=================================================
The Open Society Information Program Research Digest tracks new scholarly articles and books on the social and political aspects of information and technology issues. The Digest is compiled by Evgeny Morozov. A related Twitter feed is also available at https://twitter.com/#!/morozov_links. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Open Society Foundations or the Information Program.
NEW ARTICLES AND PAPERS
==========================
* "UnMarginalizing Workers: How Big Data Drives Lower Wages and How Reframing Labor Law Can Restore Information Equality in the Workplace" by Nathan Newman - working paper
This article details the ways big data is actively being deployed to lower wages through hiring practices, in how raises are now being offered, and in the ways that workplaces are organized (and disorganized) to lower employee bargaining power --- and how new interpretations of labor law are beginning to reshape the workplace to address these economic harms.
source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2819142 (free)
-------
* "The Rise of Behavioural Discrimination" by Ariel Ezrachi & Maurice E. Stucke - working paper
The author surveys the political and social effects of the increased personalization of our online environment, as firms track us, collect data about us, and target us with the right ad at the right time -- all to transform our web environment into a personal space. This new personalized environment can pave the way for behavioural discrimination -- the ability of sellers to induce us to buy things we otherwise wouldn't, at the highest price we are willing to pay.
source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2830206 (free)
-------
* "Crowdsourced Surveillance And Networked Data" by Nick Lally - Securing Dialogue
Possibilities for crowdsourced surveillance have expanded in recent years as data uploaded to social networks can be mined, distributed, assembled, mapped, and analyzed by anyone with an uncensored internet connection. These data points, argues the author, are necessarily fragmented and partial, open to interpretation, and rely on algorithms for retrieval and sorting. Yet despite these limitations, they have been used to produce complex representations of space, subjects, and power relations as internet users attempt to reconstruct and investigate events while they are developing.
source: http://sdi.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/09/03/0967010616664459 ($)
-------
* "Algorithms and Their Others: Algorithmic Culture in Context" by Paul Dourish - Big Data & Society
Algorithms, once obscure objects of technical art, have lately been subject to considerable popular and scholarly scrutiny. What does it mean to adopt the algorithm as an object of analytic attention? What is in view, and out of view, when we focus on the algorithm? Using Niklaus Wirth's 1975 formulation that "algorithms + data structures = programs" as a launching-off point, this paper examines how an algorithmic lens shapes the way in which we might inquire into contemporary digital culture.
source: http://bds.sagepub.com/content/3/2/2053951716665128 ($)
-------
* "The Politics of Cryptocurrencies in Historical Perspective" by Stefan Eich - working paper
While cryptocurrencies are frequently framed as an escape from politics, this paper argues that this is misleading on several counts. Electronic currencies, argues the author, cannot leave the politics of money behind even where they aim to disavow it. Examining the international politics of money that emerged out the 1970s, the author discusses the emergence of a technocratic regime of depoliticized fiat currencies and domestic discipline complemented by cheap global credit money. Today, demands for depoliticization and politicization compete once more with one another.
source: https://www.academia.edu/27672693/The_Politics_of_Cryptocurrencies_in_Historical_Perspective ($)
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY BOOKS
==========================
* "Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O'Neil (Crown)
This book exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These "weapons of math destruction," as the authors dubs them, score teachers and students, sort résumés, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health. The author calls on modellers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Math-Destruction-Increases-Inequality/dp/0553418815/
-------
* "The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future" by Sheila Jasanoff (Norton)
In her new book, written for the general audience, Sheila Jasanoff argues that technology rules us as much as laws do. It shapes the legal, social, and ethical environments in which we act. The author dissects the ways in which we delegate power to technological systems and asks how we might regain control. Technology, she argues, can warp the meaning of democracy and citizenship unless we carefully consider how to direct its power rather than let ourselves be shaped by it.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Invention-Technology-Human-Future/dp/039307899X
-------
* "Utopia Is Creepy: And Other Provocations" by Nicholas Carr (Norton)
In his latest collection of essays, Nicholas Carr dissects Silicon Valley's unsettlingly cheery vision of the technological future to ask a hard question: Have we been seduced by a lie? The book offers an alternative history of the digital age, chronicling its roller-coaster crazes and crashes, its blind triumphs, and its unintended consequences. Carr offers searching assessments of the future of work, the fate of reading, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Creepy-Provocations-Nicholas-Carr/dp/0393254542/
-------
* "Licensed Larceny: Infrastructure, Financial Extraction and the Global South" by Nicholas Hildyard (Manchester University Press)
The author contends that the provision of public services is one area which is increasingly being reconfigured to extract wealth upward to the 1%, notably through so-called Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The push for PPPs, argues the author, is not about building infrastructure for the benefit of society but about constructing new subsidies that benefit the already wealthy. In other words, it is less about financing development than developing finance.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Licensed-larceny-Infrastructure-extraction-Manchester/dp/1784994278
-------
* "Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions" by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths (Henry Holt)
This book offers an exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind. The authors show how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Live-Computer-Science-Decisions-ebook/dp/B015CKNWJI/
Hear more from the Information Program!
The Open Society Information Program Research Digest tracks new scholarly articles and books on the social and political aspects of information and technology issues. The Digest is compiled by Evgeny Morozov. A related Twitter feed is also available at https://twitter.com/#!/morozov_links. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Open Society Foundations or the Information Program.
NEW ARTICLES AND PAPERS
==========================
* "UnMarginalizing Workers: How Big Data Drives Lower Wages and How Reframing Labor Law Can Restore Information Equality in the Workplace" by Nathan Newman - working paper
This article details the ways big data is actively being deployed to lower wages through hiring practices, in how raises are now being offered, and in the ways that workplaces are organized (and disorganized) to lower employee bargaining power --- and how new interpretations of labor law are beginning to reshape the workplace to address these economic harms.
source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2819142 (free)
-------
* "The Rise of Behavioural Discrimination" by Ariel Ezrachi & Maurice E. Stucke - working paper
The author surveys the political and social effects of the increased personalization of our online environment, as firms track us, collect data about us, and target us with the right ad at the right time -- all to transform our web environment into a personal space. This new personalized environment can pave the way for behavioural discrimination -- the ability of sellers to induce us to buy things we otherwise wouldn't, at the highest price we are willing to pay.
source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2830206 (free)
-------
* "Crowdsourced Surveillance And Networked Data" by Nick Lally - Securing Dialogue
Possibilities for crowdsourced surveillance have expanded in recent years as data uploaded to social networks can be mined, distributed, assembled, mapped, and analyzed by anyone with an uncensored internet connection. These data points, argues the author, are necessarily fragmented and partial, open to interpretation, and rely on algorithms for retrieval and sorting. Yet despite these limitations, they have been used to produce complex representations of space, subjects, and power relations as internet users attempt to reconstruct and investigate events while they are developing.
source: http://sdi.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/09/03/0967010616664459 ($)
-------
* "Algorithms and Their Others: Algorithmic Culture in Context" by Paul Dourish - Big Data & Society
Algorithms, once obscure objects of technical art, have lately been subject to considerable popular and scholarly scrutiny. What does it mean to adopt the algorithm as an object of analytic attention? What is in view, and out of view, when we focus on the algorithm? Using Niklaus Wirth's 1975 formulation that "algorithms + data structures = programs" as a launching-off point, this paper examines how an algorithmic lens shapes the way in which we might inquire into contemporary digital culture.
source: http://bds.sagepub.com/content/3/2/2053951716665128 ($)
-------
* "The Politics of Cryptocurrencies in Historical Perspective" by Stefan Eich - working paper
While cryptocurrencies are frequently framed as an escape from politics, this paper argues that this is misleading on several counts. Electronic currencies, argues the author, cannot leave the politics of money behind even where they aim to disavow it. Examining the international politics of money that emerged out the 1970s, the author discusses the emergence of a technocratic regime of depoliticized fiat currencies and domestic discipline complemented by cheap global credit money. Today, demands for depoliticization and politicization compete once more with one another.
source: https://www.academia.edu/27672693/The_Politics_of_Cryptocurrencies_in_Historical_Perspective ($)
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY BOOKS
==========================
* "Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O'Neil (Crown)
This book exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These "weapons of math destruction," as the authors dubs them, score teachers and students, sort résumés, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health. The author calls on modellers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Math-Destruction-Increases-Inequality/dp/0553418815/
-------
* "The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future" by Sheila Jasanoff (Norton)
In her new book, written for the general audience, Sheila Jasanoff argues that technology rules us as much as laws do. It shapes the legal, social, and ethical environments in which we act. The author dissects the ways in which we delegate power to technological systems and asks how we might regain control. Technology, she argues, can warp the meaning of democracy and citizenship unless we carefully consider how to direct its power rather than let ourselves be shaped by it.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Invention-Technology-Human-Future/dp/039307899X
-------
* "Utopia Is Creepy: And Other Provocations" by Nicholas Carr (Norton)
In his latest collection of essays, Nicholas Carr dissects Silicon Valley's unsettlingly cheery vision of the technological future to ask a hard question: Have we been seduced by a lie? The book offers an alternative history of the digital age, chronicling its roller-coaster crazes and crashes, its blind triumphs, and its unintended consequences. Carr offers searching assessments of the future of work, the fate of reading, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Creepy-Provocations-Nicholas-Carr/dp/0393254542/
-------
* "Licensed Larceny: Infrastructure, Financial Extraction and the Global South" by Nicholas Hildyard (Manchester University Press)
The author contends that the provision of public services is one area which is increasingly being reconfigured to extract wealth upward to the 1%, notably through so-called Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The push for PPPs, argues the author, is not about building infrastructure for the benefit of society but about constructing new subsidies that benefit the already wealthy. In other words, it is less about financing development than developing finance.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Licensed-larceny-Infrastructure-extraction-Manchester/dp/1784994278
-------
* "Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions" by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths (Henry Holt)
This book offers an exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind. The authors show how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others.
source: https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Live-Computer-Science-Decisions-ebook/dp/B015CKNWJI/
Hear more from the Information Program!
================================
If you want to be alerted to more scholarly research relevant to the Information Program, consider subscribing to the related Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/#!/morozov_links You can also read more about our work on the Open Society Foundations website http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/initiatives/information
Hear less from the Information Program!
If you want to be alerted to more scholarly research relevant to the Information Program, consider subscribing to the related Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/#!/morozov_links You can also read more about our work on the Open Society Foundations website http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/initiatives/information
Hear less from the Information Program!
================================
If you wish to unsubscribe from this weekly digest, please send an email with the subject line "unsubscribe researchdigest" to info.digest@opensocietyfoundations.org. This digest operates under the OSF privacy policy: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/policies/privacy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0)
If you wish to unsubscribe from this weekly digest, please send an email with the subject line "unsubscribe researchdigest" to info.digest@opensocietyfoundations.org. This digest operates under the OSF privacy policy: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/policies/privacy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0)
Leave a comment