Anna Lauren Hoffmann

“Making the world more open and connected”: Mark Zuckerberg and the discursive construction of Facebook and its users

The dominance of online social networking sites (SNSs) sparks questions and concerns regarding information privacy, online identity, and the complexities of social life online. Since messages created by a technology’s purveyors can play an influential role in our understanding of a technology, we argue that gaining a complete understanding of the role of social media in contemporary life must include qualitative exploration of how public figures discuss and frame these platforms. Accordingly, this article reports the results of a discourse analysis of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s public language, foregrounding the evolution of his discourse surrounding Facebook’s self-definitions, the construction of user identity, and the relationship between Facebook and its users.

Imagining Intersectional Futures: Feminist approaches in CSCW

The aim of this one-day workshop is to explore theoretical and methodological approaches that help us consider issues of gender, sexual orientation, and power in the design of socio-technical systems. This program builds on two previous workshops on the topic of feminism and CSCW. With this instantiation, we are motivated by an explicit commitment to intersectionality--a recognition that the effects of various oppressions cannot be understood independently. Considerable time will be devoted to discussing work in post-colonial feminism, queer theory, Women of Color feminism, and feminist critical disability studies. Through generative conversation with participants, feedback on works-in-progress, and the initiation of outlets for new feminist CSCW work, we aim to 1) build on existing research and practice and 2) identify concerns and approaches for both designing and assessing research oriented toward intersectional and feminist futures in the context of CSCW and social computing.

Google Books, Libraries, and Self-Respect: Information Justice beyond Distributions

If Google Books has been successful in furthering the cause of social justice with regard to information, it is along narrowly distributive lines. Drawing on critics of distributive justice and emphasizing the value of self-respect, the author argues that Google’s massive digital scanning initiative—especially as compared to the liberal democratic institution of the public library—exposes and exacerbates injustices with regard to information, technology, and institutions that are not easily captured along distributive lines. In particular, attention is paid to three features of the project—the quality of Google’s book scans, the politics of online search, and Google’s conception of the value of information—as demonstrative of the too-slender foundation for self-respect the Google Books project offers its users.

Breaking bad algorithms

Biased tech design prompts a writer to call for resistance In Technically Wrong, Sara Wachter-Boettcher takes stock of the failures, biases, and shortcomings of the technology products that pervade our lives: from invasive applications designed with too few kinds of users in mind to black-boxed algorithms that determine everything from the news we see to how we dole out criminal justice.

Beyond distributions and primary goods: Assessing applications of rawls in information science and technology literature since 1990

This article reviews the ways in which the work and ideas of political philosopher John Rawls have been appropriated or applied by scholars of information science, technology, and related areas since 1990. The article begins with an overview of Rawlss work, paying particular attention to its foundations and methods. Subsequently, a 2‐phase discussion of the literature is presented. The first phase reviews engagements with Rawls from more than 150 scholarly articles from databases and journals dedicated to information and technology ethics, information/technology studies, philosophy of technology, and technology and human values. The second phase focuses on scholars who have demonstrated a significant commitment to Rawlsian theory in these areas. Overall, the review demonstrates that most significant applications of Rawls are oriented toward unequal distributions of informational goods exacerbated by advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs). Critically, however, scholars in this area have overlooked the relevance of Rawlss foundations for the sorts of complex networked relationships afforded by those same advanced ICTs. Rather than representing a fatal gap, it opens up a new avenue for the renewed consideration of Rawls—his ideas on the basic structure of society and the importance of self‐respect are offered as 2 possible paths forward.

Privacy, Intellectual Freedom, and Self-Respect: Technological and Philosophical Lessons for Libraries

Abstract Purpose This chapter argues that self-respect—an integral, but often overlooked value in discussions of social justice—provides a robust foundation upon which libraries might build a renewed defense of privacy and intellectual freedom in the face of today’s advanced information and communication technologies. Methodology/approach The chapter begins by laying out the value of self-respect for social justice as it has been defined in the domains of moral and political philosophy. From there, the author demonstrates the relevance of self-respect for libraries and, in particular, for underwriting important library values like privacy and intellectual freedom. Finally, the author presents two case examples—Library 2.0 and #AmazonFAIL—that further demonstrate how advanced ICTs have the potential to undermine libraries as a site of self-respect. Findings Through the use of relevant and current case examples, the chapter lays bare how the adoption of new ICTs and an uncritical adherence to Library 2.0 (and the Web 2.0 ideology that underwrites it) threatens to further marginalize users unable to navigate the increasingly complex (and increasingly opaque) systems of data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Originality/value This discussion surfaces and translates the value of self-respect from moral and political philosophy and makes it available for librarians and scholars interested in social justice issues in library and information science. Further, it preserves two key historical moments—the rise of Library 2.0 and the case of #AmazonFAIL—for current and future reflections by scholars, librarians, and other information professionals.