Communications of the ACM
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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From Apophenia
Facebook Must Be Accountable to the Public
A pair of Gizmodo stories have prompted journalists to ask questions about Facebook’s power to manipulate political opinion in an already heated election year....
From Apophenia
Where Do We Find Ethics?
I was in elementary school, watching the TV live, when the Challenger exploded. My classmates and I were stunned and confused by what we saw. With the logic of...
From Apophenia
What is the Value of a Bot?
Bots are tools, designed by people and organizations to automate processes and enable them to do something technically, socially, politically, or economically....
From Apophenia
It’s not Cyberspace anymore
It’s been 20 years — 20 years!? — since John Perry Barlow wrote “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” — a rant in response to the government and corporate...
From Apophenia
What If Social Media Becomes 16-Plus? New battles concerning age of consent emerge in Europe
At what age should children be allowed to access the internet without parental oversight? This is a hairy question that raises all sorts of issues about rights,...
From Apophenia
New book: Participatory Culture in a Networked Era by Henry Jenkins, Mimi Ito, and me!
In 2012, Henry Jenkins approached Mimi Ito and I with a crazy idea that he’d gotten from talking to the folks at Polity. Would we like to sit down and talk through...
From Apophenia
What World Are We Building?
This morning, I had the honor and pleasure of giving the Everett C. Parker Lecture in celebration of the amazing work he did to fight for media justice. The talk...
From Apophenia
Join me at the Parker Lecture on Oct. 20 in Washington DC
Every year, the media reform community convenes to celebrate one of the founders of the movement, to reflect on the ethical questions of our day, and to honor outstanding...
From Apophenia
Which Students Get to Have Privacy?
There’s a fresh push to protect student data. But the people who need the most protection are the ones being left behind. It seems that student privacy is trendy...
From Apophenia
I miss not being scared.
From the perspective of an adult in this society, I’ve taken a lot of stupid risks in my life. Physical risks like outrunning cops and professional risks like knowingly...
From Apophenia
The Cost of Fame
We were in Juarez Mexico. We had gone there as a group of activists to stage a protest over the government’s refusal to investigate the disappearance and brutal...
From Apophenia
Are We Training Our Students to be Robots?
Excited about the possibility that he would project his creativity onto paper, I handed my 1-year-old son a crayon. He tried to eat it. I held his hand to show...
From Apophenia
Why I Joined Dove & Twitter to #SpeakBeautiful
I’ve been online long enough to see a lot of negativity. I wear a bracelet that reads “Don’t. Read. The. Comments.” (a gift from Molly Steenson) to remind myself...
From Apophenia
An Old Fogey’s Analysis of a Teenager’s View on Social Media
In the days that followed Andrew Watts’ “A Teenager’s View on Social Media written by an actual teen” post, dozens of people sent me a link. I found myself getting...
From Apophenia
Baby Boaz
Boaz Lotan Boyd saw the blizzard coming and knew it was time for him to enter this world. At 4PM on Monday, January 26, a little ball of fuzzy cuteness let out...
From Apophenia
Data & Civil Rights: What do we know? What don’t we know?
From algorithmic sentencing to workplace analytics, data is increasingly being used in areas of society that have had longstanding civil rights issues. This prompts...
From Apophenia
Heads Up: Upcoming Parental Leave
If you’ve seen me waddle onto stage lately, you’ve probably guessed that I’m either growing a baby or an alien. I’m hoping for the former, although contemporary...
From Apophenia
me + National Museum of the American Indian
I’m pleased to share that I’m joining the Board of Trustees of Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in 2015. I am honored and humbled by...
From Apophenia
What is Fairness?
What is “fairness”? And what happens when technology decides? Fairness is one of those values that Americans love to espouse. It’s just as beloved in technical...
From Apophenia