Agency is the connection between humans and technology. This word connects to the meaning of autonomy, or the quality of being aware and the ability to make decisions. Today, we all must make decisions based on our interpretation of our surrounding environment. In class, we were able to see agency and algorithms through google searches. When we search something up on google, we are interacting with many different things, meanwhile google is calculating the results of our search. This shows how both human beings and technology must work together in order to find valuable information. After some searches, google starts to get an idea of our likes and dislikes. This allows for google to mostly show us things we are interested in since they have learned about us through our previous google searches. This can be seen on social media apps as well, such as our Tik Tok for you page or our Instagram explore page. Even though we have not personally asked these apps to show us certain things we enjoy watching or viewing, these media platforms are smart enough to know what we want to see.
3 thoughts on “Marielle Dibbini: Agency”
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I liked how you used the phrase “human beings and technology must work together” because we must work together; however, it is very common that humans rely on technology rather than working together. Just like google keeps track of our google searches and it can learn valuable information, our insight on social media apps keeps tabs on peoples search too. I agree with your examples of Instagram and Tik Tok because often when scrolling through the apps, I get sucked into the loop hole of the explore page. They use their information to place content that I enjoy or relate to in order to get the most interaction out of my time.
I like how you brought up the idea that we don’t ask Google, TikTok, or Instagram to show us certain things we enjoy viewing. They have just been programmed to do this naturally. I think that this is an aspect of technology that I have taken advantage of and have not thought much about. The fact that our devices track everything we do is a little unsettling, but it’s fascinating to think that a man made machine is capable of all that it has accomplished and that it has the ability to keep track of such a wide array of data.
The relationship between not only humans alone but society as a whole is a really interesting concept. As a mass population, we cumulatively rely on platforms such as google to help us within our every day lives. Every question searched or TikTok video liked, is registered as information that could be useful to others, hence why the auto-filled searches are not only programed for our personal needs, but a result of things that are common interests of our mass population. As a result, our search engines are not only faster, but make things more efficient for users. The relationship then between, Networks, Data, Technology, and Agency are all intertwined and relied on by one another.