#reflection 3

Prompt:

What are some of the things you are concerned about ethically with using technology to teach or conduct research that we did not talk about?

How might you address these?

Think deeply and try to avoid surface level responses.

Reflection:

I am most concerned about ethically the collection of biometric data when using technology. My concern is over the potential for the data to be sold to 3rd parties and for the quality and internal controls for regarding the storage of this biometric data. Biometric data is likely more readily collected than any tech user is aware. While many individuals use different wearable technologies to track and monitor their health and/or accessing their machines, my concern is that a bad actor or entity can engage in unethical behaviors to access and utilize this data beyond what a general user may be aware of.

Wearable technologies collect all kinds of biometric data. This can be a primary purpose for some devices. Technology companies sell watches, ring, bracelets, etc., that can collect data like a user’s heartrate, hear rate variability, oxygen level, and body temperature, just to name a few. These devices provide consumers with recaps of their physiological changes throughout the day, and can spot trends over time. Outside of such devices, other devices like smartphones, also use technologies like retina and facial recognition software, and fingerprint readers that provide faster access to a user’s device. While it is convenient, these metrics all become data that is stored and maintained about users. Wearable medical devices also exist that collect users’ data for medical purposes. Qualifying eligible patients needing a sleep study can now take a device home and get the sleep study results without the need to sleep in a sleep lab. Dermatology patients can upload photos to a health management system for a dermatologist to monitor the progress of a sleep therapeutic. Such technological advances have increased the convenience of biometric data collection and have increased the number of everyday citizens using such devices.

While there are plenty of benefits to such biometric data, there is also the opportunity for unethical uses that put the safety and privacy of users at risk. First, any entity that stores this data has some level of risk of a bad actor accessing the information. This could be through an unfortified area relating to the security, or by way of someone working on the inside. Second, entities could unethically sell the data or use it as a leverage with another entity for a business transaction. Finally, the data could be used for a profit or means to create additional profit. For example, a healthcare company may assess the data of a patient to justify charging a higher rate of service or insurance by deeming a patient as unhealthy or high-risk. Over time, collecting more and more of this data may create unique profiles for individual users. With more and more data, and the uniqueness of each user’s lifestyle, one may argue that big biometric data can be considered personally identifiable information (PII).

Project 3 — Reflection 3

This project really allowed me to learn adobe illustrator and all that I could do. I had my project, a student in the graphic design program, give me some tips, and show me how to create shapes + create a pattern for the background.

When brainstorming, I really liked a simple, professional style such as image 2, but design wise image 8 and 10 had the most visual interest. I decided against the worded outline of Susan B Anthony, as I felt, while it was cool, I would spend more time drawing on paper than I would be using adobe, which was why I took this class. Due to these reasons, I decided on the scale equating the value of men and women, as I felt it allowed me to explore adobe elements as well as opt for a sleek, simple design.

In the middle of the shoot week, each one of us had a go at interviewing others (the interview footage collected is then edited to become sections that will be  scattered all over the film). I have had a go at being the interviewer and was interviewing Filipe. This helps me to enhance my  confident and it also improves my vocal projection because i will need to articulate my words more clearly when interviewing the interviewee to make it easier for the interviewee to comprehend the question that I am delivering to him.

Here is a photo of me before I get to interview Filipe; I couldn’t find the photo of me as an interviewer:

We all gathered together after the interview has finished for a lunch break:

From doing this, I have developed my patient as a leadership skill because I will need to be patient for them to finish their sentence before I can move on to the next one. Unexpectedly, my articulation has also improved along with my patient.

During the first few days of shoot week, I have held the boom for one of the interviews which took place in Somerset House.

Here are two photos of me holding the boom in Somerset house:

Here is a photo of me listening to the camera sound recording:

It was a great experience, getting the chance to operate more of the sound section every once a while throughout this shoot week. Here is a photo of me operating the boom:

I have gotten a better grip at utilising the boom and even adjusting the angle and the sound of it to  whatever way  i can get the best sound out of it. It was sort of challenging trying to hold the boom steadily and also trying to limit myself to transfer the least possible movement from my body to make sure that the sound that gets recorded into the boom remains as crystal clear as possible.

shoot week 29th July - 2nd august

Day 3

In the morning,  I went to the Dead House with Chloe to get some experimental portraits of us in the Dead House. We had photos of our body parts and movements taken with the 16 mm film projected on us. Turns were taken in taken responsibility in each role such as the 2 cameramen and the director.

Taking my experimental portraits of my body parts:

Day 4

We were called to meet at Somerset House and we are heading towards South Bank to get more footage of London as well as sound tracks. I have learnt to use a Ta-scam with no minor difficulties. I have also taken on the role of a clapper loader once when filming Rio’s journey in the comics’ stall.

I have learnt more about how to record nearby sound with a Ta-scam. I have learnt that for recording clear and crisp sound tracks you need to find a good environment with the least wind blowing possible. I was shown how to use the Ta-scam for recording sounds and listening back to it. 

Here I am, recording the waves of the Thames:

...And here I am, trying to figure out different features on the Ta-scam:

Day 5

I spent the entire day, indoors, completing my arts award.

I have also improved my editing skill by using premier pro to transcript some interviews.

Overall, I found challenging working inside the training  station because it was crowded and restricted casual movements which has made me quite uncomfortable moving around. When i listened back to some of my Farringdon Station recordings, I could notice a few obvious change in volume- this might be due to sharp movements such as dodging when getting through the crowd of people in the train station.

My third reflection piece is on Chloe Pope’s DC fanfiction that focuses on the four vigilante brothers, Damien Wayne, Tim Drake, Jason Todd and Richard Grayson, the sons of Bruce Wayne and everyone’s favourite masked hero, Batman.

The short story focuses primarily on the dynamics between the four brothers, how their personalities and tactics seem to constantly butt heads and clash at any given moment. I found the interactions disturbingly familiar to my own interactions with my siblings, elder brother and younger sister, arguments started over something minuscule while neither one willing to give ground or admit having been in the wrong made the story itself uncomfortably relatable.

The choice to have the entire interaction observed by Alfred Pennyworth and described through the Butler’s eyes was a great decision. Allowing the reader to be a spectator to the entire situation and to feel the amusement and the exasperation that Alfred himself also felt. The use of the kitchen space as both being physically large but atmospherically contained due to the tensions between the brothers helped bring the scene to life in a way that would have been lacking without it.

The introduction of Bruce at precisely the right moment to keep the arguments from escalating into a fully-fledged war in the Wayne Manor kitchen hammered home the familial dynamics between the boys and Bruce Wayne and carried a sense of being dysfunctional but operational and with a lot of heart.

References

    Every now and then we are told, and expected to believe, that men and women are different based on biology and the inherent traits they possess. Psychology had for a long time justified differences between men and women as something that just was, something natural that made women inferior to men physically as well as mentally. Weisstein points out several instances in which psychologists, clinical psychologists, and biologists used the smallest and most basic pieces of evidence as the explanation to a women’s inferiority. One of the worst things being how they would only look towards evidence that supported their theories, but never at all the evidence that opposed it. She mentions how how psychologists only focused on what they believe was innate and never on other factors, like a person’s environment, which are just as (if not more) important. Weisstein goes on to mention how people will act how they think they should act, that is, how others expected them to act and how a situation requires they act. This also makes me think of stereotype threat, in which a person may perform worse in a situation in which their group is considered to be “inferior”; like how women will perform worse on a math test if they believe women are worse at math than men. They are related in the sense that we are never as free as we believe ourselves to be, there are underlying things within society that can make us act a certain way, without use even noticing.

    I am currently also taking a personality course, of course we haven’t gone in too deep, but their have been slight mentions of the differences between men and women, for example traits that seem stronger in women. There was one experiment mentioned was by Debbie Moskowitz (1993) related to women being friendlier than men, the experiment showed that women were only friendlier when interacting with other women, but when interacting with people of the opposite sex they were just as friendly as men (Larsen and Buss). It shows how differences in traits are not as straightforward and drastically different between the sexes as we believe. We have only grazed certain traits that seem stronger in one gender as opposed to the other gender, but not why that might be. For example when people mention that girls are more mature than boys, but fail to realize that it may be due to the fact that girls are expected to be quiet and “proper” and help out around the house since a younger age, as opposed to boys. We have also learned that traits seem to be more important only when the situation is ambiguous/ weak, because in many cases situation determines behavior. That fact does make me feel as though we have improved some in personality psychology.

    The fact that Weisstein has pointed out how some people will do the bare minimum to “prove” stereotypes (such as looking towards some primate behavior to explain human behavior) and how outcomes can be greatly influenced by what a researcher believes (ex. the rats performing better in the maze when the researchers believed they would perform better) both show how important it is that we don’t just simply accept all explanations that come from “evidence”. Data is data, but it can be manipulated to prove what a researcher wants it to prove. It is important that we don’t simply accept all explanations that only use “biological” evidence to explain men and women, but instead also look towards other possible explanations such as society and situations.

In Japan, you have no idea what they are saying, and they can’t help you either. Nothing makes any sense. They’re very polite, but you feel like a joke is being played on you the entire time you’re there.

~Bill Murray

What is it like to not know a language or custom and trying to communicate and share information? It’s like this. You’re facing the cashier, and you’re trying to remember phrases that you learned in a crash course to Japan and the Japanese person in question is trying their best to understand what you’re saying so that they can help you with your order. Eventually you both resort to pointing at pictures and nodding heads in agreement. It’s just as uncomfortable for them as it is for us.

I had one of my longest interactions with a shop clerk at kamakura. She liked to point things out in the store calling them “kawaii”, and I responded in kind. It was really fun. I was able to ask questions like “kore wa ikura deska” or “Sashin wo totte mou ie deska” (Can I take a picture?). And they responded very clearly and with body language (👌). We did our best to communicate with one another and were able to make the best of it. We had fun communicating with one another.

One of the shop clerks from the kimono fitting tried to talk to us too. She asked us “where from”, until we could understand her. We started with America, but then tried our best to explain exactly where in America. She wanted to interact with us and tried her best with the language skills that she had.

Some of the best interactions are with Japanese students practicing their English skills. They come up to us, and say hello, then read questions from their homework pamphlets. We listen and answer until we communicated that “my favorite Japanese band is Sekai no Owari” and then their faces light up because 1) they know that band too 2) they asked correctly and 3) they got a response they understood. They’ll wish we enjoy our trip in Japan, and we all go back to our teachers/professors and tell them about our experiences.

Communication is a two way street. They want to be able to communicate with us as much as we want to communicate with them. Bill Murray makes it seem like a joke or that they are mocking us. I’m here to say that it’s for ease and better understanding. It’s when we get frustrated and feel unable to communicate that feelings of distraught at the other person may arise. We have to keep our feelings in check. It’s not anyone’s fault that we’re not able to completely understand one another, but we have to make the effort to try.