Oct 09, 2021 12:00 AM
Jul 31, 2025 12:00 AM

DL 307

I'm Doing Research

Published: October 9, 2021 β€’ πŸ“§ Newsletter

Welcome back. Here's Digitally Literate, issue #307. Your go-to source for insightful content on education, technology, and the digital landscape.

This week I post the following:

I also serve on the advisory board for BARWE. We're in the second month of the latest inquiry series. This month we discuss how we can take action when doing anti-racist work in spite of real or perceived risks. If this is your first year doing this series, we recommend starting with an orientation meeting using the September 2021 material before moving on to the current month.

Take time for yourself this week.

πŸ”– Key Takeaways

πŸ“Ί Watch

A laugh-out-loud mashup by Bill McClintock blending Hall and Oates with Nine Inch Nails and Iron Maiden.

A fun reminder of the creative potential in remix culture.

πŸ“š Read

How Facebook Hobbled Mark Zuckerberg's Bid to Get America Vaccinated

We're continuing to unpack the Facebook Files, A Wall Street Journal investigation. Company documents show Facebook knew it was creating "cesspools of anti-vaccine comments" and recognized the need for action. Despite their problems with handling anti-vaxxer content, as coronavirus vaccinations became available, Facebook made minimal or ineffectual efforts to address the issues and downplayed them publicly. Facebook has similarly struggled with how to handle the spread of inaccuracies on other issues, from QAnon conspiracy theories and other election falsehoods to hoax cancer cures and Holocaust denial.

One of the interesting pieces to take away from this reporting is the work that is happening as you use Facebook. You or a loved one may use Facebook to share photos, check in on others, and generally mean no ill will. You use the social network as your main media feed and trust what you're reading as it is "shared by your friends." In addition, as Facebook makes changes to any rules or structures in the community...you don't really pay attention.

In truth, when Facebook makes changes, some individuals and groups are keenly aware of these changes and use the tools to their advantage to spread misinformation, continue astroturfing, seed doubt, and stir violence. This is disinformation by design.

What this looks like to you is an innocuous post that a friend shares with you with questions about vaccinations. You click on it and the algorithm pays attention. It shows you a couple more posts of the same type and you click on a couple...the algorithm feeds you some more. You then "conduct some research" and search online. You find a couple of groups that were set up ahead of time to handle your research interests. Suddenly, you're caught in one of those cesspools.

Before you start thinking that Facebook is the only place with cesspools of content....TikTok says "hold my drink."

Olivia Little and Abbie Richards with some research on how TikTok's algorithm took an account from transphobic videos to extremist videos in an alarmingly short amount of time.

The researchers created an account on TikTok and only engaged with content identified as transphobic. Transphobia is deeply intertwined with other kinds of far-right extremism, and TikTok's algorithm only reinforces this connection. TikTok's algorithm quickly picked up these signals and suggested content increasingly populated with videos promoting various far-right views and talking points.

Borrowed a School Laptop? Mind Your Open Tabs

When tens of millions of students suddenly had to learn remotely, many schools lent laptops and tablets to those without them. These devices typically come with monitoring software. This is generally viewed as a way to protect students and keep them on-task.

In one district, parents and teachers recognized that the monitoring software started closing some tabs. They soon learned that all of the district's school-issued devices use Securly, student-monitoring software that lets teachers see a student's screen in real-time and even close tabs if they discover a student is off-task. During class time, students were expected to have only two tabs open.

Now, some privacy advocates, parents, and teachers say that software created a new digital divide, limiting what some students could do and putting them at increased risk of disciplinary action.

There are certain groups of students, more likely those attending lower-income schools, who are going to be more reliant on school-issued devices and therefore be subject to more surveillance and tracking. - Elizabeth Laird, Center for Democracy and Technology.

Teaching slavery has been and will continue to be challenging. Raphael Rogers shares four things that can serve as strong guideposts for creating lessons that should make the challenge easier to navigate.

  1. Explore actual records.
  2. Examine historical arguments.
  3. Highlight lived experiences.
  4. Consider the relevance.

13 People Share the Habits They're Bringing Back to the Office

As I'm beginning the transition back to face-to-face work after working from home for some time, I've been thinking about what I've learned...and what I'll keep in my workflow. This post shares some actionable guidance.

  1. Plan out your week every Sunday
  2. Keep my essentials in a carryall zip pouch
  3. Use time blocking
  4. Eliminate meetings on Mondays and Fridays
  5. Write down the next day's to-do list
  6. Wake up at the same time every morning
  7. Set intentions every morning
  8. Add personal appointments to your work calendar
  9. Go paperless
  10. Set an alarm to take a walk
  11. Eat smaller, more frequent meals
  12. Use the 45-second rule
  13. Get outside at least once a day

πŸ”¨ Do

How to Read a Book

Thinking about reading more?

Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren literally wrote the book on reading. They identify four levels of reading:

  1. Elementary Reading: Basic comprehension.
  2. Inspectional Reading: Skim for structure and key ideas.
  3. Analytical Reading: Dive deep and digest the text.
  4. Syntopical Reading: Compare ideas across multiple texts for a broader understanding.

πŸ€” Consider

You can do anything, but you don't have to do everything.

David Allen

This insight perfectly captures the tension explored throughout this issue. Facebook's algorithm changes and TikTok's recommendation systems demonstrate how platforms do everything they can to capture and hold attention, often leading users down harmful paths. School surveillance systems try to monitor everything students do, creating new forms of inequality. Meanwhile, teachers trying to address challenging topics like slavery must choose carefully from overwhelming amounts of historical material.

Allen's wisdom reminds us that digital literacy means learning to be selectiveβ€”choosing what deserves our attention, what links to follow, what content to engage with, and what tools to use. The ability to discern between meaningful engagement and algorithmic manipulation becomes a crucial skill in an environment designed to exploit our curiosity.

Newsletter Evolution Note

Issue #307 demonstrates Ian's growing sophistication in connecting algorithmic manipulation (Facebook vaccine content, TikTok extremism pipelines) with educational equity concerns (school surveillance technology) and practical guidance (remote work habits, reading strategies). This synthesis reflects his ability to see how individual choices intersect with systemic design flaws while providing actionable alternatives. The "I'm Doing Research" title cleverly reflects both the algorithmic manipulation of user "research" and his own genuine investigation into these phenomena.

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Connected concepts:

Part of the πŸ“§ Newsletter archive documenting digital literacy and technology.

I came across this visualization this week on Reddit. I've been trying to find the source to link to it...and worried it would be removed so I uploaded it for an archive. Enjoy. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhj4ObsK-xs