Instagram – a utopia or dystopia?
Inspired by today’s lecturers, Massimo Warglien, Costanza Sartoris & Simon Denny, this blog post will take on a different perspective on Instagram’s role during COVID-19 and in life in general. The focus goes beyond the intended and unintended usage ways only, towards a view on Instagram’s potential for the future as well. But let’s start with the COVID-19 situation first before we move on!
Do you feel observed on Instagram?
Today, we wanted to stop seeing and analysing Instagram from our perspective only, but wanted to find out how the user feels about Instagram usage during COVID-19. The increased Instagram usage during COVID-19 goes along with the increased transparency of everyone's life on the platform. Everyone posts private pictures and insight about their lockdown experiences and social distanced lives. However, this transparency can also be used to be observed, controlled and monitored by the social environment to check whether the rules of the government are respected or not. This is why we asked our friends on Instagram how they feel about the instagram usage during COVID-19 and these are the answers of our italian, danish, and swiss friends:
Even though most of the participants did not feel more observed on Instagram during COVID-19 Pandemic, there are 85/239 participants, which do feel observed. However, this survey can not be done anonymously, so we think that there could be some answers among the “No”, which are socially desired instead of reflecting the real experiences. So the hidden numbers might be even higher. This finding indicates that the happenings around COVID-19 may have an impact on the way certain people interact on the platform and the way they present themselves or use tags on Instagram. But how?
The use of “Stay home”: a help or a trend?
The 21st of March Instagram launched a “stay home” function in order to encourage users to stay home during Covid-19 pandemic. As Instagram wrote, the intention of this “sticker” was to allow users to share their photos or videos in a “shared Instagram story”, in which people can see how they are staying home and staying safe.
Paul “BizPaul” Ince, founder of the UK based digital marketing agency Likemind Media, was one of the first to try this function; he pointed out that it is fundamental that everyone helps spread the message because people are not listening and taking seriously the necessity to stay home in this crisis. In this sense, the mentality is that people need to see others they know doing the right thing. Nevertheless, the general impression was that this technology is being used in a way it was not intended. In fact, a lot of different users use this function just to show that they are following the rules, capturing a moment in which they are at home but, in reality, in other moments of the day, they might do the exact opposite. In this way, the original intention of Instagram is transformed in a trend of sharing the proof of respecting social distance but just for posting and not for the real intention of being responsible. However, even if this function may have been used “not as intended” there are other COVID-19 related functions, which exceeded expectations as the following paragraph will show.
Crowdfunding promotion: how Instagram can help to sustain charity initiatives
Mainly during the last months we attended a lot of charity initiatives. In all over the world a lot of people donate money in order to sustain healthcare systems and states to face Covid-19. Some of these charity initiatives have been promoted on Instagram. Many actors, singers, companies, influencers have started crowdfunding initiatives for charitable purposes. Thanks to these projects there were built hospital wards, there were bought sanitary materials and were sustained spending on additional medical staff. How was this possible? It is very simple. By a photo, by a story, by a live stream. We attended how some Instagram functions were employed for public healthcare. We have had the possibility to see how through a single photo or video it had been possible to build new intensive therapies, rather than new ventilators for hospitals. These initiatives, on the other hand, have demonstrated that facing common difficulties people support themselves overwhelming them.
Let’s think about how it has become much easier, in comparison to the past decades, supporting charity initiatives. Now, throughout a few clicks, we can donate as much as we want. In Italy, for example, many famous people, such as the designer Giorgio Armani, have supported charitable initiatives supporting doctors, nurses, hospitals against covid-19 even through the use of instagram. The key image of this campaign, promoted on almost all social media, has become a doctor who holds Italy in her arms. However, as we are going to see later, there is a much darker side of Instagram we might have never thought about.
The unintended evil side of instagram
The first thing that came into our mind when thinking of evil are Terrorists. These kinds of organized groups can unconsciously influence people’s political and religious beliefs over platforms like Instagram. Through likes, comments and other interactions users may be led towards certain shady pages, which may increase the likeliness of attracting users into such organizations and getting in contact with them.
Instagram is attempting to restrict these kinds of movements by monitoring content on certain profiles and by reporting those to the authorities (see picture below). However, certain bad intentions are over Instagram’s control and can lead to parallel networks, the social platform has no direct access to.
(Retrieved from Instagram terms and conditions)
(Retrieved from Ad Age - November 22, 2019)
But these are only the things we can imagine of today. That is why we started to think about what could be future developments of platforms like Instagram.
Instagram - a utopia or dystopia?
New technological achievements not only bring advantages but also dangers. Many fear a "dehumanization" and the loss of their own individuality through the virtual business with the data. Therefore it is important to think about possible utopias and dystopias.
What could future functions and influences from Instagram look like?
The online world is increasingly determined by the number of clicks, likes and interactions. But what if there will soon no longer be an offline world and we are permanently online? As already shown in the Netflix series Black Mirror in 2016, a utopia could be that likes, shares and reviews completely determine our lives and become a kind of currency that determines the socio-economic value or status of a person.
(“Nosedive”, 2016. 8flix.com)
(“Homo Digitalis”, 2018. InnoVisions.com)
Adaptive avatars and holograms are already responding to our emotional needs today and increasingly in the future, robots make everyday life easier for us and even serve as sex partners. We strive to become smarter and more durable through technologies: But what does all this do to us as humans? The consequences of digitization and its often-associated social isolation can already be seen in Japan, for example. People develop fear of real human interaction, robots take on human functions, “friends” can be rented by hour, fictional characters are loved, and holograms are married. We are continuously developing from Homo Sapiens to Homo Digitalis.
In addition to topics like high automation, digitization and increasing networking, we will also deal heavily with the handling and analysis of large amounts of data in the future. Chat services, such as Wechat in China, continue to develop and offer users the option of new payment methods and ID-cards that can be connected to your social media accounts - and therefore have more and more data. In addition, the manipulation of i.e. knowledge, information sources, image and video material or news are no longer visions of the future. But who knows, maybe Trump's election and Brexit were just the beginning?
Share your thoughts with us about future developments of Instagram by commenting below!
Aurora De Martin, Emaele de Quatrebarbes, Lara Schulte, Marco Ubalducci & Selma Vuckic
0 Comments11 Minutes
Do Dating Apps take away the naturalness of human encounters?
Massimo’s and Constanza’s talk in the morning invited us to move our thoughts on a completely new level of abstraction: How can we relate our topic of Dating Apps to living root bridges? For sure, this sounds like an idiotic idea at first. However, when reflecting and brainstorming on that we actually found some parallels! When talking about those living root bridges Constanza and Massimo referred to artefactualness and naturalness – phenomena that can be transferred to Tinder and Co. as well.
Essentially the formation of human relationships is supposed to be something that evolves naturally; something that in the end opens up our inner core, our natural personality to someone else. However, it seems like online Dating Apps - merely working via superficial mechanisms like visual attraction - totally abolish this sense of naturalness. Can we still talk about a natural getting to know if we are allocated to each other based on artificial machine algorithms? If we try to create a desirable image of ourselves on our Dating App profile that might have got nothing to do any more with who we really are? If the encounter happens in a virtual space far from face-to-face communication?
We doubt it. It rather seems as if Dating Apps move human relationships from a natural to an artificial level of communication. Today’s presentation left us with inspiring mind games and led us to also think about alternative ways of how Dating Apps organize and develop. How do technology and users interact in a way that new, alternative or unintended uses of Dating Apps arise?
After a joint discussion we in fact found some answers! When it comes to the non-intended use of Dating Apps, we concluded there’s a variety of them. One can download the App to boost one’s self-confidence after a difficult break-up, or perhaps to verify one’s attractiveness on the “market”. Alternatively, Dating Apps are often used for business or financial purposes. For instance, it is common to see professionals looking for collaborations, such as modeling or photographing through the Apps. Moreover, we also noticed that some users intend to utilise the app in order to promote their businesses or raise money. There are also people who schedule dates with strangers in order to benefit from free meals or drinks. There are plenty of hidden opportunities on dating portals, that, even if foreseen, were not intended by the founders at all.
Changing the perspective, we also focused on how the innovative technology itself can be used alternatively. We thought that the ”matching” system introduced by Tinder has potential to be utilised on a larger scale. The functionality that it brings, namely matching individuals from different samples based on their preference, is an opportunity for other businesses. For instance, the market of self-employed cleaning staff or language tutors could benefit. Simple tagging their key characteristics such as skills, availability, and offer, allows for sorting through the huge supply of service. As a result the matching algorithm enables a quicker decision-making, by just presenting the offers that are relevant or of interest. Alternatively, we also discussed applications of matching in non-human environments such as tools for easy pet adoption.
Today’s reflections and discussions revealed that the technology of Dating Apps has much wider implications than expected - it cannot only shape human behavior but also gives rise to applications that go far beyond the initial functionality of dating.
By Marielle, Martyna & Muriel
0 Comments4 Minutes
How does the gaze of a drone feel to you?
We found the talk of Surveillance Capitalism by Armin Beverungen quite interesting. Drones are an increasing part of surveillance activity around us, especially in the times of COVID-19.
COVID-19 Traveling
The idea of using drones as an object to enable travel virtually is quite an exciting and positive aspect of the technology. With large scale adoption of 5G technologies increasing, it is becoming easier to stream large amounts of video data to multiple devices. Drones allow people who are forced to stay indoors, due to COVID 19, to experience the outdoors and enjoy their favorite destinations. By offering a birds-eye view, the drone provides a complete picture of any location. Individuals are also more empowered as they are able to view the entire setting from above. This extensive viewing experience may not be possible in reality due to limited time, hard to access areas and other logistical difficulties.
And it is even interesting in terms of surveillance and resistance. The aspect of the drone being possible to be above us watching us, without us recognizing is very interesting and crucial.
Trying to get the gaze of a drone
After the session yesterday we thought it might be very interesting to get the gaze of a drone. According to this I went on the roof of a building to imagine how it would feel and how the gaze of a drone has an impact on my experience of the outside. When I stood there it was very difficult for me to get the right angle. To have a bird eye perspective without laying on the floor looking above the floor. 
This was one of the pictures I took. In this picture it is getting very clear that even the height is not getting close to the perspective of a drone. Sitting there I had the feeling all of the people and cars and stuff were looking so small to me as if it wasn’t the ‘real world’. That is something we also reflected on, how the world might look for the people controlling the drone. They might experience the world not as a place full of real people more like a game they enter. This is in terms of surveillance even more interesting because the people controlling the drone might just mask out the personal and social relation to the world watching.
Another aspect we looked at are several ways of resistance. For instance if somebody is watched by cameras in a building like a bank for example, we are able to mask our face or hide the PIN with our hands. But the drones in this case are way more difficult to resist. Like me being on the roof for example none of the people even noticed that I kinda ‘spied’ on them. So with a drone around, which can be in such a height that the individual is not able to recognize it, it is even harder in terms of resistance.
Surveillance in architecture and public space
In the research of gaze, the aspect of surveillance in architecture is an interesting one to explore. For instance high-rise buildings become potential for surveillance in the public space. Living or visiting such a building gives the spectator a power to observe and gaze at people in the street or in the buildings across the street. In contrast to the usage of a drone, people in the street can hardly notice if they are being watched because there is no technology involving sound which would suggest that there is something unexpected happening around them. In such a case, when we don’t know we are being watched, we cannot resist it in any way.
Another perspective on the architecture can be from the other point of view, that is people from the street have the possibility to gaze at people inside buildings. This activity is likely to happen in areas where buildings have extraordinarily big windows, which particularly applies to Denmark. The motivation behind moving into a house with big windows can be having a sufficient intake of light, but its unintended consequences can be the human or drones’ gazes if they come close enough. However, in situations like this, the habitant of such a house can resist by putting down sunblinds.
Resistance to Drone and Surveillance Technology Through Policy-Making
There is a debate going on regarding the type of data that drones collect, the methods used for processing this and the procedures for informed consent that are followed. However, it is argued that drones and surveillance technology in general during corona crisis as an emergency context could pave the way for individual identification, affect people’s right to anonymity and even help foster discrimination and stigmatisation. In this public health emergency situation of covid-19, surveillance and drone technology might be justified to contain the disease while public authorities might grant loosen restrictions to allow more operations and shorten the relevant notification procedures.
We found a very interesting paragraph regarding anticipatory policy-making in a report from the European Parliament:
“Although there are provisions in both Article 6 and Article 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation that allow for the collection, use and necessary sharing of personal data for 'reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health', any widespread use of drones for large-scale data collection must abide by the principles set out in a recent statement of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on the processing of personal data in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Board advised public authorities against 'systematic and generalised' monitoring and collection of data related to health and recommending they first seek to process location data in an anonymous way. According to the ePrivacy Directive, when it comes to the processing of telecom data, such as location-tracking data collected by drones, location data can only be used by the operator when made anonymous or with the consent of individuals. Recently, the chair of the EDPB clarified that safeguarding public health may fall under the national and/or public security exception of Article 15 of the Directive, which enables the Member States to introduce legislative measures pursuing national security and public security. Although many of the exceptional measures controlling the use of drones are based on extraordinary powers, only to be used temporarily in emergencies,specific safeguards need to be introduced so that full protections are afforded to personal data once the state of emergency is lifted.”
EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2020/641543/EPRS_IDA(2020)641543_EN.pdf
Emotions and reactions to drones
The points below list positive and negative aspects of drones flying too close to people.
- People wanted to make sure that the technology was being well regulated. So the drones regulation is a sort of resistance form for the people.
- A drone that flies by sufficiently far away and has a clear and legitimate purpose does not cause people to interrupt their activities, and is not seen as problematic.(positive aspect)
- low-flying drones often interrupt social activities, and that current designs and regulations make it difficult to assess purpose and legitimacy, causing uncertainty and disturbance.(negative aspect)
- Problems of spatial privacy become particularly acute when large drones overfly private gardens or houses at lower altitudes.
0 Comments10 Minutes
The Impact of Shopping Carts on Consumers Behavior and Possible Actions to Resist
The shopping cart is the tool we use to acquire goods, in practice it can be seen as the boat to navigate on when we are engaged in shopping activity in the ocean of possible products to be acquired. This is particularly true if we refer to online shopping. Every consumer is constantly tracked and monitored: companies use data of our WiFi and our IPs to determine our location, track our actions, clicks, queries, history and so on in order to show us highly targeted advertisements, advice products what might satisfy our needs and even make conscious needs that otherwise would remain unconscious. It is reasonable to say that, in some cases, companies that have our data know our needs better than us, and this knowledge allows the companies to use the information in predictive analysis and therefore to anticipate our behavior. Moreover, by showing complementary products, accessories, and products that are in some way connected with something you bought, the companies are able not only to predict our behaviors but also to influence and shape it.
This is something that could cause a sense of frustration in the customer, although sometimes targeted ads simplify our life and inform us about some really interesting offer, knowing that we are seeing that advertisement because the companies have our data and know exactly what we do, obviously create some discomfort and a sensation of our freedom being violated. This, however, is true not only for online behavior and purchases. As we saw, technology in shaping the shopping experience also in physical shops. As a matter of fact, having a shopping cart with a scanner and connected to our profile and credit cards allows us to exit the store without queuing at the cashier but at the same time allows the companies to track our behaviors, preferences about products and to acquire private information about our shopping habits.
While many supermarkets have already been surveilling their customers' behaviors through cameras, loyalty card programs, or credit card data, the new digitized shopping cards incorporate various kinds of sensors that can be used to mine all kinds of data during a customer's grocery shopping. The consequences of this are still to be investigated and depend on where this data is used and to whom it is sold. It could potentially close the loop of one’s offline/online shopping as the gathered data during offline shopping could be used for targeted advertising and predictive modeling for online shopping.
Regulation: Why Do We Need It?
It is natural to ask ourselves Why is it important to protect our data? To answer we could list dozens of reasons but, in our opinion, the main ones are
represented by the need of protecting our fundamental rights and freedoms that are related to that data, to preserve our right of choice without being unconsciously pushed into certain buying behaviors, and to prevent misuses of our personal data, frauds, and other illegal or unethical behaviors. These were also the reasons that pushed the EU parliament to approve the GDPR 2018 that aims to give the consumers the choice of the information they want to reveal and force companies to treat data in a regulated and safe manner. As a matter of fact, the six guiding principles for this act were lawfulness, fairness and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimization, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality (security), and accountability. However, by definition, regulation is a rule made by a formal authority, in this case, the EU parliament gave European citizens the option to protect their data, but this does not mean that citizens will make use of this possibility.
Resistance
Resistance comes from taking an active stance against something. It is born from animosity against the status quo and the existing power relations. While resistance is a tool of objection, it is however not absolute in its form. Interpretations of resistance rely heavily on the structural reading of agency and structure. However, it presents itself in many different ways and is strongly embedded in the ethical and moral judgment and experience of injustice. Resistance is not necessarily measured by the consequences of the action, but rather the performance of self-empowerment that the objection that resistance offers.
In general, the more one uses the services of corporations tracking and monitoring one's data, the more one participates in their own data mining and surveillance. However, it is not always possible to reject the usage of these services. Some means to protect one’s privacy can be using a Tor browser to anonymize the location, plugins that block cookies and trackers or obfuscate one’s information. An obvious tool for online shopping would be a traditional ad-blocker. This sometimes does come with the disadvantage of not being granted access to the website's content though. It is important to stay alert about what information and data are being collected. In order to do so, projects like the “Data Detox Kit” (https://datadetoxkit.org/en/home) or “Trace my Shadow” (https://myshadow.org/trace-my-shadow) from the Berlin-based NGO Tactical Tech may help to make this visible.
Conclusions
As we described, both online and offline shopping carts are indented to shape our behaviors and emotions. If you do not trust us, try to observe the tiles on the supermarket next time you go shopping, you will see that these are small and meant to cause a lot of noise if you go fast with your shopping cart. In this way, you are almost forced to slow down and have a closer look at the goods and therefore you will have a higher probability to buy something that is not on your list.
With the advent of innovations and the decrease in their price, the increase in online shopping, profiling, and surveillance activities are easier for the companies and therefore they have even more tools to shape our behavior, have an impact on our feelings, and even create desires. We all should be aware of that. Fortunately, we can protect ourselves by using the tools available to us and by informing ourselves about the techniques used to influence us. The Eu parliament did a huge step forward by giving us the possibility to choose what to do with our data, now it is up to us to take active actions to protect our data and to avoid being conditioned by our shopping cards.
Authors: Vladimir, Suzan, Paul, Erik
0 Comments8 Minutes
Zoom me out – and take me back to “normal”
“Imagine if you go to a lecture, and in the same classroom where you talk with your professors, you also meet with your parents, talk gossip with your friends, go to the toilet, or date someone. Isn’t that weird?”
This is our current state of reality. Aspects of our lives that used to be separated, now happen in the same space – but what are the implications on us as students when our normal context collapses?
--
Zooming into the third day of the Haniel Summer Academy, and the third day of intensive video conferencing, it was time to put our feelings into words: both for the sake of answering the research questions related to our group project, but also to ensure the well-being and alignment of expectations in and between the group members.
As reflected upon in the previous blog entries, the controlling measures of Zoom are starting to get under our skin as time spent on the platform goes by – it’s almost like the device has infiltrated our lives, without our consent and to some extent without our awareness.
On the one side, Zoom has the effect of draining its users of energy, as non-verbal cues are hidden, forcing users to pay more attention to perceive a message. Often leaving us detached and disembodied. On the other side, it also gives absolute control to the administrator of the conference. Reducing autonomy and leaving us feeling powerless (or empowered) at times.
Detachment and disembodiment – these are keywords that can describe our group’s mood in the present. We are detached from the normal behavior of life in general, and for the Haniel Summer School in particular; we crave the regular connection we would have had with other groups, had we only been in Berlin.
Zoom as an artifact also does control us as students by giving “power” to the host of the conference, together with the algorithms that govern the displaying of our personal input to others. In which way? The top of mind example discussed in our group was one team member’s behavior during today’s lecture.
With a terrible headache, he decided to turn off his camera during the morning session. He did so consciously by knowing he would break the Summer Academy’s rules of participation, taking the risk, hoping that few people would notice as the algorithm would position him, as with all other “empty faces”, at the “bottom” of the grid of participants in the call.
Professors can’t force you to turn on your camera – they will try to persuade you to keep your camera on at all times, but in the end it’s your decision whether to stand by the rules or to resist the technology’s control of your personal space and state.
Thinking about the matter of resistance to the technology, some of us acknowledged the fact that there is no way to evade the control of Zoom – there is no alternative available to attend the Haniel Summer Academy this year, for example. As it's a mandatory course for some of us, being stuck in Zoom calls unwillingly is something that cannot be avoided, just as it can't be avoided in present times to have a Facebook profile or an e-mail account. It's impossible to avoid embracing these technologies if you don't want to miss out on pivotal opportunities and/or necessities in the COVID-19 life.
Embarking on this journey of discovering the controlling and often intimidating effects of digital and virtual technology on us as individuals, groups, and parts of society, is indeed enlightening. Because even when Zoom drains us of energy, or when the feeling of detachment or loss of control comes sneaking, we may remind ourselves that the current, “digitally concentrated” state of reality is only temporary. Experiencing this unique time of absolute digital dependence gives us as students, and you as professors, the opportunity to put aspects of our lives in perspective, experience the potential forceful nature of digital technologies and appreciate the beauty of our normal everyday lives.
Thinking ahead, we today started to brainstorm how we may present our findings and reflections of the abnormalities arising from the corona situation in general and the use of Zoom in particular. The process ahead involves embarking on a journey to further understand what normal is. Our first hypotheses: In the time after COVID-19 we might need to rethink what “normal” and “abnormal” social behavior really is – maybe it will even be considered normal to dance salsa with your professors, who knows? 😉
Picture: Haniel Summer School dancing salsa on Zoom
Xoxo,
Alma, Bea, Davide, Karolina & Oskar
0 Comments5 Minutes
Instagram – the (not so) hidden influencer building up the business
When one business model is not enough.
The following paragraphs are a collection of thoughts from all group members, who have covered different perspectives regarding the influence of Instagram on the behavior of its users. We focus primarily on the influence of companies, algorithms, advertising and content creators on users. Enjoy reading it!
Instagram helps nudging users
Can we imagine how much the way of doing business has changed since the advent of social media? How the need to feel connected has changed our habits and perception of reality? We do not always bear in mind that due to this freedom we probably have lost some freedom. Especially in this paragraph, we are going to briefly analyse the behavior economic perspective. So how is nudging, which is a way for influencing people through indirect suggestions, employed by companies, politicians. This does not only mean a mere change in behavior, but goes deeper by touching parts inherent in our character and our way of thinking. We do not realise it, but it happens.
This aspect is very interesting if we consider the way by which companies can influence us. John Davidson in “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism exposes tech giants' social engineering”, Financial Review (2019), suggests that advertisers would use the behavioural predictions to try to modify user behaviour, getting the users to buy what the advertisers were selling by approaching the users with a proposition that “foresee the future” and is well-timed. Surveillance capitalism practices are spreading a lot in these years, this is also a result of companies entrusting on social media.
Let's think about how many companies started their Instagram business. Let’s compare with a company that was born 30 years ago. Which is the difference? An important one is that now companies can affect, often indirectly (nudging), not only consumer preferences. They can also influence the opinion of possible investors, the market itself
Let's think about how many people have been connected to Instagram during the covid period. Not only the business world may have taken benefits from this. In fact, we can think about how many politicians, for example in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, have "entered the voters' houses". Instagram has become a social space for advocates of women's rights, for example. A room where the minorities have had their spaces.
Therefore, we realise that everything is interconnected. That there are not necessary boundaries between politics and economics, for example. Data and information that, often involuntarily, we provide partially define who we are. For this reason, they can be used as a very important asset to develop business.
Instagram decides, who deserves your attention
With the increase of Instagram’s user base, there was a need to structure interaction within this platform. Even if we have the freedom to choose our friends on Instagram, it seems that the platform controls our social relations tremendously. Even if Instagram’s algorithm supports us to handle the immense content, which our friends or “followers” are continuously sharing with us, the collected data can be seen as an “behaviour surplus” to modulate with whom we are interacting with. Of course Instagram’s algorithm is kept a secret. However, when we are looking into our account and take a closer look into our social interactions, it seems that people who are similar to us and who share the same interest, follow the same people and interact more often with you are placed more prominently in the feed or in the story and live section, which creates a filter bubble within your social network. It limits you to interact with people you are not often in touch with. These people are easily lost in the immense data set you are faced with everyday. This happens hidden and unconsciously without you noticing it. At this point this may seem very harmless. However, when we start to think about it, we realize that it is an intervention and limitation of the freedom of choice. Even if Instagram’s user-generated data may have positive effects such as service improvement, new functions and increased convenience with an easier interface, the collected data can be used to restrict us and nudge us to the way Instagram expects us to see content and interact.
Not only peer-to-peer communication seems to be affected by the algorithm. The Instagram algorithm controls the attention of the potential consumers for advertisements on the platform as well. Based on the user-generated content, Instagram can enable target marketing, while content is only sent prominently to the right user base. As the attention economy theory claims, user’s or consumer’s attention within the plattfom can be seen as a source of income. It is Instagram, who has the power over which brand is getting this attention from the user base and the resulting income. Consequently, this power of Instagram over attention and control can lead to the power of Instagram over our social and consumption behavior and as well.
Influencers and paid posts
The more interaction we have with the product, the more familiar and confident we feel purchasing it. This is the reason why influencer marketing entered on Instagram. Influencers are people who have built a large and engaged following on Instagram; their followers trust them and, consequently, their opinions, feeling like they know them personally and considering their recommendations as they were friends. For those reasons, the emergence of Instagram influencers opened up huge opportunities for businesses looking to authentically market their products to their target audience, and thus the “paid post” phenomenon was born. As a matter of fact, in 2019 influencer marketing on Instagram generated over $2.3 billion and 32.3 million brand sponsored influencer posts were registered.
Even if it is mandatory to specify that a post is sponsored, making clear to the consumer the commercial intention, sometimes it does not happen; in this sense, people are misled and they even trust more a post because they believe it is not paid. Fortunately, heavy penalties were introduced for these actions. Moreover, nowadays the frequency of advertisements seen in the average stream appeared to dramatically increase; instead of seeing an advertisement two or three times per session, users have started seeing an ad post every five to six photos. In this sense, users are bombarded by endless posts which they don’t require. In fact, influencers’ feed is overwhelmed by ads and their daily life content takes second place. So the question is, how much can an influencer exceed the limits in order to make ads a truly recommended product and not just a profit?
How does Instagram control thoughts and feelings?
Instagram is a platform, which reflects people’s lives, or at least what they want other people to perceive of their lives. Through the constant comparison with other users and other lives, people are judging and being judged based on the content they see and upload. The frequent and intensive users of the platform are relying on likes and comments to give them an impression of how other people perceive them. This constant need to be seen as being “beautiful”, “cool”, “rich”, “popular”, “interesting”, can very quickly become addictive and put an immense pressure on individuals. This need for other’s approval enhances psychological pressure and can lead to intense depression, anxiety and a decrease in self-esteem.
Instagram also enhances the obsession of oneself and therefore awakens the narcissist in each of us. Increasing the fixation of our own reflection. In that sense, Instagram is intensifying the need for social answering. Even though the human being wasn’t made to receive social acknowledgement through digital acceptance. Each human being has a need for physical closeness and in-person social answering in order to satisfy their social needs. The social answering users perceive through Instagram comes with an important feeling of void and emptiness, as the social acknowledgement one receives through the digital platform isn’t technically “real”. Thus, distorting the feeling of what is real and what isn’t.
Another aspect of Instagram, is the exclusive reliance on others' opinions of you. This can be related to Sartre’s famous quote “l’enfer c’est les autres” (Hell is other people), in which people only perceive themselves through the eyes of others. Instagram is only giving you a glance of others perception of you, which can in many situations distort the feeling you have of yourself.
All in all, Instagram has an enormous impact on how people feel and think, especially about themselves.
Liveness as business model
As mentioned, the algorithm always prioritizes content from accounts whose users often interact. That's why followers and content creators or influencers have to often comment on the posts or react through stories, so the algorithm recognizes that both users are "close" to each other.
From my own experience I can say that I often feel used and reduced to being a consumer only on Instagram. Because in the end most of the posts and accounts are simply “advertising spaces/slots” that want to bind me to their profile and their advertised products through a fake and pretended interest in my person. But isn´t that exactly the twist of Instagram? I am expecting it to be authentic. I am convinced that the other profiles and content creators do have a real interest in my answer on the comment, my feelings and that they do care about me and my stories. But most of them just want to sell stuff and make money with users.
While watching stories and reading posts we tend to forget that Instagram is a business. In recent years, the original business model of the photo and video sharing platform has changed to that of an online marketing and advertising business model. The simplicity, a strong visual component and a high usage rate make Instagram the advertising platform of today. Furthermore, the business model of instagram has been and is based on a number of tools and features it offers, such as filters, stories, IGTV and live sessions. The live sessions can therefore be seen as another link and a push for the interaction and belief of the users in the authenticity of the creator. They thus serve as an opportunity to bind users even more to the platform.
Aurora De Martin, Emaele de Quatrebarbes, Lara Schulte, Marco Ubalducci & Selma Vuckic
0 Comments14 Minutes
The dangerous trade-off: Love or privacy
Love: The pay-off for risky data sharing
Today, the lecture inspired us to discuss the risk of sharing own private data with the dating apps. We noticed how particularly private and intimate is the data available on Tinder for example. Not only it consists of all the generic information, but also it reveals the most discrete and intimate thoughts that we decide to share with the online partners. The abuse of this data is scary and definitely poses a big risk for using the apps. However, the potential pay-off is nonetheless significant. The vision of finding a life-long partner or even the mere experience of a fun date is usually so attractive that in return users are completely willing to share their data and somewhat give up their privacy.
When it comes to the current circumstances, the changing environment and overwhelming uncertainty increases the motivation to find The One even more. We do not want to struggle in the difficult times on our own, hence we seek closure and support, also through the dating apps.
Dating Apps control our movement and feelings
Furthermore, we also discussed the different ways the dating apps control us. We concluded that prior to the pandemic, Tinder was rather incentivising people to go out and reach out to people in the real world. While now, the direction seems to be opposite - the app encourages people to stay at home, even though they may feel lonely. It helps them with self-isolation, through supplying social interactions inside one’s own home. Although, apart from the intended, and politically-correct use, some users resist this intended control. They schedule dates with strangers, disregarding the pandemic regulations.
Feelings are another human aspect that our technology can definitely control. The core purpose of the app is to evoke strong emotions, ranging from pride, excitement, interest, disgust, hate to even love. The algorithms in the app can also manipulate our feelings through curating the potential matches, adjusting their attractiveness, perhaps even the successful match ratio. Now, in the Corona times, where as we discussed before, everything is about the presence and mindfulness, we focus on our emotions to a bigger extent. Thus, especially now it is crucial to realise the dating apps’ influence on our emotions.
Briefing participants for the interview
Further action - What we did today ?
- Conducting desk research
- Briefing and interviewing participants for our questionnaire
- Collecting and evaluating answers
- Narrowing down the scope of our topic
Created by: Marielle, Martyna and & Muriel
0 Comments3 Minutes
“Zooming out” – entering a new perspective on Zoom
The glitches and strange insights we gained on Zoom – and how we might need to set new perimeters.
After yesterday's discussion about how the prehistorical and societal development of video conferencing – both looking at the technological development in itself, both also on its interdependence with societal happenings, we joined today's classes filled with enthusiasm for a new day of discussion. Recovered from with the visible effects of the hours spent in front of the screen (e.g. through a 14-hrs sleep), we were ready to take on a new perspective on this technology.
With great relief we greeted the idea of Paula Bialski about turning off our visual receivers – “hey, you are at home, make yourself comfortable”. A comfortable chair, a cup of hot coffee, and the mesmerizing background of the constellation of stars as the background of Paula's presentation made us remember at this very moment where we are.
Embarking on a journey of socio-technological interactions, we started thinking about the several effects we experience consciously but also unconsciously about our current communication mode in Zoom. Stripped of any previously planned activities at Haniel Summer Academy, such as going to Berghain in Berlin, the only means of getting to know each other is via video-call. Instead of the exchange of the looks during a live conversation we have a small black square in front of us, staring at us for hours, extracting our private space to make from it a list of our faces and names, only leaving us with the possibility to communicate with our teachers utilizing a blue hand.
Lacking any personal interactions and means of building personal relationships, we feel distant and little engaged. This poses an issue since how comfortable we feel also affects the depth of discussions and understanding. On the one hand, the physical absence is a reason for withdrawal from the discussion. On the other hand, some may copy behaviors acquired through the use of social media, and their apparent anonymity or more accurately disconnection from reality provokes behaviors that would not be acceptable in a conference room or university class.
Feelings of absence during discussions can also be triggered by the fact that the program transforms natural communication into a series of simple commands that were originally intended to make communication easier. On the contrary, though this reduces the ability to participate in a conversation, which is another challenge for people seeking productive discussions.
An example of this may be a situation where a person participating in sessions and wanting to “take the stage” may not be noticed because he or she, follows the set of rules while others break. Since the basis of these relations is a visual language, her or his willingness to participate in the conversation expressed by a physically raised hand or by pressing a blue hand in the zoom can decide whether her opinion will be heard.
Venturing on the journey of different Zoom users, we realized that we needed to take a step away from our current working mode in Zoom and think about the different forms of using Zoom. We “Zoomed out”.
Looking at videos of Zoom bombing and pranks, we realized which glitches and issues emerge by using videoconferencing for our everyday life. By pressing the accept button to use our microphone and camera (which is currently an action required to join the discussion) people somehow lose control over what can happen to their image. Although application developers regularly introduce program improvements that are designed to ensure the safety of user’s data, these actions have a little influence on the availability of our personality to people participating in the conversation. While oftentimes a set of norms and unspoken rules is followed, people (un-)purposefully alter the way Zoom is used (just think about how often you have seen somebody being (semi-naked) on Zoom, that you normally just know in a suit). Thousands of personal Zoom videos are viewable on the open web. Videos include one-on-one therapy sessions; a training orientation for workers doing telehealth calls that include people's names and phone numbers; small-business meetings that include private company financial statements; and elementary school classes, in which children's faces, voices, and personal details are exposed.
Many of the videos include personally identifiable information and deeply intimate conversations, recorded in people's homes. Other videos include nudity, such as one in which an aesthetician teaches students how to give Brazilian wax. Many of the videos appear to have been recorded through Zoom's software and saved onto separate online storage space without a password. Whether we can relax during the meeting depends just as much on trust in the person on the other side of the screen as in the software itself.
While these stories paint a picture of the hidden threats of Zoom, there are also other perspectives that we can take on. Look for example at this video of Chatroulette, where a total stranger sings a love song for Diana.
Check out the video for yourself :)
As we can see it is important to gain a deeper understanding of the use of Zoom, the borders and parameters we may need, and the rules necessary for building personal interaction and relationships. Maybe we should just meet for an Aperó tomorrow? Drinks on me ;-)
We are looking forward to furthering this journey with you.
See you tomorrow!
Alma, Bea, Davide, Karolina & Oskar
0 Comments7 Minutes
Four different shopping cart portrayals in Europe (Denmark, Italy, Germany and Switzerland)
Shopping carts in Denmark
In Denmark, we generally use two different forms of vehicles to move purchased goods around. The shopping basket and the shopping cart. They are found almost exclusively in places to shop for food and household items, as opposed to stores of consumer goods such as garments, electronics, toys, makeup, etc. The Danish name of it is ‘indkøbsvogn’ or ‘indkøbskurv’ which also refers to the activity of food and household purchases [indkøb] rather than shopping [shoppe/shopping], which is seen as a separate leisure activity, and therefore also creates a different mental reference due to the linguistic relativism.
Shopping carts in Denmark are found in supermarkets and hypermarkets. They are commonly made out of metal and are equipped with a seat that can be folded into the cart, near to the handle. People use these for their purse and bag, or as child seats, where the child is facing the parent. The carts are designed to fit into each other, to take up less space, which can create long chains of interlocked vehicles that can be easily moved. Most carts require a 10dkkr [coin] deposit, to detach it from the others.
The Shopping basket comes in two versions: One meant for carrying and one slightly larger with wheel and a handle, that allows people to drag the cart behind them. The basket is more or less the same at all stores but does indicate belonging by applying the colour scheme of the store, and sometimes the logo on the handle. The baskets are designed to be stackable, so that they can be easily moved from the register and exit to the entrance, to create a full circle of use to reuse.
While the shopping cart is used in hypermarkets, the basket is more commonly used in small and medium-sized stores; The cart is used for families and big purchases as it takes up much of the physical space in the store. If a store was to accommodate more carts, it would take up more product space. In the larger cities where the shops are also smaller, it is common to not have or at least not use the carts, even if one is doing a large purchase. This could also be due to the fact that fewer people have cars in larger cities and would, therefore, wish to transport fewer products home.
The shopping cart or basket is brought around the store. If people leave it, they only leave it shortly to gather some goods and return as a yoyo. In this way, it becomes organizes a central base of belonging in an otherwise foreign environment.
Both versions seem to be crude and simple versions of the technology. We do not use special scanners or screens. Shopping is done the same way as it has been for the last 30 years.
Shopping carts are at times repurposed by young people making trouble and playing around or by homeless people; however, neither of these are commonly seen. Removing, the shopping cart from it natural bounds is not socially permitted, and will cause people to stare, comment or react.
While it is permitted to carry goods around in the store in self brought bags and baskets, this is highly unusual. People use the in-store basket as a norm (Explicating that would require more in-depth investigation). The two separate containers will be carried around the store simultaneously - never left outside. Once you enter the bounds of the store the home-brought multipurpose basket is transformed from pure to danger (Douglas 1966); adversely the stores shopping basket can be seen as pure within the store, and danger outside the store.
Small fabric trolleys on wheels are very rarely seen, and if so, they are usually used by people who have a need to log around things, due to precarious life situations, such as partial homelessness or lack of social support systems or economic affluence – two things that otherwise enable and support food shopping structures in Denmark (however, I will not get into that as it moves off-topic for now).
Shopping carts in Italy and the particular case of Venice
Shopping carts in Italy are a “must-have” for every supermarket. Even the small supermarkets have them. Some shops decided to solve the space issue by simply using smaller carts or by using shopping baskets with wheels. In Italy the cuisine and the meals are not only a matter of food but also a matter of culture, these are essential parts of the day and their symbolic value is very high, this is reflected also in the shopping behaviour and in the way the shopping carts are used and the frequency of their use. Usually, the consumers drive to the supermarket and acquire the groceries usually for the whole week. Usually, you need a 50c or 1€ coin to unlock the cart and as a standard, they have the foldable seat for the children or the purse. The supermarkets also provide its customers with baskets that can either have wheels or be carried by hand, in both cases these are for the people that have to buy just a few things. This is the typical use but it is important to notice that during the COVID-19, shopping carts became a tool to maintain social distance and therefore to protect ourselves.
Another very interesting topic to be briefly discussed is the use of the carts and shopping carts in Venice. The city of Venice is certainly wonderful, but its stunning beauty also hides significant problems of living in this city. As you know, there are no cars or bikes in Venice and the city has more than 400 bridges and the most common methods to move things around is by using a shopping cart, or different kinds of carts. In Venice, the shopping carts are peculiar, usually, they are similar to trolleys. Some of them have 2 groups of 3 wheels that allow them to pull them easily up the stairs of the bridges. Similarly, porters, mailmen, garbage collectors and every other person that has to move goods around the city of Venice uses even a cart or a shopping cart.
In the first picture we have a luggage porter in Venice, then a mailman in Venice with his cart (branded Poste Italiane). The same idea applies to the man with his shopping cart on the stairs. The third picture shows the typical shopping cart in Venice.
Shopping carts in Lüneburg, Germany
Participatory observation, Tuesday 26th of May at 4:30 PM
In order to investigate the socio-technical relations of shopping carts in supermarkets in Lüneburg, I went to one of the bigger supermarkets, close to the city centre, to buy groceries.
The shed, where all the shopping carts are stored, is located approx. 20 meters from the supermarket's entrance. Every customer is required to pick up a shopping cart to enter, except for two people going into the market together. No coins are necessary to access the cart. The cart is a metal gridded container with four wheels. There are two separate doors for the entrance and the exit. In front of the shopping cart shed an employee of the supermarket takes back the carts and disinfects its handles.
Entering the supermarket most people move into the same direction. In general, most customers move forward and don't turn around. In the aisles, two shopping carts can pass or stand next to each other horizontally. When people pass each other in an aisle, they tend to do so rather quickly. Sometimes a person leaves an aisle backwards, carefully looking before doing so. Most people keep their hands on the cart a lot or leave them standing a short distance to grab a product. Most customers are by themselves but if there is another person with them, they tend to stay closely together. The only person wandering around the store without a cart or a partner with a cart in sight was a little kid looking at candys. Many customers lean onto their carts as they move through the market. I often felt the urge to move forward because other shopping carts appeared behind me, wanting to go into my direction or pass by me. Other people avoided going into the same aisle when they saw a person in that aisle. At the checkout, the carts were also used to maintain distance while standing in line.
In general, I had the impression that people rarely moved away from their carts, as they may symbolize a safe island in the market full of other people that could potentially be a threat to their health.
Shopping carts in Switzerland
For many people who are usually at home a lot (such as students or retired people), shopping is a good excuse to get out of the house, get some fresh air and see other people. They don't buy too much: only for 1-3 days and so the shopping cart was an uncommon object for them. Except for a few elderly people, who also use the shopping trolley as a walker.
Since the current pandemic, the situation looks different: Either these elderly people can no longer go shopping themselves and those who do, hoard as much stock as possible so that a shopping trolley is unavoidable.
Already before the pandemic, but now very much in use, are the self-scanning handheld devices. To get a scanner in the entrance area of the shop is to be a member of the loyalty program. This is then placed in the shopping cart on a special holder. At the end of the shopping you only have to unscan with the scanner itself. The two retailers Migros and Coop promise three advantages:
- After scanning, the articles can be packed directly
- The total purchase amount is continuously visible on the hand scanner
- No queuing at the cash desk
This technology has existed since 2011, but only now, since the introduction of COVID-19, many more people are using this kind of shopping - see picture with one station and few self-scanners.
The shopping trolleys - in Swiss German "Wägeli" - are a symbol for shopping, but also for the homeless and the youth. They are used in a different context, as a means of transport for your only belongings. But some young people like to steal shopping trolleys and use them for pranks such as cart racing. This problem confronts the manufacturers here with tricky tasks of how to solve the whole issue. The well-known problem of solving the trolley with a coin only pursues the goal that one is forced to keep order and not leave it lying around. But now there are attempts where the wheels of a shopping trolley get blocked as soon as they leave a certain distance from the shop.
Switzerland remains a little hub for innovation. Did you know that the well known baggage trolley, which has below attachments to roller escalators, was a Swiss idea?
0 Comments15 Minutes