DGST 395: Week 6 Summary

“The Soft Truth,” by Leigh Alexander, is a short story that emphasizes the intersectionality between our existence and technological algorithms. There is a controversy where Alexander discusses her other persona, whom I interpreted as the version of herself who is consumed by algorithms and has made life-changing mistakes because of her digital footprint. My theory for the end of the story is that Alexander let go of the version of herself that left a negative footprint. She now has a greater understanding of algorithms’ integral role in shaping one’s life.
The New York Times article “Making of a YouTube Radical” was disheartening and eye-opening. It’s concerning that social media can influence the political ideologies of individuals, from algorithms pulling them into watching radical videos to In recent years I have seen a plethora of disinformation spread on the internet, many of which most likely came from individuals who went/are going through similar situations as Caleb Cain. Currently, I am in a disinformation class where we are learning about different aspects of disinformation and misinformation in predominantly media. I hope that in the future, there will be more education on social media consumption and its connection to disinformation because it is becoming an increasing problem, and people continue to believe the large amount of information they find on social media.
I gained insightful knowledge about digital projects in class on Friday and the direction DGST 395 is taking for the big project. At first, I was centered on the idea that I wanted to create an audio project for the project. After we went through an example of an individual who reviewed romance novels on a website, I am leaning more toward creating a website. I enjoyed making my retro homepage and creating a website will provide me with more creativity and challenge me more than an audio project. For the fortune teller project, I am leaning toward having a celebrity be the fortune teller for comical purposes.