Everything shut down except for one thing. There was no sound of the TV on in the background. My parents sat across from one another in a completely different room, trying their best to not even let their spoons clink against their bowls. Every window in the house was slammed shut. There was no gentle hum of the dishwasher. Our family home had almost turned into a metered parking spot; sure, this wasn’t going to be permanent, but at the […]

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In this new world that we are living in, we are evolving and finding new ways for us to do things.  WIth this wave of online instruction in classrooms at all levels, we are seeing an emergence in all new types of technology.  Some of it is very useful and important to the classroom setting.  Other forms of technology leave some room for questions.  Specifically, I question the need and importance of proctoring technology in the context of online schooling.  […]

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For next week’s class, I’ve looked into and will try and present information regarding students fighting back against surveillance apps in their classes. I knew a bit of what went into these programs, but I also found myself falling down a rabbit hole learning about what more is there. Most of what I found is alarming, and something that shouldn’t be a thing when it is something that is benefitting virtual schools in a time where we really need it. […]

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I am going to be honest, I am very much looking forward to this week’s class to discuss the “Catching our Breath” reading, because I just did not understand it all that much.  I get that we are talking about race, but adding in the technology angle muddied things a little bit for me.   Just to briefly point out some things that stuck out to me, is this notion of technology being a metaphor for race.  It is just another […]

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Ruha Benjamin’s “Catching Our Breath: Critical Race STS and the Carceral Imagination” continues last week’s conversation regarding the biases and discrimination one faces due to technology. The question “Why didn’t sociologists foresee the explosion of collective action of Negro Americans toward immediate and full integration in American society” struck me. When reading classmate’s blogs, it was mentioned that Benjamin “makes a strong point against sociologists who did not pay enough attention towards fights for racial equality. If sociologists want to […]

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Well, it’s been quite the week in every which way so far! Between the developments in the worlds of the Mets and Devils and the macrosystems of the MLB and NHL, and not to mention the personal milestones I hit this week, I feel like I’m in a never-ending game of Twister, and oh would you look at that my left hand needs to go to green! So, this week is going to be shorter. Nevertheless, I’m going to compartmentalize […]

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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 […]

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