ensure that information posted on their site is factual. Can we even trust an algorithm to fact check for us, will it have the bias of the programmer.
I wish to learn more about what we could do to regulate information online
How better algorithms can retrieve accurate information and the roles the internet giants would have to play to deal with hoax and misinformation. I would like to know more about how search engines like Google tackles cherry picked information of the websites to get more clicks and match with the search keywords.
What would entice people to look past the facts that are presented to them on media and to look into said topic to fact check things before spreading false information
The blog entry is what i need to know more as to what write in the blog entry
I'd like to talk about the importance of privacy in relation to social media
I would just like to keep having open discussions in class so we can hear different opinions and learn but it is hard to keep up with what everyone is saying when they speak over each other.
I'd be interested in learning more about how COVID-19 has impacted the globe and encouraged us to adopt internet solutions to solve the challenges that are caused by COVID-19 in our society..
I personally believe that certain classes of people are stuck in their own bubble due to social media and also the people they are closest to. I worked in the oil industry for years and personally know how someone can just be parroted information from a co-worker and not fact check.
I would like to learn more on why social media companies make algorithms from user data and how it benefits the company. Why include these algorithms if they create conflicts like misinformation?
Who is rally in fault for false information?
I would like to know more about the discourse between what is an individual's responsibility vs the social media platform's responsibility to show accurate information. Social media controls what people see to an extent with algorithms that cater to what people want to see but is it the platforms responsibility to make sure all information is accurate? Would that even be possible with the amount of content online? Or is it more of an individual's responsibility to check their sources? Opinions seem divided
I want to know of a solid solution to deliver information if we are to get rid of algorithms
We had a good class discussion about facts and fact checking content and how it is an issue in today’s world. Not everyone knows how to fact check and simply just teaching it in school is not enough as that only teaches the younger generation who are currently in school but not those who are out of school. Should companies require their employees to take training on how to properly fact check information? What happens if the employee refuses to do the training? Having a central fact checker poses risks as w
Listening to the discussion today made me realize how much more research I should do on this topic. But aside from that, I found it interesting how the focus shifted to user responsibility rather than our responsibility. While it is true that the user has some level of responsibility for their actions, I'm more interested in knowing what we as computer scientists can do. What is within our scope to control? Moreover, I wonder if we are merely holding on to an algorithm only for the sake of convenience?
Today's lecture discussed the importance of fact-checking the publicly available information on social platforms such as Facebook and Google. However, I think it is also crucial to consider the personal biases of people who fact-check because their biases may influence their choice of which facts to analyze and their accuracy determination.
I would more like to know about social media algorithm and their roles in spreading of wrong information and how social media companies uses our personal information for their benefit and generate good revenue and also how they share our data with other companies for their benefits.
Today's session was quite interesting cuz it was regarding covid and vaccination...So in my opinion people nowadays don't understand how critical situation is either they are trying to ignore it or its just that they are dumb...Vaccination is not cure obviously but it can fight against the covid-19 variants ...So at last i think if people wanna live in this world then they need to understand how critical the situation is and try to support government and other nations as well !!!
In todays lecture we discussed about the assignments and projects. We discussed more about the dead lines and topics on which we can work on for the blogs and project. The blog should be 900-1000 words long and it should be in MLA format with some legit references. We got to know the total marks of the assignments and the project. There is a option for the project you can either work alone or in group with maximum of 4 people. I would like to know more about the topics of project.
Binary! The language of computers. Computers only understand binary language, the language of 1’s and 0’s. Nowadays, we mostly write our code in higher level languages, and then the compilers do the translation job for us. I would like to know about the translation process from high level languages to binary language. How the compilers are made, and how they work?
Today's discussion on fact checking and how social media plays a role in it was very helpful. Even if a person is educated, based on their algorithm they can get incorrect information. What knowledge base is required for a person to understand that they need to fact check? How does the algorithm show a particular set of information since the very beginning to a user? And how does the user form a bias and an opinion based on the information provided?
I really liked today's discussion as it was related to the political issue with some extent as it was leaded to almost 700 trucks for a protest in Ottawa .
I'm really excited for the next project. I'm doing coop at the moment, and your class is a perfect opportunity to improve my writing for my work term report. This pandemic did stop me achieving some of my goals, but it taught me how to study on my own, how to do research, .. Can't wait for it
What I would love to know is that the number of people who can access the Internet varies a lot from country to country, for example in developed countries everyone will have a computer, so they will all be very aware of the Internet, which is conducive to the development of the Internet. However there are many underdeveloped countries or poor countries where few people can afford to use a computer, so there is not enough Internet awareness. In the information society, the geographical barrier is no longer
i would like to know more about the project and the blog. The topics are not clear to me.
Fact-checking is one of the major issues that has been happening while searching on google. Not all the searches gives us the accurate information in one attempt. Even there were some questions raised by a congressmen to the CEO of the google company in one of the meetings.
I'd like to know more about the algorithms used by social media companies to increase clicks. I know that a number of companies have hired psychologists to help play to our emotions so I'd like to learn what some of those methods are.
Todays meeting start with attendance and we all discussed about in-person and online lectures and even get to know that there are still rooms in both 01R AND 01F. Then, we discussed about the assignments and projects and the first assignment named blog entry 1 and for this we have to write an essay in about 900-1000 words. Therefore, I want to know more about this.
About the algorithm and the fact checking
I would like to know about web revelation while watching the video I got a doubt as Google , Facebook filters the results . So, it possible to manipulate the digital marketing( eg elections ) manipulating the votes etc.. is it possible?
In today's class, we discussed about all the topics which we learn in upcoming classes. We also discussed about Assignment 1 which is due on feb 22th. In 1st assignment, we should write a blog. I want to know more about assignment 1 in upcoming class and also can you please explain the details on how to write a blog and what all resources and references I am allowed to use. Thanks!
After today's meeting. it was evident that there was a lot to be said in terms of the information spread about COVID-19. The different options to deal with handling misinformation regarding COVID-19 was interesting and I am hoping that we can also explore options from people from both sides as it's important to weigh both ideas equally without any judgement.
What is the role of government is providing frameworks for how its citizens interact online? Freedom is incredibly important, obviously, but it also cannot just be the wild west. Private companies such as Facebook have also proven why it can't just be in the hands of the firms either as the spread of misinformation runs rampant and threatens our public health and democracy.
still a lillte bit confuse about the asignment and group project , such as how many words or can we get a range of the topic

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