Difference between revisions of "Soctech seminar, Spring 2006"

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*'''4 April''' [[Social Aspects of Search: A History]]  
 
*'''4 April''' [[Social Aspects of Search: A History]]  
::'''Presented by Prof. Terry Brooks (i-School)''' - [[http://www.ischool.washington.edu/people/personnel.aspx?id=3113&mode=pics homepage]].
+
::Presented by Prof. Terry Brooks (i-School) - [http://www.ischool.washington.edu/people/personnel.aspx?id=3113&mode=pics homepage]
::[http://www.ischool.washington.edu/tabrooks/Terry/ResearchPresentation/socialSearchScroll.htm '''Slides that Terry will speak against''']
 
  
 
*'''11 April''' [[Basics of Search Engines and their History]]  
 
*'''11 April''' [[Basics of Search Engines and their History]]  
 +
::Presented by Mike Cafarella
  
*'''18 April''' [[Strengths and Weaknesses of Search]]  
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*'''18 April''' [[Basic Legal Concepts]]  
 +
::Presented by Jonathan Claypool and David Orange
  
*'''25 April''' [[Fair Use of Content]] What fair use currently entails and where should it go. What can we understand about it by analyzing it from an economic, legal or social perspective?  What does it mean for discourse in a society?
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*'''25 April''' [[Fair Use of Content]]  
:'''Presented by Prof. Dan Laster (Law)''' - http://www.law.washington.edu/Faculty/Laster/
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::Presented by Prof. Dan Laster (Law) - [http://www.law.washington.edu/Faculty/Laster/ homepage]
::'''Relevant current issue''': Google Book Search (formerly GooglePrint)
 
:::* Google CEO Eric Schmidt's comments on [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/point-of-google-print.html "The Point of GooglePrint"]  
 
::* Pre-publication of Ford's memoirs http://www.justia.us/us/471/539/case.html
 
::* American Geophysical Union v. Texaco, Inc. http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/60_F3d_913.htm
 
::*Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center (a resource from Stanford Libraries) http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
 
  
*'''Agglomeration of Personalized Data:''' [[Details]] Search engines enable users to parse the overload of information available online. But there is a trend for search companies to track personal search histories as well in order to provide customized content. Private companies now hold vast databases of information about the behavior of large portions of populations. What implications will this have?
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*'''2 May''' [[Open Source and Search]]
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::Presented by Paul Pham
  
::*'''The Search, Customization, and Media Content (2 May):''' [[Details]] What are some possible results of customization? How far can it go? Will it help create cross-cutting communities as people find each other with similar interests, or will it serve to isolate people as they are served information that continually reinforces social boundaries that have already been constructed?
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*'''9 May''' [[Privacy and the Internet I]]: Technology primer
 +
::Presented by Keunwoo Lee; slides: [http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse590t/06sp/networks-privacy.ppt PowerPoint],  [http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse590t/06sp/networks-privacy.pdf PDF handouts (color)], [http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse590t/06sp/networks-privacy-bw.pdf PDF handouts (grayscale)]
  
::::[http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic GoogleZon]: A dystopic story of the future of media content. Far-fetched? Maybe, maybe not! Regardless, it raises interesting questions. (8 minutes).
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*'''16 May''' [[Privacy and the Internet II]]: Privacy law primer
 +
::Presented by Joe Shaughnessy
  
::*'''Privacy Rights in the US and Elsewhere (9 May):''' [[Details]] What new issues does search raise for privacy? What complications arise in terms of national governments?
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*'''23 May''' [[Dissidents in China: Google, Freedom and Information]]
:::'''Relevant current issue''': Dept. of Justice request for Google's search logs.
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::Presented by Kaye Reiter and Colin Dixon
:::*Global Internet Policy Initiative. 2004. The International Legal Framework for Data Protection and its Transposition to Developing and Transitional Countries http://www.internetpolicy.net/privacy/20041228privacy.pdf
 
:::*The Virtual Chase (website for review) http://www.virtualchase.com/people/public_records.html
 
  
*'''Dissidents in China: Google, Freedom and Information (16 May)''' [[Details]]
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*'''30 May''' [[Political Ramifications of Search]]  
::*Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005 (backgrounder) http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/china/ONI_China_Country_Study.pdf
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::Presented by Allison Demeritt and Travis Kriplean
::*Google testimony before congress  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/testimony-internet-in-china.html
 
::*What information do activists need?  Peer communication, news, mass communication?
 
  
*'''Search as Political Statement (23 May):''' [[Details]] Is the use of link structure to evaluate quality a democratizing force? Or does it reinforce the status quo? Are phenomena like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bombing Google Bombing] quirks or do they open up new avenues of serious political commentary?
 
::*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bombing Google Bombing article at wikipedia]. Especially check out the scientology struggle.
 
::*Philip Howard. 2003. <i>Digitizing the Social Contract: Producing American Political Culture in the Age of New Media</i>. The Communications Review v. 6. http://faculty.washington.edu/pnhoward/publishing/articles/socialcontract.pdf.
 
 
*'''Exclusion and Inclusion through Search (30 May):''' [[Details]] How do search algorithms work for or against social stratification? How does it affect our approach to cultural content? What are the implications of mechanical evaluations of quality?
 
::*Lucas Introna and Helen Nissenbaum. 2000. <i>Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matters</i>. The Information Society v. 16(3). http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/readers/abstracts/16/16-3%20Introna.html
 
::*Kieran Healy. 2002. <i>Digital Technology and Cultural Goods</i>. The Journal of Political Philosophy v. 10(4). http://www.kieranhealy.org/files/papers/jpp.pdf
 
  
 
*'''Other Possible Topics'''
 
*'''Other Possible Topics'''
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::* Money continues to play a large role in political communications.  Is the role amplified by search, and how has it changed.  Should we be concerned?
 
::* Money continues to play a large role in political communications.  Is the role amplified by search, and how has it changed.  Should we be concerned?
 
::* Is the internet becoming mature enough that it ought to be regulated?  If we, for instance, give certain data priority, how should speech be treated?  
 
::* Is the internet becoming mature enough that it ought to be regulated?  If we, for instance, give certain data priority, how should speech be treated?  
 +
::* [[Strengths and Weaknesses of Search]]
 
*'''Other Resources'''
 
*'''Other Resources'''
  
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==Mailing list==
 
==Mailing list==
 
Visit
 
Visit
:https://mailman.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/cse590so
+
:https://mailman.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/cse590t
to sign up for the course mailing list.  You will need a UW NetID.  Contact Keunwoo if you have any difficulty signing up.
+
to sign up for the course mailing list.  Contact Keunwoo if you have any difficulty signing up.
  
 
==Administrative info==
 
==Administrative info==
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*Fall 2005 CSE522 http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse522/CurrentQtr/
 
*Fall 2005 CSE522 http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse522/CurrentQtr/
 +
*Fall 2005 Berkeley I-School seminar http://www.sims.berkeley.edu:8000/courses/is290-2/f05/index.html

Latest revision as of 20:57, 9 May 2006

Society and technology seminar: SLN 2932 CSE 590 T, Tue 12:30-1:20, CSE 403
(Law students should register for CSE 590 X - sln 2936, everything else is identical)

Spring 2006: The Social Ramifications of Search Technologies


As the cliché goes, in today’s “information society” there is no shortage of information, but rather an inability to process information in meaningful ways. The primary contemporary response to this information inundation has been the Search. As a consequence, the search engine has become one of the most important transformative social institutions of our time.

Because the heart of search is a mechanical ordering of results by relevance to a query, search algorithms are a new way of judging quality. This extends perhaps most importantly to the ranking of the quality of cultural content, something which in the past has been a human task. What does this mean for the distribution of power in society? How might the search algorithms themselves open up new avenues of political participation and expression? How might they work toward social exclusion?

Google in particular has been in the news recently for a variety of essential topics which demonstrate that search engines are raising many questions about the organization of content and access to it. And in the process, they are clashing with many different social institutions. With regard to privacy: should the US government have access to privately held information about the search habits of its citizens? With regard to political change and censorship: what role should search engines play in China in regards to dissidence and freedom of information? With regard to the current copyright institution: what content should be searchable?

In this seminar, we will explore a wide range of topics related to the search engine, drawing on sources as varied as current news stories, social science research, and algorithm design. Although we don't want to focus on Google, let's be honest, it will be difficult to not center on the company whose name, in our vernacular, has become synonomous with the verbs "to search" and "to discover".

Contact information: This course is being organized by Travis Kriplean (travis at cs) and David Orange (dborange at gmail).

If you would like to continue to receive news about ongoing soctech activities, then subscribe to the soctech@cs mailing list.

Topics (with tentative dates)

Suggestions are welcome about additional topics, improved organization, how to refine the existing topics, and relevant readings for each. Please send an email to travis (@cs) if you have such suggestions! Note that the readings will be pared down to be manageable for a seminar.

  • 28 March Introduction and The Search Engine as a Social Institution
Presented by Prof. Terry Brooks (i-School) - homepage
Presented by Mike Cafarella
Presented by Jonathan Claypool and David Orange
Presented by Prof. Dan Laster (Law) - homepage
Presented by Paul Pham
Presented by Keunwoo Lee; slides: PowerPoint, PDF handouts (color), PDF handouts (grayscale)
Presented by Joe Shaughnessy
Presented by Kaye Reiter and Colin Dixon
Presented by Allison Demeritt and Travis Kriplean


  • Other Possible Topics
  • How other communication technologies (e.g. radio, TV, printing press) have transformed society in the past and how these transformations may be similar or different to the ones we're seeing with search.
  • Money continues to play a large role in political communications. Is the role amplified by search, and how has it changed. Should we be concerned?
  • Is the internet becoming mature enough that it ought to be regulated? If we, for instance, give certain data priority, how should speech be treated?
  • Strengths and Weaknesses of Search
  • Other Resources

Mailing list

Visit

https://mailman.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/cse590t

to sign up for the course mailing list. Contact Keunwoo if you have any difficulty signing up.

Administrative info

Course grading and credit-load policies: Subject to change, but variable credits are available to meet differing levels of participation:

  • Sign up for 1 credit if you plan to attend, do the readings, and participate in discussions.
  • Sign up for 2 credits if you wish to lead a discussion/present OR write a paper (four pages).
  • Sign up for 3 credits if you wish to lead a discussion/present AND write two short papers (four pages each) (Note: you must contact the course organizers in advance if you plan to take this course for 3 credits.)

Past seminars

Other Relevant Class Pages