{"id":214,"date":"2021-03-13T15:27:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T22:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/narration4transformation\/?p=214"},"modified":"2021-03-13T17:35:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T00:35:36","slug":"task-9-network-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/narration4transformation\/2021\/03\/13\/task-9-network-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Task 9: Network Assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada is often hailed as the pinnacle of multiculturalism.\u00a0 The smell of superiority hangs heavy in the air, especially when comparing our country to our neighbours to the south.\u00a0 However, a recent study of graduate students at a Canadian university has tarnished this facade of equality, revealing the reality of racism in this country.\u00a0 \u00a0In fact, these students took NASA’s ‘Golden Record’ project\u00a0 – a project that intended to shine a beacon of Earth’s inclusivity into space – and turned it into nothing more than the equivalent of high school cliques.\u00a0 \u00a0Here’s proof:<\/p>\n

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The graduate students were asked to select 10 songs from the 27 selections that were originally included on the Golden Record: a record that was launched into space for the purpose of sharing our earthly experiences with extraterrestrial life.\u00a0 Despite the Golden Record’s careful curation of internationally representative tracks, our “educated” North American students excluded the music of the world, ultimately selecting good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll to represent our planet.<\/p>\n

Allow me to explain, with a brief introduction to graph theory.<\/p>\n

What you see above is known as a multi-graph.\u00a0 \u00a0It includes a series of nodes (the circles) and links (the lines) between the nodes.\u00a0 \u00a0Nodes are things or entities to which a value can be ascribed (Systems Innovation, 2015a.)\u00a0 In this graph, nodes represent students and songs.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

This particular graph is an “undirected” graph in that it does not provide\u00a0 insight regarding the relationship between the nodes.\u00a0 If it were a “directed” graph, it would use symbols such as arrows to indicate the direction of the relationship.\u00a0 \u00a0It is also an “unweighted” graph, as no numbers are provided to quantify the degree of interaction between the nodes\u00a0 (Systems Innovation, 2015a.)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

According to graph theory, the “degree of connectivity” shows <\/span>how connected any given node is in the network (Systems Innovation, 2015b.)\u00a0 In the graph above, we see that “Track 7: Johnny B Goode” has the highest degree of connectivity\u00a0 as a node with multiple links connecting to it.\u00a0 We are cautioned against assuming that more is better in this context, however, as “more connections can also leave you more open to a virus” (Systems Innovation, 2015b.)\u00a0 In the case of this study, the virus is closed-mindedness demonstrated through musical taste.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The cultural narcissism of the graduate students is further evidenced by the graph’s lower degrees of connectivity for songs outside of Western culture.\u00a0 \u00a0Consider “Track 9:\u00a0 Tsuru No Sugomori” at the top of the graph, appearing much like an outsider looking in at a broader community of data.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The software that produced this graph (Palladio) can further analyze the data into groups of students who shared a preference for certain song selections.\u00a0 \u00a0To protect the names of the not-so-innocent, I have excluded those images.<\/p>\n

In fairness, the student subjects in this study come by their racism honestly.\u00a0 We all want to belong.\u00a0 We are wired to pursue “sameness.”\u00a0 And we are inundated with choice in a world with endless information at our fingertips.\u00a0 We want to weed out the unnecessary.\u00a0 Case in point: the success of Google’s “Page Rank” algorithm.\u00a0 \u00a0Google developed \u201cPage Rank” to generate “the most relevant results for a search by taking into account how many other pages linked to a given page.\u00a0 The idea is that if lots of websites think that a webpage is interesting, then it\u2019s probably the one you\u2019re looking for” (Code.org, 2017.)\u00a0 This study reveals that we do not always want to follow what others, or other websites, consider to be “interesting.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What will we lose in this divisive polarity?\u00a0 \u00a0What if we are given no options other than the “path most taken?” What if Google just gives us Johnny B Goode?\u00a0 \u00a0I assert that that would B Bad.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

The opinions expressed in this blog are purely satirical and do not reflect how this graduate student feels about herself or her classmates.\u00a0 \u00a0It was inspired by the current pervasiveness of disinformation and the growing use of storytelling within data visualization.\u00a0 In recent years, data visualization tools such as Palladio, the software used for this task, have been combined with storytelling to explore and present data.\u00a0 \u00a0Kosara & Mackinlay (2013) write: “Stories have proven to be not only an incredibly popular way of conserving information and passing it on, they also provide the connective tissue between facts to make them memorable” (p. 2.) While stories have been used for various purposes since the beginning of time, “…storytelling is a relatively new subject in visualization. As such, it faces many challenges\u201d (Tong et al., 2018, p. 2)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Image from: https:\/\/www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk\/opinions\/lies-damned-lies-and-opinion-polls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We need to be more critical about the information we consume.\u00a0 The digital age has increased the prevalence of “disinformation” or\u00a0 \u201c<\/strong>intentional falsehoods spread as news stories or simulated documentary formats to advance political goals”\u00a0 (Bennett & Livingston, 2018, p. 124.)\u00a0 \u00a0As Gladwin (2021) puts it: “Crisis has become our daily story. Truth and credibility have taken a backseat to sensationalism and fear\u201d (p. 36.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Stories can be used for understanding and education, as well as for coercion and control. Stories rooted in fear dominate social media, news (mainstream media), family histories, relationships, and politics\u201d (Gladwin, 2021, p. 21.)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, many other stories could be told from the Golden Record curation data and its graphic depiction.\u00a0 For example, if one took the time to explore the data further or chose a different view of the data, they would have found that the student data indicated a high degree of connectivity with “Jaat Kahan Ho,” a song from India.<\/p>\n

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This new visualization could have dispelled the narrative of racism that opened this blog entry.<\/p>\n

We need to understand better the origins, integrity and limitations of the data we receive.\u00a0 The Googles and Microsofts of the world put this responsibility in our hands. For example, when describing how spammers’ “game” algorithms to generate revenue by appearing higher in search results, Akshaya from Microsoft Bing, says: “Ultimately, it’s up to you to keep an eye out for these pages that are untrustworthy by looking at the web address and making sure it’s a reliable source” (Code.org, 2017.)<\/p>\n

\u201cSearch engines use information not <\/span>explicitly <\/span><\/i>provided to help you narrow down your search\u201d\u00a0 (Code.org, 2017.)\u00a0 It could be said that our Palladio graph’s data is excessively “narrowed down” due to its lack of explicitly provided information: the lack of information regarding the parameters used by each student when developing their personal Top 10 Lists of songs from the Golden Record.\u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps the data would have been more meaningful if Palladio had used a “spider” program as described in “The Internet: How Search Works”<\/a> <\/span>(Code.org, 2017.)\u00a0 A spider program could have visited each of our blog entries from Task 8 to compile information about the criteria used for our individual song selections.\u00a0 The graph could then be built from data extracted from a more comprehensive database of information.\u00a0 <\/span>Without the context of decision-making criteria that influenced our individual selections, there is no way to conduct substantive analyses.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bennett, W. L., & Livingston, S. (2018). The disinformation order: Disruptive communication and the decline of democratic institutions. European Journal of Communication,<\/em> 33<\/em>(2), 122-139. doi:10.1177\/0267323118760317<\/p>\n

Code.org. (2017, June 13). <\/span>The Internet: How Search Works <\/span><\/i>. Retrieved from https:\/\/youtu.be\/LVV_93mBfSU<\/span><\/p>\n

Gladwin, D. (2021).\u00a0 Rewriting our stories: Education, Empowerment and Well-Being.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>Ireland:\u00a0 Cork University Press.<\/p>\n

Kosara, R., & Mackinlay, J. (2013). Storytelling: The next step for visualization.<\/span> Computer (Long Beach, Calif.), 46<\/span><\/i>(5), 44-50. <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/MC.2013.36<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Systems Innovation. (2015a, April 18). <\/span>Graph Theory Overview<\/span><\/i> . Retrieved from https:\/\/youtu.be\/82zlRaRUsaY<\/span><\/p>\n

Systems Innovation. (2015b, April 19). <\/span>Network Connections <\/span><\/i>. Retrieved from https:\/\/youtu.be\/2iViaEAytxw<\/span><\/p>\n

Tong, C., Roberts, R., Borgo, R., Walton, S., Laramee, R., Wegba, K., Lu, A., Wang, Y., Qu, H., Luo, Q., & Ma, X. (2018). Storytelling and visualization: An extended survey.<\/span> Information (Basel), 9<\/span><\/i>(3), 65. <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/info9030065<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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