52 Posts from March 2021

Kean University 2021, The Network

Exploring the Stranger AI Things

Prof Alan on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021

Do you feel like the more you learn about Artificial Intelligence (AI) maybe the less you feel you know? We think the best way into it is to experience it yourself, hence our previous set of activities looking at things that look real but are not. Let’s go deeper. This week I will show you how to create an AI driven bot that can complete sentences based upon an algorithm built from your own tweets. I just made one, and […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

How AI Can Generate Cats, Snacks, and “the Carceral”

M.E. O'Neill on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021

I had some fun with AI this week, but I also had some feelings of existential dread as I thought about the dark, wide-reaching implications of this technology. But let’s start with the fun stuff: First, I took the “Which Face Is Real?” quiz a few times. I was able to tell the difference between the real faces and the AI generated ones correctly every time, but it was pretty difficult. When choosing between the faces, I had to rely […]

Open Participants 2021, The Network

Spring

NomadWarMachine on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021

Kean University 2021, policy, science and technology, The Network

Change in Policy Doesn’t Guarantee Change

agently on March 31, 2021

Ruha Benjamin’s article “Catching our Breath” once again solidifies the point that the way we are creating and approaching technology is bringing with it all the issues that are present in our society. I was intrigued with her emphasis on the fact that education alone isn’t enough, on the “routineness” of racism, and with the way she discussed how progress needs to embody an “abolitionist consciousness”. But as I sat down to write on this, I found I just […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

AI E I O…and on that farm

teacheng on March 29, 2021

In an old skit from Writer and Comedian, George Carlin, he talks about how the world has become one big technological “club” and if a person was not a member of “Big Business” or part of a “Mega-Corporation” that person was not part of the “club”. In fact, most Americans don’t qualify to become part of the “club” Carlin spoke about. Only about one percent of the entire American population actually qualifies to be a part of the “club”. It’s […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

I Can’t Breathe…

jessielb928 on March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

Ruha Benjamin from Princeton University discussed a sensitive but unfortunate reality that has become more real now than ever before. Science and technology is at an all-time high now, especially with the constant innovations of various technologies being used to understand humans better. But the question arises, are these creations helping or hurting the society it’s being made for and becoming part of? Her article Catching Our Breath highlights the studies of science and technologies with critical race theories and […]

Ch 10: Race & Technology, Kean University 2021, The Network

Anticipatory Conformity & Algorithimic Bias

mzamora on March 28, 2021March 28, 2021

I am glad we have spent some time thinking about the everyday consequences of data surveillance, and I think that discussing the “Screening Surveillance” films has been a great way to get at the issues (moving beyond mere conceptual analysis) as we start to think about how this ubiquitous reality is shaping our everyday lives. The conversation we had about “A Model Employee” and more recently about “Blaxites” lead to some meaningful insights on your part. Doing some speculating together […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

Power Balance

hgatica on March 26, 2021

Ruha Benjamin’s Catching Our Breath: Critical Race STS and the Carceral Imagination does an excellent job in discussing the many racial inequalities that can coexist with developing technologies. It was a point that was brought up before with AI face-scanning and criminal record analysis, but this particular argument is framed around the “proliferation and intensification of carceral approaches to governing human life.” One quote that caught my attention was by Everett Hughes, who asked “Why didn’t sociologists foresee the explosion […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

I Ai Therefore I Exist

Prof Alan on March 25, 2021March 25, 2021

Hi, my name is Jeremy, and I am helping Alan out this week with some activities. But I should introduce myself. I have been working to launch a blockchain startup called Ideolium that has an exciting new technology of interest to those designing a post pandemic university. We are busy with launch, but I can share a preview of our website. Click to see full sized version I hope I can tell you more if we can meet up soon. […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

Can You See Me?

vickbwrites on March 25, 2021

Joy Buolamwini’s TED Talk “How I am fighting algorithms with bias” discusses the biases and discriminatory encounters that individuals of color face when using technology. It is disheartening that we are in 2021, and we have yet to find recognition software that can detect diverse faces. Buloamwini provided her experiences with completing assignments during her undergraduate year but not being able to as her robot could not see her. She had to borrow her roommate’s face. With the current pandemic […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

Don’t Look at Me Like That

thesunthatruns on March 25, 2021March 25, 2021

This has been a pretty interesting week, but it is also the week where I’ve managed to hit my “semester slump.” It’s becoming more and more difficult for me to sit down and want to type everything out, and all my thoughts and feelings are starting to really box me into this perpetually tired and semi-resentful mindset of “But what is the point if no one sees me and my work? Why keep going?” It’s exactly the kind of mindset […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

Virtual Justice and Algorithms

krock5228 on March 25, 2021

The content for this week was interesting on so many different levels. First, I want to touch on the TED talk regarding algorithms and Bias. Dr. Zamora, Alan and Ryan would be the only ones to remember this, but I actually presented on this topic last year in this class. I thoroughly enjoyed it because of all of the different rabbit holes, so to speak, that it allows us to go down. The reason why this is so important is […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

Off Topic

blueknights on March 24, 2021

Greetings to all eyes that have fell upon this blog. I wanted to take a little bit of time to offer each of you some advice. I know, advice is like opinions and everyone has one. There is another saying, but it’s language is inappropriate for the intended purpose. I ask that you please be patient and hear me out. Maybe something I have to say will stick with you and help you in your future coursework. The past year […]

Kean University 2021, The Network

Diversity, Equity, and Humanity

M.E. O'Neill on March 24, 2021

I’d like to start this week’s blog by sharing the gif I made of a scene from the Screening Surveillance film “Frames.” This short film shows a dystopian society in which surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology track your every move. It presents an uncomfortably plausible future (in fact, the social credit system the video hints at already exists in China), and it strengthens the points made in this week’s videos about the need for equitably designed facial recognition software […]

Change, Kean University 2021, Parable of the Sower, The Network

Becoming Shapers of Change

agently on March 23, 2021

We want change to have an end goal. Even the language we use around change lends itself to sustaining this hopeful delusion: working towards a more ______ society, becoming a more ______ person, creating a world where ______ is no longer an issue. The problem isn’t the desire found in these visions of change, it is in the notion that eventually there is a place of rest from striving for them. Deep down, each of us hears the whisper […]