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English 1301

Random Readings, Sources, & Things to Think About

You can use any of these in your Informative Synthesis Essay on our Connected Society.

• Readings–not student samples–on my Media Analysis page
• Any of the stories on my Literary Analysis page
• AdText - A web page with multiple articles on advertising focused on different groups and around various ideas.
• The Pew Research Center
• Social Media and Advertising
• What is Data Ethics & Why Do We Need It? (Data, Privacy, and the New Digital Ethics)
• Parasocial Relationships Can Tell Us a Lot about the Social Brain
• Understanding Social Media Literacy: A Systematic Review of the Concept and Its Competences: Nowadays, people spend long periods on social media, ignoring the implications this carries in daily life. In this context, the concept of social media literacy, an emerging concept scarcely developed in the literature, is relevant. This study sought to analyze, descriptively, the main definitions and competences of the concept of social media literacy.
• A Few Rules for Predicting the Future   
• Measuring Neural Arousal for Advertisements and Its Relationship With Advertising Success  

These videos on Kanopy (Video streaming-EPCC log in required)

• Sexy Baby:   In the age of runaway social media and "sexting," raunchy rap songs on pop radio and hardcore pornography at the click of a mouse—what's it like to be a woman? A girl? A teenage boy? Their parents? In this feature documentary, the directors follow a trio of characters to reveal the toll all this titillation is taking on America and forces viewers to get comfortable having the uncomfortable conversations.  (Video: Kanopy, requires EPCC sign-in)
• Frontline: The Facebook Dilemma:  The promise of Facebook was to create a more open and connected world. But from the company’s failure to protect millions of users’ data, to the proliferation of “fake news” and disinformation, mounting crises have raised the question: Is Facebook more harmful than helpful?  (Video: Kanopy, requires EPCC sign-in)
• Vulnerable Innocence: The Internet: Are Children in Charge? : This documentary explores how unsupervised children are vulnerable to online predators, and provides concrete, step-by-step measures that parents can take to exert digital supervision over their children to keep them safe. (Video: Kanopy, requires EPCC sign-in)
• What is the Metaverse?:  Facebook has bet big on it, changing its name to Meta in October. And it’s caught the imagination of tech founders as far back as the noughties. The term metaverse was first coined by American author Neal Stephenson in his sci-fi novel Snow Crash in 1992. It describes a parallel digital universe and the next iteration of the internet, which promises to allow us to live, work and play within the virtual world. Host Joshua Lim experiences the technologies that are already unlocking the promise of the metaverse today, and explores what the brave new virtual world would mean for us.(Video: Kanopy, requires EPCC sign-in)
• I Am Human:  By 2029, scientists predict that approximately one million people will have implantable technology in their brains. This film follows the jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring journeys of three early pioneers - Bill, Anne, and Stephen. As these unlikely cyborgs grapple with the realities of their implantable brain technology, scientists face pressing technical and ethical quandaries: will the same technology that heals the sick soon lead to super human abilities, telepathic communication, and cognitive enhancement? From the research lab to the operating table, I AM HUMAN follows humanity’s quiet march down a new evolutionary path, unpacking the emerging complexity and real world possibilities of a technology that challenges the very essence of what it means to be human.  (Video: Kanopy, requires EPCC sign-in)
• Generation Zapped: The Dangers of Daily Exposure to Wireless Technologies: In less than a generation, cell phones and the Internet have revolutionized virtually every aspect of our lives, transforming how we work, socialize and communicate. But what are the health consequences of this invisible convenience? (Video: Kanopy, requires EPCC sign-in)Generation Zapped: The Dangers of Daily Exposure to Wireless Technologies (2017)
• Computers v. Crime (2022, How computers are being used for bail, sentences, who gets policed. . .)
• Augmented & Predicting My MS (2022, technology and disability)
• Why It Matters: Future Tech (2021, there are 5 episodes–any of them are good to use.)
• Origin of the Species (2012, “ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES explores the contemporary world of android development with a focus on human/machine relations, gender and the ethical implications of this research”)
• Addicted to Sexting: Technology's Impact on Sexual Intimacy (2015)
• Black Code: Where Big Data Meets Big Brother (2016, This documentary examines how governments are manipulating the Internet to control their citizens, creating challenges to our ideas of citizenship, privacy, and democracy.)
• A Good American: Behind a Government Surveillance Program (2015, “A gripping docu-thriller about a groundbreaking surveillance program, the brilliant mastermind behind it and how a perfect alternative to mass surveillance was killed by NSA-management. . .”)
• Pre-Crime: Investigating Predictive Crime Algorithms (2017, “Science fiction turns into disturbing fact as forecasting softwares, algorithms and databases quickly become the new fortune-tellers for future crimes…)