Mobile Computing (18)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2020
As means of preserving deceased loved ones digitally become more and more likely, it is critical to consider the implications of technologies which aim to replicate and capture the personality and traits of those who have passed. Not only might this change the natural process of grieving and healing, it may also have alarming consequences for the agency of the dead. For the corresponding Black Mirror episode discussed in the article, see the narratives “Martha and Ash Parts I and II.”
- Wired
- 2020
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2020
The Ethics of Rebooting the Dead
As means of preserving deceased loved ones digitally become more and more likely, it is critical to consider the implications of technologies which aim to replicate and capture the personality and traits of those who have passed. Not only might this change the natural process of grieving and healing, it may also have alarming consequences for the agency of the dead. For the corresponding Black Mirror episode discussed in the article, see the narratives “Martha and Ash Parts I and II.”
Should anyone be allowed to use digital resurrection technologies if they feel it may better help them cope? With all the data points that exist for internet users in this day and age, is it easier to create versions of deceased people which are uncannily similar to their real identities? What would be missing from this abstraction? How is a person’s identity kept uniform or recognizable if they are digitally resurrected?
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Brandy and Tim are two teens who attempt to live normal lives through interacting with their peers through social media platforms. For Brandy, this means using a secret Tumblr account to express herself, since her mother has passwords to all her other accounts and is able to constantly collect data from her daughter’s devices. Tim finds similar comfort in chatting with anonymous friends in an online game chat room. Tim and Brandy’s developing relationship is threatened once both of their parents overstep and violate their children’s privacy and trust.
- Kinolab
- 2014
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Interaction Records and Privacy from Parents
Brandy and Tim are two teens who attempt to live normal lives through interacting with their peers through social media platforms. For Brandy, this means using a secret Tumblr account to express herself, since her mother has passwords to all her other accounts and is able to constantly collect data from her daughter’s devices. Tim finds similar comfort in chatting with anonymous friends in an online game chat room. Tim and Brandy’s developing relationship is threatened once both of their parents overstep and violate their children’s privacy and trust.
Since social media and smartphones can contain complete records of interactions between people, how can parents intervene in their children’s social lives more thoroughly in the digital age? Is letting teenagers have complete control over their social media use and privacy part of letting them be children in the digital age? How do digital chat rooms make it difficult to verify the true identity of those with whom people interact? How does this anonymity allow people to act differently than they might in real life? Is digital addiction a true problem, or is this simply the truth of social life in the digital age?
Men, Women and Children: Let Me See Your Phone-
- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Chris is a driver at an Uber-esque company with a great amount of anxiety and disdain for the widespread addiction to smartphones. He inexplicably waits outside the same building every day to pick up clients. One day, he finally proceeds with a dastardly plan.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Ride-Hailing Hazards
Chris is a driver at an Uber-esque company with a great amount of anxiety and disdain for the widespread addiction to smartphones. He inexplicably waits outside the same building every day to pick up clients. One day, he finally proceeds with a dastardly plan.
How has digital addiction made the expectation for convenience so normalized that people are willing to put themselves into dangerous situations, as the passenger Jaden does here? What kinds of safety features have companies like Uber or Lyft built into their platforms so far, and how could they do even better?
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2019
Because of the jobs offered by the booming tech industry, San Francisco has developed a caste-like hierarchy, in which the small group at the top of tech companies are the richest, while other citizens are left to get poorer as the middle class shrinks.
- Wired
- 2019
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2019
How Silicon Valley fuels an informal caste system
Because of the jobs offered by the booming tech industry, San Francisco has developed a caste-like hierarchy, in which the small group at the top of tech companies are the richest, while other citizens are left to get poorer as the middle class shrinks.
How does the little social mobility within technology “castes” impact the digital tech workforce? To what degree is human agency on both ends limited by the emergence of artifacts such as Taskrabbit or Instacart?
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
In this extreme imagination of social media, detectives Karin Parke and Blue Coulson try to discover the correlation between two recent deaths. They first interrogate a teacher who posted “#DeathTo @JoPowersWriter” along with a photo of controversial journalist Jo Powers on the day before Jo was found dead. The teacher discusses the popularity of this message and the hashtag, sharing that an entire online community split the cost of sending Jo a hateful message on a cake. Later on, the detectives discover that these deaths were determined by bots and the trending of the #DeathTo, and that whichever name had the most hits under this hashtag were hunted down and killed by a mysterious force.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Social Media Trends and Hive Mind Justice
In this extreme imagination of social media, detectives Karin Parke and Blue Coulson try to discover the correlation between two recent deaths. They first interrogate a teacher who posted “#DeathTo @JoPowersWriter” along with a photo of controversial journalist Jo Powers on the day before Jo was found dead. The teacher discusses the popularity of this message and the hashtag, sharing that an entire online community split the cost of sending Jo a hateful message on a cake. Later on, the detectives discover that these deaths were determined by bots and the trending of the #DeathTo, and that whichever name had the most hits under this hashtag were hunted down and killed by a mysterious force.
How does this relate to the phenomenon of “cancel culture” in the real world? How can buzzwords commonly used online translate poorly into real life? How can digital social media be re-imagined so that users are less susceptible to “trends” started by bots? Is there a possibility that social media might give too much power or too high of a platform to the general population?
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- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
In this episode, Kenny’s life is upended after hackers use malware to access a compromising video of Kenny on his laptop. Under the threat of this humiliating video being sent to everyone in his contacts, Kenny becomes a puppet of the hackers, forced to have his location services on and be tracked and contacted through his smartphone wherever he goes. Along with other puppets of the hackers, including a man named Hector who had an affair, he is forced to commit heinous acts such as a bank robbery and a fight to the death. Despite their compliance, the hackers release the puppets’ information anyway, leading to vast consequences in their personal lives.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Cyber Blackmailing and Compromising Data
In this episode, Kenny’s life is upended after hackers use malware to access a compromising video of Kenny on his laptop. Under the threat of this humiliating video being sent to everyone in his contacts, Kenny becomes a puppet of the hackers, forced to have his location services on and be tracked and contacted through his smartphone wherever he goes. Along with other puppets of the hackers, including a man named Hector who had an affair, he is forced to commit heinous acts such as a bank robbery and a fight to the death. Despite their compliance, the hackers release the puppets’ information anyway, leading to vast consequences in their personal lives.
Is anyone truly “alone” or “unwatched” when in the presence of their mobile computing devices? Whose responsibility is it to guard people against the dangers witnessed in this narrative? Do digital technologies need clearer and more thorough warnings about the possibilities of malware infecting a device? How can mobile computing devices and location tracking be manipulated to deprive people of autonomy? Are small individual steps such as covering up cameras enough to guard against these types of problems?