Lesson Plan: Commodification and Power
Readings:
Before class, students were required to read “Controversies in Digital Ethics” (Pages 13-25) and “Missing the Big Picture on Big Data”.
Day One:
Introduce Commodification:
- Definition: The process in which data is transformed into an object of trade by/for corporations, advertisers, or analysts.
- Audiences are commodified by data generated during free time & impulse purchasing drives.
- Spending money/data is a necessity to participate in world of technology, and even if a platform is free, devices aren’t.
- Dallas W. Smythe: speculated that audience members in the U.S. pay x3 to watch programs/advertisements than advertisers do to actually place ads.
- Information allows someone to create a specific ad to someone known for his or her interest in a particular product and the language used to draw someone in.
- Example: Youtube having an advertising service that users need to watch in order to access content.
- Data examples that companies look for: Age, birthday, gender, hometown, friends, interests, behaviors, occupation, education, property info, internet browsing habits, purchasing activity (both online and in person), location (which ones are deliberate and which one’s don’t users know about).
- Evidence-based decision-making: having access to data makes a company’s decisions easier to make. Data backs up numbers, which informs how money is spent.
- All of this makes up the “Information Economy”.
Group Activity:
Groups are divided at random, 4 groups total.
5 minute brainstorm about commodifiable objects.
Instructions:
Groups were to imagine that they owned NC State, and their goal was to take one singular entity on campus and turn it into some form of data collection.
What they are commodifying and why?
Are there a lot of people that are using this entity?
What kind of group are they looking at as far as demographic?
Data: How are they collecting the data? Is the exchange a fair trade? Why do they need this data? How are they going to use it?
Wrap-Up Questions:
How does it feel to turn something deemed as “free” or open property, into revenue or acquisition?
Do you feel as though you have a right to make this claim? Was the trade equal to the information you reaped? (Example, did you give permission for shade for the recipient’s mother maiden name? Or did you trade this for something higher/lower?)
Homework:
Have the class read “Free Culture” pg. 143 – 161 for class on Wednesday.
Blog Post: Students will respond to the following question in a blog post that is 400-500 words long.
What do you think is the most valuable/marketable type of data? Why? If you could own this data for yourself, what would you do with it? Now that you have had experience with commodification; do you think that these companies are justified in how they are taking data in exchange for commodities? Now think about the kinds of data that you could be putting out based on the apps/services you use. What apps/ services do you think are getting the most out of your electronic activity? What would you say is the value of your data production?
Day Two:
Explain Power/Legality:
- The Big Data Divide: gap separating those who can access data and who can’t
- People don’t have access to data or know what way it’s being used.
- Data allows corporations to collect/purchase data that helps them derive insights about an individual’s actions and decision-making process.
- Use of data to hold power over a person’s access to important needs (example: insurance/credit/interest rates).
- Traditional privacy laws regarding anonymity and notice/consent can prevent negative uses of data.
- Workaround notice/consent by wordy & technical private policy statements.
- So long as information isn’t used harmfully (subjective), a producer can’t really do anything about the use of their data.
- Laws function more as a means of establishing guidelines for data usage.
Free Culture:
- The discrepancy between power over tangible sources and how this translates onto the Internet.
- The shift from once uncontrollable platforms, to more automated controls puts the power in the organization releasing the information.
- The publishers now have even further control over these platforms, information, and access to this information.
Watch this video after the presentation.
Warm-Up Activity:
A lesson on power and control. We start the conversation based on a random subject. Everyone will receive a card with the number 1-10 on it. Each number will be a representation of how many times you can talk within the discussion. Each person must get rid of all his or her cards. The purpose of this was to see how willing everyone was to give out seemingly unimportant aspects of themselves.
Group Activity: A courtroom style debate looking at who should hold power over data. The large organization, or the people? Defendant is an Internet pirate. Used a mock case example based-loosely the Snowden situation.
Wrap-Up Questions:
How does power influence the way that information is presented?
How does this same power hinder those in positions without it?
Do you think that power has the ability to dictate our culture and priorities as a society?
Group Responsibilities:
Charis: Constructed the Google Document used to manage group ideas. Was responsible for coming up with the group activities and outlining their rules. Gathered necessary supplies for the group activities. Contributed to some of the information gathered for the presentation. Assisted in coming up with the blog post. Assisted with elaborating on presentation points. Presented and led the group activities during class. Attended meetings. Suggested alternate reading.
Ward: Was responsible for the bulk of presented information on the first day of presenting, and the wrap up questions on the second. Assisted with the main presentation on the second day. Assisted in the explanation of the second day’s group activity. Sent the emails to ensure everyone was performing their tasks. Organized meetings. Found readings for the group to use. Contributed to most of the information gathered for the presentation. Came up with the majority of the blog post. Send emails to students to remind them of readings/homework. Uploaded readings & blog post to the student blog. Commented on student blog posts. Will email the professor once all students have posted a blog post and have been reviewed.
Charles: Was responsible for creating the PowerPoint documents used in class. Presented the wrap-up questions on the first day and the main presentation on the second. Attended meeting. Send PowerPoint documents out for peer review/editing. Came up with wrap-up questions.