Overview

An all-in-one guide to understanding and managing the dark side of our digital lives. What if our assumptions about information and the Internet are not as clear-cut as we would like to believe? We have all confronted a failed search, the frustration of looking at an online troll’s obnoxious response in an online forum, malware-infested software, the loss of privacy, and more. But it’s always the obvious things that we take for granted, like consciousness. Or time. Or ‘information’. A clear definition of information is seemingly simple, but when looked at closely, there is more to it. As ubiquitous as water or air, but when it’s compromised or misused, it suddenly becomes noticeable. This book will attempt to examine some of the issues related to information that seem to belie its benign nature and will view some of the information “pathologies,” or negative consequences, inherent to this digital information age. Many of these pathologies are hiding in plain sight: Fake news Misinformation Disinformation Information overload Surveillance and privacy loss Cyberbullying Hacking and other cybersecurity flaws Online and IT behavioral conditioning Without a concept to better describe what is happening to us, we may be doomed to repeat these patterns of destructive behavior, manipulated by external forces and conditions into acting in predictable ways, or becoming willing participants giving in to our own worst impulses. The book will help readers identify strategies to understand, avoid, and handle these problems.

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9781538119051

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Reviews

In Big Data Shocks (2018), Andrew Weiss had already started to take a critical and sophisticated view on the shocking nature of the digital reality we have created. In The Dark Side of Our Digital World, he takes the logical next step, and goes way beyond librarianship, and into some of the most fundamental building blocks of the shadows of the technological paradigm that characterizes our generation. In a refreshing and easy-to-read style, he interweaves up-to-date examples from current events, with long-standing concepts from academic research. From nudging, to surveillance, to deep fakes, to the role of 'bots, to the future of democracy, Andrew Weiss take readers on an enjoyable journey that invites to reflect on a series of naturally arising questions: Do we make our own decisions? , Why is it hard to quit? , Do you want the carrot or the stick? , What is truth? , Mind over matter, or matter over mind? , Freedom or safety? , Who watches the watchman? , Whose culture is it, anyway? , and most pressing What are we going to do about it? . Each one of us will have to answer the questions that arise from this book, first for ourselves, and then, for the sake of helping us all to find a sustainable way forward. It is the inexcusable responsibility of each user of digital technology to be informed about the Dark Side of Our Digital World: And What You Can Do about It.--Martin Hilbert, professor, Chair DE Computational Social Science, Dpt Communication, DataLab, GG, Computer Science, University of California, Davis The Dark Side of Our Digital World covers a challenge that is not just timely, but will be with us for the rest of our lives. In an easy to read, but informative manner, Weiss masterfully lays out how your Internet experience, and how you act and believe, can be shaped from afar. If knowing is half the battle, this is a valuable resource to fighting back.--P.W. Singer, author of Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Ghost Fleet, Burn-In, and LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Author Information

Andrew Weiss is a digital services librarian at California State University, Northridge. His work is mainly concerned with developing our open access institutional repository and scholarly communication services for CSUN’s faculty, staff and students. He helps with the collection of open access faculty publications, ETDs, university archives, data management and data management planning. He also provides guidance and informal advice about copyright and publisher’s agreements. Andrew’s area of research investigates digital publishing, digital collections, massive digital libraries (MDLs), and, lately, big data and information pathologies – including privacy, fake news and the proliferation of misinformation. He has written a previous book, Big Data Shocks, and numerous peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings about MDLs, Big Data, privacy, open access, and so on. Additionally, Andrew has written about Open Access and the issues of scholarly communication, too, which also fit within the movement of open science and data management. As a long-time librarian, Andrew believes balancing the need for privacy with creating public personae in the digital world will continue to be a central problem for our profession.

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