Annual Editions: Technologies, Social Media, and Society, 21/e

UNIT: Introduction

As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple with Ethics, Vindu Goel, New York Times, 2014
As online line data overflows, researchers are grappling with the ethics of studying the users. Scholars have become overwhelmed by the vast personal data collected by Facebook, Google, and other social media tools. Called the “frontier of social science,” Cornell University professor, Jeffrey T. Hancock states, “I liken it a little bit too when chemistry got the microscope.” A hornet’s nest of ethics and conflict has opened up!

Wireless Charging, at a Distance, Moves Forward for uBeam, Nick Bilton, New York Times, 2014
In a few years, uBeam will saturate the market with its uBeam transmitters. Meredith Perry, the founder of uBeam has developed the ability to charge portable electronics, like cellphone and laptops, wirelessly, using ultrasound. “This is the only wireless power system that allows you to be on your phone, and move around your room freely, while your device is charging.” Though there are some limitations, the company now has filed some 18 patents, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which are related to wireless charging and ultrasound.

The Secret Life of Data in the Year 2020, Brian David Johnson, The Futurist, 2012
"A futurist for Intel shows how geotags, sensor outputs, and big data are changing the future. He argues that we need a better understanding of our relationship with the data we produce in order to build the future we want."

UNIT: Social Media and Participation

What Will Social Media Look Like in The Future? Gina Lednyak, News, 2014
The author is the founder of one of the country’s leading social media agencies. “Looking at the advancement of social media in the current landscape, we can get a good sense of the trajectory of big themes that will emerge over the years.” Ms. Lednyak anticipates five predictions for the future of social media.

Licence to Text, Kate Lunau, Maclean's, 2012
"Fewer young people are learning to drive. The biggest reason is the Internet—it's replacing the need for a car."

The Truth about Video Games and Gun Violence, Erik Kain, Mother Jones, 2013
"Do brutal games lead to mass shootings? What do three decades of research really tell us?"

UNIT: Privacy in a Digital World

Nigeria: Protecting Financial Data from Cyber Attacks, Emma Okonji, All Africa, 2014
Financial data needs to be protected from cyber-attacks. In recent times there is increased online fraud. Cyber-attacks on organization’s data, whether financial or other, are increasing daily, though organizations are trying to protect their data using known firewalls. In banks, customer accounts are the target of many attacks, and such institutions are suffering huge financial losses.

The Individual in a Networked World: Two Scenarios, Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman, Networked: The New Social Operating System, 2012
Rainie and Wellman envision two possible future worlds the Internet might bring. One is utopic; the other is dystopic. Elements of both are projections from what we are experiencing today.

What Facebook Knows, Tom Simonite, MIT Technology Review, 2012
"The company's social scientists are hunting for insights about human behavior. What they find could give Facebook new ways to cash in on our data—and remake our view of society."

Google's European Conundrum: When Does Privacy Mean Censorship? Zack Whittaker, CNET News, 2013
Europe has not embraced America's love for "free speech" instead opting for a policy of "fair speech." This difference has opened the door to a "right to be forgotten" on the Internet, and Google has been ordered to remove material from its search database. Is this new right wise? Is it censorship? Is it even possible?

New Document Sheds Light on Government's Ability to Search iPhones, Chris Soghoian and Naomi Gilens, American Civil Liberties Union, 2013
Soghoian and Gilens report on a court document that details how much personal information is stored on your cell phone. They discuss concern about government accessing this data, and it isn't at all a stretch to be concerned about what your cell provider can do with this data as well.

UNIT: Personal Security

Engine of the Information Technology, Mark Wilkinson, Business Technology, 2014
The vast amount of information being created and stored in today’s connected web, from inbound and outbound customer contact points, from mobile media and the web. The majority of the world’s data is unstructured; “it is the amalgam of all this information that is big data,” comments the author.

A Beginner’s Guide to Building Botnets—with Little Assembly Required, Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, 2013
How easy is it to get into the botnet business? Arts Technica finds "for a few hundred dollars, you can get tools and 24/7 support for Internet crime." Of course, you also need rather strong technical skills, or a willingness to trust some fairly untrustworthy people. "A lack of morality wouldn't hurt either."

Network Insecurity: Are We Losing the Battle against Cyber Crime? John Seabrook, The New Yorker, 2013
Cyber-crime is called the "greatest transfer of wealth in history" and we are losing this battle. But is the monetary cost its greatest threat?

UNIT: Social Media and Commerce

The Rising Influence of Social Media as Reflected by Data, Andrew Hutchinson, Social Media Today, 2014
The increasing reliance on social media can sometimes be missed with business platforms. Young people today are using social media for more than they have ever used telephones. The user growth rates are increasing yearly, including that of older demographic groups. Once they were in the 18-24 categories; more of the 25-34 demographic groups are increasingly using the platforms to which they have become aligned. Even the business world is increasing its use; as of 2013 the author notes, “77% of Fortune 500 companies maintain Facebook profiles, and 69% have YouTube accounts.”

How Psychology Will Shape the Future of Social Media Marketing, Jayson DeMers, Huffington Post, 2014
Social media marketing is a relatively new field. Technology cannot replace the human ability to extract meaningful data from volumes of information, but basic psychological concepts can be applied. Developers are now relying on psychological principles to develop more sophisticated algorithms as they understand the various platforms through which posts are made.

How Google Dominates Us, James Gleick, The New York Review of Books, 2011
"In barely a decade Google has made itself a global brand bigger than Coca-Cola or GE: it has created more wealth faster than any company in history." How has its corporate motto, "Don't be evil," fared in a company now awash in money?

AmazonFresh is Jeff Bezos' Last Mile Quest for Total Retail Domination, J.J. McCorvey, Fast Company, 2013
"Amazon upended retail, but CEO Jeff Bezos—who just bought The Washington Post for $250 million—insists it's still ‘Day One.’ What comes next? A relentless pursuit of cheaper goods and faster shipping. The competition is already gasping for breath."

Can Online Piracy Be Stopped by Laws? Pamela Samuelson, Communications of the ACM, 2012
"[Hollywood] glamorizes [pirates] who attack ships by depicting them as romantic heroes who have great adventures and engage in swashbuckling fun. Yet, it demonizes fans who download music and movies as pernicious evildoers who are, in its view, destroying this vital part of the U.S. economy." Hollywood pushed SOPA to criminalize digital piracy. Will it work? Who is the hero of this story?

UNIT: IT, Business, and Economy

The Top 10 Countries for Embracing IT, Roberto Crotti, Forum Blog, 2014
The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) ranks 148 countries for the quality of their digital infrastructure and ability to use ICTs to generate economic groups, and foster innovations. In this article the author lists the top 10 countries for embracing IT. He notes those that are best placed to bridge the digital divide and extract value from big data.

The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes, Brent Schlender, Fast Company, 2012
"A treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew him best, reveals how Jobs's ultimate success at Apple can be traced directly to his so-called wilderness years."

How Technology Is Destroying Jobs, David Rotman, MIT Technology Review, 2013
"Automation is reducing the need for people in many jobs. Are we facing a future of stagnant income and worsening inequality?"

The Tricky Business of Innovation: Can You Patent a Magic Trick? Rick Lax, Wired, 2013
The process of innovation varies by industry. Lax describes how magic tricks are stolen and, in doing so, reviews the effectiveness of different forms of intellectual property protection.

UNIT: International Perspectives

World’s Tech-Ready Countries 2014: Finland on Top Again; Ireland at 26th, Michael Henningan, Fin Facts, 2014
The latest Global Information Technology Report notes that in a networked society the infrastructure is only half t
he battle. Developing nations do not have the positive impacts of developed nations. This digital divide is expanding.

10 Ways to Make the Internet Safe from Cyber Attacks, Patrick Tucker, Defense One, 2014
Dan Geer, chief information security officer for the CIA’s venture capital company, said at a cyber security conference, “…that a single well-designed cyber weapon could take down the entire Internet…”He proposed 10 policies for particularly the Internet, in protecting from cyber-attacks. “Everything that is a critical infrastructure component must show (and prove) that it can run without the Internet.”

7 Reasons Why Sweatshops Still Persist, Joleen Ong, Triple Pundit, 2013
Ong argues that there are seven supply chain realities that contribute to the continuing existence of sweatshops—and sweatshop labor. Is the globalization of business enabling or exploiting a third world labor force?

UNIT: National Security

The CIA Can’t Hack Senate Computers Because They Own Them, Experts Say, Aliya Sternstein, Defense One, 2014
There supposedly is not much to stand on, say various cyber security experts. The belief is that CIA personnel probably did not commit a hacking crime when they checked congressional computers used to research the agency’s torture activities. Senator Diane Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee noted that she is “sending a letter to the president laying out a series of changes to the redactions that we believe are necessary prior to public release.”

How Technology is Transforming the Future of National Security, Patrick Tucker, Defense One, 2014
Maintaining technological superiority is a continuous challenge for the military. Keeping the fight unfair is more complicated than it has ever been, emphasized U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Mathew Klunder. The United States Defense Department has not kept pace with the expansion of technological research; they are, using inexpensive computers, Internet and drones. Washington cannot keep up with these changing geopolitical realities. The military must now expand to use “big data” strategically in an environment where there is presently on-going backlash, such as with NSA.

Deception Is Futile When Big Brother's Lie Detector Turns Its Eyes on You, Adam Higginbotham, Wired, 2013
Researchers build and deploy an avatar to interview at the U.S. border. Answer its questions and it can tell, with 94 percent accuracy, whether or not you are lying.

Know Your Rights! Hanni Fakhoury, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 2014
"Your computer, your phone, and your other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. This is sensitive data that's worth protecting from prying eyes—including those of the government." These are your rights.

UNIT: Projecting the Future

4 Reasons Why the Internet of Everything Will Require a New Breed of IT Pros, Sudarshan Krishnamwrthi, Next Gov, 2014
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (IOE) laid the technology foundation for how the Internet works. Such is an interconnected web of systems that bring together people, processes, data and things, connecting over 20 billion devices. The IOE network demands require a shift in how the current and future workforces are educated to fill the critical gaps. The results will include greater products, more efficient services and cost savings.

Next Generation of Cyber Defenders Prepare for Expanding Battlefield, Karis Hustad, Christian Science Monitor, 2014
College-level cybersecurity competitions have become a major training and recruiting ground to supply the growing cybersecurity need. The need for an increase in the cybersecurity workforce has been apparent for some time. High profile attacks such as the Target credit card breach which left more than 70 million cards compromised have ramped up the demand for high quality cyber defenders. The result is, among universities, there is a great interest in creating competitions that are recruiting the next generation of cyber defenders, through simulations A director for Raytheon intelligences, noted that “Competitions are really a way for colleges and universities to assess their own cyber security programs to make improvements.”

Why Computers Won’t Be Replacing You Just Yet, Sendhil Mullainathan, New York Times, 2014
Three computer scientists have built an algorithm that can guess well, when asked particular questions. That an algorithm can make such predictions shows the power of “big data.” The authors demonstrate that this is one of the miracles of big data: ” Algorithms find information in unexpected places, uncovering ‘signal’ in places we thought contained only “noise.’”

From Smart House to Networked Home, Chris Carbone and Kristin Nauth, The Futurist, 2012
"Two foresight specialists describe how tomorrow integrated, networked, and aware home systems may change your family life."