120 research outputs found
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Can an Algorithm be Wrong?
No full textHow do we know if we are where it’s at? Tarleton Gillespie explores the controversy over Twitter Trends and the algorithmic ‘censorship’ of #occupywallstreet
[Letter] 1813 October 26, Cholmondeley Castle [to] Mr. Byfield, London / Ban Tarleton [Tarleton, Lieutenant-General (Banastre)].
No full textThe letter bears a postmark and the impression of a seal. At the top of the leaf, Tarleton has written "Cholmondely Castle" which may refer to "Cholmondeley Castle," an estate built in 1801-04 by the first Marquis of Cholmondeley, and famous for its gardens.Tarleton requests that Byfield send his papers to him at Bolesworth Castle [associated with a branch of the Tarleton family], Chester until further instructions. The author of _A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America_ (1787), Tarleton may have been on active duty during the American Revolution
Deplatforming Sex: a roundtable conversation
No full textHosted by Northumbria and Birmingham City Universities, the Deplatforming Sex roundtable took place via Teams in October 2021. Participants included Danielle Blunt, Stefanie Duguay, Tarleton Gillespie and Sinnamon Love. Clarissa Smith chaired the discussion, which was transcribed and then edited to cut digressions and repetitions for publication. The roundtable provided the opportunity to reflect on recent moves to excise sex and forms of sexual commerce and performance from online spaces, while marking out some key issues for future research with and about sex workers, performers and other content providers. Our discussion provided critical engagement with ongoing legislative changes that are impacting content and providers directly and indirectly
Designed to 'Effectively Frustrate': Copyright, Technology, and the Agency of Users
No full textRecently, the major U.S. music and movie companies have pursued a dramatic renovation in their approach to copyright enforcement. This shift, from the ?code? of law to the ?code? of software, looks to technologies themselves to regulate or make unavailable those uses of content traditionally handled through law. Critics worry about the ?compliance? rules built into such systems: design mandates for manufacturers indicating what users can and cannot do under particular conditions. But these are accompanied by a second set of limitations: ?robustness? rules. Robustness rules obligate manufacturers to build devices such that they prevent tinkering -- not only must the technology regulate its users, it must be inscrutable to them. I examine this aspect of technical copyright regulation, looking particularly at the CSS encryption system for DVDs and the recent ?broadcast flag? proposed for digital television. In the name of preventing piracy, these arrangements threaten to undermine users? sense of agency with their own technologies.This research was assisted by a grant from the Digital Cultural Institutions Project of the Social Science Research Council, with funds provided by the Rockefeller Foundation
The Fact of Content Moderation; Or, Let’s Not Solve the Platforms’ Problems for Them
No full textRecent social science concerning the information technology industries has been driven by a sense of urgency around the problems social media platforms face. But it need not be our job to solve the problems these industries have created, at least not on the terms in which they offer them. When researchers are enlisted in solving the industry’s problems, we tend to repeat some of the missteps common to the study of technology and society
Affordances, Technical Agency, and the Politics of Technologies of Cultural Production
No full textCulture Digitally is a collective of scholars, gathered by Tarleton Gillespie (Cornell University) and Hector Postigo (Temple University). With the generous funding of the National Science Foundation, the group supports scholarly inquiry into new media and cultural production through numerous projects, collaborations, a scholarly blog, and annual workshops. For more information on projects and researchers affiliated with Culture Digitally, visit culturedigitally.org or follow @CultureDig).<br/
Effects Of Device Screen Size On Online Information Search Quality & Efficiency
No full textWith recent advances in mobile technologies and the growing ubiquity of wireless network accessibility, online information search tasks are now being conducted on mobile devices with a broad range of screen form factors. Screen size is particularly variable among devices, though its impact on search efficiency and quality is unknown. This study investigates the relationship between device screen size and users' information search efficiency and quality. Thirty-six participants were tested in a variety of closed informational search tasks on three screen sizes corresponding to the Apple iPhone, iPad, and Macbook Air (13"). Although it was hypothesized that small screen size would detrimentally impact web search performance, analysis of results shows that informational search tasks were not significantly affected by screen size for measures of time on task, answer correctness, or perceived confidence or effort. The implications of these findings for mobile web searching are discussed. ii
Information, Communication & Society Algorithmically recognizable: Santorum's Google problem, and Google's Santorum problem
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Copyright and Commerce: The DMCA, Trusted Systems, and the Stabilization of Distribution
No full textThe Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been criticized for granting too much power to copyright holders, offering them new technological controls that may harm the public interest. But, by considering this exclusively as a copyright issue, we overlook how the DMCA anticipates a technological and commercial infrastructure for regulating not only copying, but every facet of the purchase and use of cultural goods. In upholding the law in Universal v. Reimerdes, the courts not only stabilized these market-friendly arrangements in cultural distribution; they extended these arrangements into realms as diverse as encryption research and journalism, with consequences for the very production of knowledge
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