This pathfinder was created to compile sources for my Research Unit Project. For this project I am focusing on the ethics of participating in an increasingly monopolized, biased and just all around terrible internet.
[1] A. M. Guess et al., “How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?,” Science, vol. 381, no. 6656, pp. 398–404, Jul. 2023, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp9364.
This article in Science presents research into how the algorithims that social media sites use affect what content people see. The researchers worked with Meta to compare the content shown to users when Facebook and Instagram were showing users content in cronological order instead of using algorithms to determine the content people see.
[2] C. Doctorow, “Five tech companies are the undead monsters ruling our days. Let’s knock them over and take back what’s ours,” Toronto Star, Aug. 04, 2024. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/five-tech-companies-are-the-undead-monsters-ruling-our-days-lets-knock-them-over-and/article_edde07dc-4dc5-11ef-8f09-03f2d8a30083.html.
In this article Cory Doctorow discusses how the internet has gotten worse over time due to the monopolization of giant tech companies and how the internet could be brought back to what it used to be by breaking up monopolies and building new infrastructure based on competition and freedom to configure and customize how you interact with the internet.
[3] C. Doctorow, “Too big to care - Cory Doctorow - Medium,” Medium, Apr. 04, 2024. https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2024-04-04-teach-me-how-to-shruggie-kagi-caaa88c221f2.
This article by Cory Doctorow describes the process of "Enshittification" or the process of companies increasing profits at the expense of the funtunality of the final product. Doctorow discuses how this is a conscious choice by these companies and that they're able to get away with it because they are "Too big to care" about the quality of their products.
[4] K. Khan-Mullins, P. Liu, “Here’s what billionaires are saying online in response to Trump’s victory,” Forbes Australia, Nov. 08, 2024. https://www.forbes.com.au/news/us-election/what-billionaires-are-saying-online-in-response-to-trumps-victory/.
This article by Kyle Khan-Mullins and Phoebe Liu discuses many of the ultra-wealthy's reactions to the re-election of President Donald Trump. The article highlights many of the tech billionares that own large parts of the internet and how many of them are showing increasing support for the Trump administration.