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#mscedc Should legislation push social media platforms to reveal their data gathering algorithms and control them? https://t.co/y0dTna1iUQ

The UK government’s advisory body on AI ethics believes  that social media platforms should be regulated when it comes to the algorithms used to promote media on social networking. They are also proposing that the government should push social networks to allow independent researchers access to their data, thereby doing away with one of the main obstacles of researching into the way algorithms work as defined by Kitchin (2017), that of ‘black boxing’ .

Such legislation would control the display of ‘high-risk’ adverts such as political adverts but also adverts related to jobs and ‘age-restricted products’. This legislation aims to find a middle ground between two opposing poles,  the liberal American view to online freedom and the strictly controlled extremes imposed by China.

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References:

Kitchin. R., (2017) Thinking critically about and researching algorithms,
Information, Communication & Society, 20:1, 14-29, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2016.1154087

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#mscedc. Can technology solve all of education’s problems? https://t.co/rYNVmc1P6N

 

This gives voice to a common occurrence when trying to bring technology and education together. The idea that technology can ‘fix’ education or ‘enhance’ education ‘ by the operations of an externally applied technology ‘solution’ (Bayne, 2015)  is perhaps one of the most frustrating points of view that both educators and administrators of education have a risk of falling into, and which tends to separate technology from the social practice of learning as explained by Bayne (2015).

This instrumentalist view of technology tends to reduce the application of technology to a ‘fashion’ or ‘trend’ which encourages some of those involved in managing the education process to blindly invest and encourage educators to use technology for technology’s sake.

The recording does mention cliched ideas of technology use and the idea that technology is sometimes a ‘one size fits all’ idea and the universalist view that ‘all humans are essentially the same’ (Knox, 2015). This tends to clash with the more modern AI-driven idea that complex data systems can collect information and provide a more tailor-made solution to individuals. While good charismatic teachers are every department’s dream, this does not mean that technology is not required.

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References:

Bayne, S., (2015). What’s the matter with ‘technology-enhanced learning’? Learning, Media and Technology, 40(1), pp. 5-20, https://doi.org.ezproxy. is.ed.uk/10.1080/17439884.2014.915851

Knox, J., (2015). Critical Education and Digital Cultures. Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, pp. 1-6. Available at: https://doi.org/10.0.1007/978-981-287-532-7_124-1.

Sophgalvin (2019) Digital Media and Education – Why technology can’t fix education. 12th May 2019. Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-948349027/digital-media-and-education-why-technology-cant-fix-education.