Had my social informatics students read work @pluralistic did with Consumer Reports about social media federation and user rights. Also considering what we can learn about society, technology, and ethics from science fiction.
If anybody is interested in reusing, here's the text of the module. Comments welcome if you plan to use or have used.
/* ACTIVITY BEGINS
SETUP: Students work with this material in collaborative file space
As a group, read these two connected pieces:
1. “Inside the Clock Tower: An Interoperability Story,” a short story by Cory Doctorow, commissioned by Consumer Reports regarding user experiences on social media and how regulatory legislation might affect those experiences - https://innovation.consumerreports.org/inside-the-clock-tower
2. “An Interview with Tech Activist and Author Cory Doctorow,” about the ACCESS Act by Consumer Reports - https://www.consumerreports.org/digital-rights/an-interview-with-tech-activist-and-author-cory-doctorow-a1943952645
Answer these questions as a group in the space below:
1. How can you use our class science fiction readings to connect Doctorow’s assessment of the real social media landscape with his portrayal of a social media landscape in science fiction?
2. How can you use lessons from Kling, Hanson, and Coleman to explain how Doctorow’s actions here are a kind of folksy social informatics?
3. How can you connect Doctorow’s work in both pieces to your understanding of the Mastodon social network?
ACTIVITY ENDS */