My master’s degree is in media innovation, but a quick reminder to everyone that innovation ≠ technology!
And that’s the first thing that people get wrong about innovation. Digital isn’t always better. Workflow changes, processes, and even new ways of thinking require not one piece of technology. And it’s sometimes these changes in process that make a bigger difference than the actual technology itself.
Take, for example, the simple overhauling of our workflow. The assembly line radically changed the way we work, with Henry Ford pulling inspiration from the way the meatpacking industry was operating. I’m’ not sure about you, but I wouldn’t call a butcher innovative at the surface, but it was this attention to how they operated and completed a task that helped Ford create the first modern assembly line. And that, my friends, is innovation.
So as we can all be quick to develop a new technology, use another online system, or Elon-Musk-ify a new invention (do we all remember when he was on the mission to save the boys in the cave?), let’s take a look at some instances recent digital products may be off to a bit of a false start.
Digital IDs are a threat to our identities
I’ll admit, I’m the first to be eager to try a new digital product, jump on the learning bandwagon, or try a new thing cause it was 1) free 2) talked about on the internet, which I should know better.
Theoretically, Digital IDs are wonderful, they create ease of use and opportunity for so many individuals, however anytime digital information is collected, we should be cautious about what it’s being used for. It can be damaging, not just for how that data may be handled, but also in how it perceives our identities, which can be damaging on the long run. Zara Rahman writes about this in an article on The Correspondent:
“Digital systems – how they’re built, the data they gather (and the data they don’t), the categories we’re put into – by design require a flattening of our identities, Read a piece I wrote last year asking if data can ever know who we really are.reflecting a prioritisation of what most matters to the people collecting the data.” Rahman writes
This, on top of the poor handling of data by many data companies, can be discriminatory and can threaten measures of equality, isolating individuals based on their data before they even step up to the plate.
“Digital systems that collect identification data have become an efficient way of determining at scale who’s in and who’s out.”
As media professionals, we could all work to create systems that allow for more equity, rather than turning it into a dystopic, data-predetermined future.
Tech companies standing up for privacy?
One of the biggest things that was touted at this year’s CES, is the new prioritization of privacy. Companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon all were quick to preach their new privacy initiatives and how they were putting it at the forefront of their actions. With reports from the Washington Post and CNN, at the surface level, we all seem to be on the privacy train.
However, given past circumstances, it’s hard to continue to wholeheartedly believe these actions. With the Cambridge Analytica scandal still fresh in our mind and an upcoming 2020 election, I’m still hesitant for many of these tech companies to truly sell me on their privacy initiatives.
"Our own information, from the everyday to the deeply personal, is being weaponized against us every day," said Apple CEO, Tim Cook in an article on CNET. "We shouldn't sugarcoat the consequences -- this is surveillance. This should make us very uncomfortable, it should unsettle us."
While Apple has made some of the largest pushes for privacy reform, I’m still torn by the fact that Facebook continues to allow damaging, false information and political ads on its platform, and companies like Amazon and Google are continuously gathering data on us for mostly largely unknown purposes. I think that we’ll have to see some sort of cohesive movement among tech companies and online platforms before we get to the stage where I feel like they’ll be ready to create policy. And unfortunately, I don’t belive that will happen until the next major scandal comes out.
Youtube broadcasts misinformation — brands make it profitable
Youtube’s original slogan, “Broadcast Yourself” was largely familiar to someone who occasionally watched ShayTard’s vlog as a 14-year-old (go ahead, judge me for my prepubescent online media consumption). For any potentially aspiring content creator (at the time, I had just discovered high school broadcast news, and let me tell you - NERD ALERT - IT WAS COOL), this platform was intriguing and also became the source for a few college projects (click here for cringe content).
But what’s more cringey than my taste or early college video content? The fact that misinformation is being broadcasted on this platform… and people are profiting off of this misinformation. I learned about this in one of my favorite newsletters, Popular Information.
As the newsletter wrote, in a study conducted by Avaaz, an international non-profit working to "protect democracies from the dangers of disinformation on social media.” There were a few examples of just how this information was spreading poorly.
“For searches of the term "global warming," for example, 16% of the top 100 related videos contained misinformation about climate change. Overall, YouTube has likely facilitated hundreds of millions of views of climate misinformation videos.”
My concern, the same profit tactics that make this misinformation profitable (paid ads on misleading or just plain wrong videos), are not just used on Youtube, they’re used on a variety of online platforms. And we should be conscious of that. In a takeaway from the newsletter, Avaaz calls for a change in the monetization of the videos.
“Stop making misinformation profitable. "Add misinformation and disinformation to YouTube’s relevant monetization policies, ensuring such content does not include advertising and is not financially incentivized."“
And I’m with them. But don’t just take my word for it, read the full article here.
Knowledge is power?
One last quick one: A study came out about the power of MRI scanners, where they saw how couples’ brains light up when they say things like “I love you” to your significant other. If my fiancé is reading this, we’d have to discuss my microwave popcorn obsession before doing this… 😳
Be. Mindful. Of. Context. And. Audience.
And then this big YIKES happened on the Jet’s TikTok… which even if you’re not on TikTok you should probably see, and it also serves as a reminder, even if its deleted or private — it can be seen.
Major YIKES!
For this newsletter, I reached out to you folk on the internet and asked - what are times that tech didn’t solve the problem or just made things a bit more difficult.
And you replied! Here are a few that you suggested:
Reader Kaitlin Young reminded us about how the Obamacare website cost us $840 million
The rise and fall of Elisabeth Holmes’s tech company, Theranos, for having false claims, and massive fraud — submitted by reader Aidan Lukomnik
Robert Wilkinson discusses how the internet is actually pretty terrible at creating idealized versions of people, when we all should remember, we’re people and people are human, and don’t be comparing someone’s highlight reel, to your WIP.
Fortunately, the internet also gives us Emoji Mashup Bot so we can accurately describe how this all makes us feel.
Quick Links
There’s a subreddit about dechonking your pet, which has wholesome pet fitness and health content and the world should be aware of it r/dechonkers (but seriously, I vocally AWW’d at this)
Amazon accidentally sent out their email template… whoops (insert sassy comment about these people being in charge of privacy?)
Let’s chat IRL
Upcoming events I’m particularly stoked about:
Tonight’s event with new ecommerce startup Elliot
No Code Summit with Entre, No Code No Problem podcast, Elliot, Bildr, Bubble, and Adalo.
Next week we’ll be featuring an interview with Ramy Majouji who is a product designer at Glossier who provided some great nuggets on product design and the overall process of what goes into designing good digital products.
And a quick shout out to our super-fan, Megan King for supporting this newsletter on Patreon, as well as suggesting topics on privacy.
Until next time, where we’ll nerd out about the future of ecommerce and DTC, the power of the No Code movement, and what the heck product design has to do with this all. see you on the internet, my dudes! 👋