Critical response to digital technologies

The Long Civil Rights Movement (LCRM) had a big impact on the 1930s. In Jennifer Ritterhouse’s ” Discovering the South: One Man’s Travels Through a Changing America in the 1930s. “. She does a great job describing the LCRM. In this introduction, she mentions Jacquelyn Dowd Hall. She “outlined a LCRM framework that is longer, broader and deeper.” 1. The Long Civil Rights movements in several ways. It took root in structural changes and political possibilities of the last 1930s. These changes accelerated during World War two, as well as stretching far beyond the South. It was also reshaped by the Cold War and was continuously and extremely contested. There are many Algorithm critics and they have many reasons to be critics. As Louise Matsakis’ says in the article “What does a fair algorithm look like” he mentions many downsides. For example, “algorithms can be sexist, racist and perpetuate other structural inequalities found in society. “2. However, algorithms are not under any obligation to explain themselves. This causes much other bias. Many machine experts, technology companies, and event governments have called for more fairness and transparency in algorithms. As scholars have mentioned, many people struggle to agree on what constitutes a fair explanation for these algorithms. Matsaki also mentions that even lawmakers have not been able to decide what rights citizens should have when it comes to transparency in algorithmic decision-making. Another reason algorithms do not seem to be fair is because they offer more achievable resources to wealthier people, younger and people, and men. Therefore, women, elders, and people who make less money have fewer options for resources. Matsaki gives a great example of this. He says “A woman might need to lose far more weight for a health care AI to offer her a lower premium rate than a man would. We could participate better in digital media by creating a simple understanding for everyone. Many people do not think about certain codes for algorithms, just the particular reasons for the decision. In my opinion, if people were educated on this topic than they could become more involved in digital media. I had trouble finding connections between WPA-era activists and contemporary digital activists. I can say that the activists are both passionate about what they are or were trying to achieve. WPA’s main goal was to employ job-seekers and carry out public works projects. While digital activism focuses more on the internet and digital media as key platforms for mass mobilization and political action. They do both have a connection to the political side of things but other than that since they occurred at times it is complicated to find several key connections.

Ritterhouse, Jennifer. “INTRODUCTION: The Same Journey, Writ Small, That the United States Was On.” In Discovering the South: One Man’s Travels through a Changing America in the 1930s, 1-19. CHAPEL HILL: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. http://www.jstor.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/10.5149/9781469630953_ritterhouse.4.

Louise Matsakis’, “What does a Fair Algorithm Actually Look Like”, accessed October 10, 2019, https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-a-fair-algorithm-look-like/?

Unfair Algorithms

Algorithm criticism is based on the idea that an algorithm is not in fact neutral as most people believe, but is actually “ opinion embedded in math”3 . Because algorithms are built by humans they have the same biases and prejudices that we have. Scholars and researchers like Cathy O’Neil and Louise Matsakis are calling for greater transparency and standards in the world of algorithms and artificial intelligence. In her article “What Does a Fair Algorithm Actually Look Like?” Louise Matsakis details that many people don’t understand how an algorithm works 4. They may have been declined a bank loan, or health benefits based on a computer algorithm meant to weed out potentially more at risk applicants. But by making the process that goes into designing these algorithms more open it would help people to better understand what they could do to succeed in or appeal those decisions. 

Safiya Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism excerpts illustrate how people of color are being oppressed in Google’s search results in a parallel to how they were treated in the early part of the 20th century 5. We saw musicians like Lead Belly dressed in costumes meant to reinforce ideas of how people of color were perceived as “less than” their white counterparts. In a similar matter when Noble entered the phrase “black girls” into the Google search bar the autofill suggestions were tantamount to porn results. Again the racial perception being that when searching for anything related to “black girls” the searcher would be looking for less than desirable traits, or behaviors. The sexualization of black women is propagated with the expectation of promiscuous behavior associated with them. This is racism that began early in American history and has been carried down through generations. 

So how can we change this? O’Neil says that people need to “question the algorithms themselves and  build ethics into them”6. Matsakis states that if people knew that by changing one small factor- or if the people using the algorithms understood which factors are playing into the decisions- the outcomes of these decisions could be changed. The outcomes would be more fair. The idea that someone’s zip code alone would preclude them from obtaining a loan is ridiculous, but it happens. I think that if consumers better understood these things they could more easily demand transparency, and if that demand isn’t met take their business to someone else. If there was a standard for ethics in algorithmic programming things like this would happen less often. I think that modern digital consumers are helping to change the attitudes and practices in their algorithmic designs. As more of our lives are intrinsically intertwined with computers the idea of using a computer program to weed through data is common. Thinking back to when Tony Guidone 7 came to talk to us about key word searches, I feel like there is a connection between using the right kind of keywords when searching for information and creating algorithms. We may not be automating them and turning our decisions into code but we are still using a process of elimination in the same way that algorithms do. 

I thought that algorithms could only be processed by computers, but now I think that we are also computers and process them constantly.

Algorithms

Algorithmic criticism is a daily function that everyone uses which involves human criticism with computers. As a result of algorithmic criticism, many of the ways we do research and organize our thoughts and put them into action happen. This also involves injecting ethics and ideals into algorithms to make them more understandable and fitting to the approach of the viewer. Also, the viewer must stop blindly following algorithms, but actually look into their meaning and the information gained. 6 In order to become better participants/consumers in the digital media we must find the deeper meaning within algorithms and question the outputs and answers given to us, the viewer. 

While women were still considered to be stay at home workers and mothers, there were some that fought to change the view of women. Feminists fought for their roles as workers in factories and technology, even though during this time period men kept most of the jobs. 8 A new phase of powerful women was being born within the film industry. Some women were even making more money than men. Even with this though, women were still portrayed as homeworkers and not the breadwinner for the family. These women however set a legacy that is still present today. Women can work just as much as men and have just as equal rights. These powerful women in the 1930’s set a precedent that is still alive today in the sense that every woman should have the same rights and privileges as men. 

There are some connections that can be made between WPA-era activists and contemporary digital activists. The main connection is the need for these two parties to be a key platform for mass production of a cause. For example, the WPA activists were a platform for employments and jobs through many different arts projects, while the contemporary digital activists are fighting for a cause through the use of the internet and mass media. The WPA used funds and workers to complete public works projects, while the digital activists use technologies to share effective communication for a public effort. If the WPA was necessary today, digital activists would connect easily to promote employment and jobs all over the world.

Blog Post 3: African American Sharecropping in 1940s Rural Georgia

Although the image I chose for my image analysis was taken in June of 1941, the implications of the Great Depression and the New Deal policies were still clearly in effect. This is essentially how I decided to choose my photo. I saw these African American men and women farming the fields of Georgia for cotton and the despair of the image drew me to it. I figured that even though it was taken in 1941, it could’ve easily been an image from the enslavement era because the realities of it were the same – African Americans were not afforded any type of economic or social opportunities. This is laid out in the American Yawp section, “XII. Equal Rights and the New Deal,” which states that, “Franklin Roosevelt did little to directly address the difficulties black communities faced.” 9 Additionally, due to the passing of some exclusive laws and acts that particularly only benefited white men in the south, African American citizens couldn’t receive economic aid from the Social Security Act, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act “displaced black tenants and sharecroppers, many of whom were forced to return to their farms as low-paid day labor or to migrate to cities looking for wage work.” 10

A historical question I would explore using this image is how the exclusion of African Americans in New Deal efforts helped promote, or begin, the Great Migration? Is there any correlation? The American Yawp article hints at the answer being yes, but I think it would be worthing exploring at what rate did African Americans from this rural communities travel to cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, Detroit, etc. Furthermore, did the treatment of African American laborers shift during World War II, especially since the photo is from June 1941, right on the brink of American involvement.

I was skeptical of the glitching process before I actually used it. I didn’t understand why the same conclusions couldn’t be drawn by looking at original photos? After my fourth attempt at glitching my own photo, I started to become a believer. As shown in my item and exhibit, I think it’s interesting how there’s a black line perfectly over all of the faces of the sharecroppers, so that all you can see are their legs and equipment working the field. In my mind, I couldn’t think of a better representation of the time. Lawmakers and Southern white men took advantage of the bodies and labor of African Americans, but when it came to giving them rights, seeing them as people with families and necessities, it was impossible. They chose what they wanted to see – and it wasn’t anywhere close to economic equality.

Blog Post #3-Image Analysis

I sought out to select an image that would make me think about its cause. I felt art completed by hand would show more of the artist’s thinking process, and I wanted the image to speak to a specific issue, not just a promotional campaign. Based on looking at the poster, I thought of the following questions: Why did Vera Bock feel that this message needed to be delivered to the public? Who was she directly speaking to? Was she speaking in favor of the government or in protest? Was this an idea thought of by her or proposed to her by the WPA? A focus in class was how the government enacted the Federal Project One not only to put people back to work in order to strengthen the economy, but to use the power behind the voice of artists as “meaningful symbols” to gain acceptance and support from citizens in their time of distress. A criticism of the Federal Art Project was that some felt it was based in communist thinking, and artists could use their work to protest the government rather than speak as an advocate for them. 10 The glitched image that I developed could be an example of this protest, and how easily the meaning of art can be changed, skewed, or misinterpreted just by its presentation alone.

Image analysis, in a way, forces us to look at the image in its various segments. Instead of viewing art at its face value, we investigate who created the piece, why it was created, and for whom it was created. I enjoyed the process of both the analysis and the glitching. I think it helps to really understand art when it is seen through its purpose, and that is what was done by analyzing its creator, consumption, and the image itself. Initially, I did not expect the glitch to show me anything exciting. I was prepared for the photo to look the same, but with some streaks thrown in. My image ended up looking chopped, which I feel is not only impressive, but helped me to see the presentation in a different way. If the poster had been published broken through the glitch, then the public may have held a different impression with what message the artist was trying to convey. The original image shows strength in the WPA, whereas the glitched image shows a broken system. This is a similar concept to what Kramer talked about in his piece, where he stated “glitching…through the manipulation of underlying code offer[s] untapped possibilities for historical inquiry.” 11 This is an idea that can be utilized by artists to alter the emotions and perceptions of their audience in a way that might not be obvious.

Exhibit: http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/wpaposterfedartproject/wpa-rumor

Omeka Item: http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/198

Glitching the Federal Arts Project

I found my image by delving into the Federal Arts Project Photographic division. I selected this particular image because it showed a direct experience of a child participating in the Federal Arts Project. This, combined with the image’s original caption, was very interesting. In a sense, it encapsulated the need for arts programs and the American people’s need for escapism and movement12

This image has also inspired me to ask questions such as, how did the Federal Arts Project specifically impact children? And to what extent should researchers consider the corruption of digital images when conducting research?

The methods used in this assignment allow for us to consider both the value and the hazards associated with digital images, specifically when it comes to glitching and digital images. We are also encouraged to consider how the source code for an image and an exhibit impact our experience when viewing and studying the information. How easily can these codes be manipulated in different ways? And how does that impact the conclusions that we draw as researchers. I believe that the creation of a glitched image does have some value, as it allows us to, in a way, view the image in the way that computer view images. We are forced to consider different focuses, areas, or outlines.

I was a bit surprised by how much I was forced to think about my image during and after the glitching process. When finding my image, I considered the context a great deal. The discussions of culture and segregation in The American Yawp had already encouraged me to consider the role that race played in the different Federal One projects. 13

However, I did not spend as much time considering the bits and bytes that actually constituted the image. The first time I glitched the image, the little boy, William, was completely gone from the image. Instead, I was left with his outline in varying shades of gray, while the background and outer edges remained mostly in tact. Future iterations of the glitched image continued to show me different aspects that I had not considered closely. The final version that I decided to upload for the assignment caused me to focus on William’s eyes, which are intently focused on the clay at his hands. His mind was not wandering to the other aspects of his life, which is part of the goal of the Federal Art Project. When people are creating artwork out of nothing, they focus their brainpower on their creation, instead of thinking about the uncertain future, things that were lost in the past, or the hardships of the present.

Links

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/liam-griffin–glitching-an-ima/federal-arts-project-brooklyn

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/197

References

Dickstein, Morris. “Facing the Music.” The American Scholar, December 11, 2014. https://theamericanscholar.org/facing-the-music/#.XZ9W8UZKg2y.


Wright, Benjamin, and Joseph Locke. American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook. Stanford University Press, 2019.

Blog Post 3

When I began searching for an image, I was intent on finding something that showed the harshness of the Great Depression on people much like the famous Migrant Mother photograph from the 1930’s. The image I chose had the opposite kind of intent as that photo. The photograph I chose showed how some of these art programs helped people escape the harshness of the Great Depression and give some relief to those in need. This image specifically caught my eye because it was a young child and the effect of the Great Depression on the children specifically is not something I would normally think about, I would normally think about the effect on adults or families as a whole.


With this image, I’m asking questions like “How did the children of the Great Depression deal with the stress of the times?”. I think that this image in particular shines a light on the positives of the arts programs and how they impacted people’s attitudes. The monetary impacts of the Great Depression sent people into a state of panic or great sadness and these kind of programs had a significant impact on mood and morale especially for the youth. 14


I’ll admit that I don’t see the purpose of the glitched images as much as the next person but this process definitely helped me see the potential in it. The article by Kramer helped me see some of the potential applications for glitching an image but it wasn’t until glitching my own image that it started to click. The article even states glitching as ‘an unlikely candidate for historical inquiry’. 15 At first my glitched image made no sense to me and didn’t help me see the image in a different way at all until about the third time when it blacked out and distorted most of the image except for the child’s face. The face is what drew me to the image and the glitched image puts a larger emphasis on the intensity of that face.


These methods force us to look at these images in different ways that we wouldn’t have originally. Putting emphasis on certain aspects or blocking out the background can shine a light on a whole new meaning of an image. The glitching in particular helps with the blocking out of the less important parts of images and focuses the viewers attention to certain aspects and parts of an image.


I don’t think these methods helped me answer any questions as much as they sparked my interest for a new topic or raised different questions. This image in particular forced me to think about the effect of the Great Depression on the children adn how they coped rather than focusing on the adults.

Links: http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/196

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/arthur-smith–a-young-boy-name/image-annotation

Divided Focus

When beginning this project, I spent a great deal of time browsing the numerous photographs available through the Library of Congress’ collection of images produced by the New Deal’s Farm Security Administration. Although I did not have a particular subject in mind at the start of this project, I soon found myself skimming through photographs documenting the works of the Tennessee Valley Authority. I was initially drawn towards the aesthetics of early 20th century machinery captured in these images but later found a greater amount of pleasure in a photograph capturing a young man tightening a nut at the T.V.A.’s Watts Bar Dam.

In this image, the young man has on his face a look of both determination and satisfaction. While his task is simple – tightening a nut – he appears to do it with great energy and is fulfilled by his work. I believe this image to be an excellent demonstration of the energy that propelled this nation out of the Great Depression. This young man, like so many other workers at the time, is driven to repair his broken nation through his own grit. Tightening a single nut on a single guide vane would not ensure the stability of the dam, but neither would one person being employed solve the economic collapse of the Great Depression. Only through a collective effort could this country have hoped to recover from its economic collapse.

Although it is present in this photograph, this young man’s mission and part in the reconstruction of his country are more easily recognizable in a glitched version of this image which I have created. In his article Glitching History, Michael J. Kramer explains that these glitches help to bring about the same elements I have discussed above from photographs. These seemingly random changes highlight different aspects of an image and bring new critical analysis to the foreground.

In the case of my photograph, the young man’s hands, mouth, and eyes are all separated from one another and draw the viewer’s eyes to his helmet embossed with the acronym T.V.A. The young man’s grit (as symbolized by his hands), satisfaction (as symbolized by his proud smile), and focus on rebuilding his nation (as symbolized by the determined look in his eyes) all lead back towards his helmet which was provided to him by a government program set on rebuilding the nation. All these different pieces are emphasized in this glitched image and highlight their importance towards the central goal of reconstruction.

Thanks to the practice of glitching, viewers can recognize these powerful factors that brought our nation back from the Great Depression as well as those who helped to accomplish this goal.

Tightening a Nut Exhibit

Tightening a Nut Item

Blog Post – Image Analysis

I knew that I wanted to use a color photograph for this assignment, so when I went to browse through the collections at our disposal I was immediately drawn to the bright colors present in the image. I was also drawn to the expressions of the children, and what I considered a very classic setting—a state fair. It is a beautiful and simple scene, but full of chaos, and those qualities piqued my interest. I feel like the focus on the children is unique—often we focus on the lives of those who had already reached adulthood by the time the Great Depression hit, but I liked that this photographer chose instead to focus on the children who were born during that time, and who were growing up at a turning point in American history.

One of my lingering questions about the photograph is what the context surrounding the fair was like. The focus on this one moment of festivity might potentially create a harsh contrast at the return to daily life, or perhaps it could not. The children pictured in the photograph are dressed up in clean, matching outfits, likely their Sunday best, and it is obvious that some effort was put into presentation when their family decided to attend the State Fair. I feel that this may harbor some yet-unexplored cultural implications–how important were community events like this to people at the time? How does the importance (or lack thereof) compare to current trends?

Modern American society is heavily digital, and heavily reliant on digital images for everything from research material, to social interaction. I would even dare to hypothesize that just as a family may have put on their best clothes to present themselves at a community event, such as the pictured fair, that modern-day Americans practice the same meticulous self-framing to present themselves well in digital media every single day. As an anthropologist I am naturally curious about the seemingly inherent drive to look good to others, and although my main focus in my image analysis itself operates around the themes of nostalgia and romanticization, I think that it is interesting as well to look at the consistency of American culture’s relation to self-image, which is depicted through the figures in this photograph.

Links:

Omeka Item – http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/191
Omeka Exhibit – http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/francesca-reimer—at-the-verm

Works Cited:

“Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs – About This Collection.” About this Collection – Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress). Library of Congress, January 1, 1970. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsac/.

Jack. “At the Vermont State Fair, Rutland.” Home. Library of Congress, January 1, 1970. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017877403/.

Blog Post/Skill Assignment #3

I selected a photograph of Willie Neal playing the fiddle while Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin record. 1930’s documentation was a mixture of photographs, and recordings. This photo is an example of both. When I glitched the image I was hoping that it would separate Willie Neal from Todd and Sonkin. We learned in class that specifically Alan Lomax would record folk music artists, sometimes take them on tour around the country, and copyright their recordings under his name. I’m not sure if Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin did the same thing, but if they did, I wanted to look at this photo and only focus on Willie Neal if possible. 

Rather than focusing on the recorders, I want to focus on the folk music artists. Lead Belly’s name is linked with Alan Lomax’s, as are dozens of other musicians. The questions I asked myself were: How are folk musicians depicted in relation to those recording them? Does the composition of the photo impact the perception of those depicted? I’m more interested in the social aspects of image analysis, and I used that lens to interpret the glitched image, as well as the original. The different scopes of analysis help us to fully understand the image, from many different points of view. 

The social aspects of image analysis encompass where the image was created, the subject of the photo, when it was taken, who it was taken for and why it was taken. I’ve always been more interested in societal representations and social interpretations. It’s very interesting to me.  Because of this, I chose to focus on social issues. Based on what I know about Lomax’s recording and what he did with them, I wondered if other recorders did similar things. If so, I wanted to show Willie separately, and my final glitched image does that 16 It literally cuts the recording equipment out and places it to Willie’s left, leaving him center and only showing the people around him enjoying his music. The recordings of folk music are important; they kept a regional culture alive and thriving, but the artists themselves rarely got direct credit for their own compositions and performances. 

Link to original photo: http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/189

Link to glitched image: http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/190

Citations: In class lecture with Professor Jessica Dauterive on image analysis

https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000394/ Library of Congress, Voices of the Dust Bowl, Photo of Willie Neal playing the fiddle while Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin record him.

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