Which is bigger, the earth or the sun? This is just one of the hundreds of questions OkCupid users can answer in order to increase the accuracy of the dating site’s algorithm. Each question is multiple choice, requires you to also select which answer you’d hope your ideal match would pick and must be ranked in terms of importance. […]
From the moment a user signs up to OkCupid, one of the world’s largest online dating services, he or she is asked to select a unitary and specific identity: female/male and straight/gay/bisexual. This insistence on a singular identity is not unique to OkCupid of course. Social media, online shopping sites and media providers all require the user to validate certain […]
Some thoughts about identity, online. Some netizens project their offline identity into online spaces. They mirror their so-called real lives by using their real names, writing factual and descriptive profiles, posting photos of themselves with family members, in common daily situations. Others create new identities. They use nicknames or pseudonyms, limit information about themselves to words which are […]
A friend recently complained that Topshop knew exactly which pair of pants she’d looked at online at work, then advertised them on Facebook when she logged on at home. I mentioned algorithms to her, the ones which are at work every moment she browses the web, recording her every move and determining advertising campaigns for countless brands […]
The following is an essay written by Virginia Streit as part of course work for her Master of Communication degree. Virginia loves gaming and is particularly a fan of Halo and Knights of the Old Republic. The cultural myth that video games are played almost exclusively by males is perpetuated by game design and player […]
Recently a friend introduced me to Uber, an app which connects drivers to passengers, providing a fast, reliable and cashless alternative to taking a taxi. He loves the service because so far it has been on time, door-to-door, cheaper than a cab and he doesn’t have to worry about having cash in his wallet at the end […]
The following is an essay written by Virginia Streit as part of course work for her Master of Communication degree. The brief was to use a work of fiction to explore our uneasy relationship with technology. With its strong environmental message and anti-consumerism theme, Pixar’s 2008 robot romance WALL-E appears at first to be a […]
