He founded his company Interface, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia.
A son of the south, he studied industrial and systems engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Figure #1 – Never So Happy to Make a Carpet – Interface founder Ray Anderson (Sustainable Smart Business, 2011)
He was about to provide a speech on his company’s environmental vision when he came across a book on the environment.
It was environmentalist Paul Hawken’s iconic book The Ecology of Commerce.
In his seminal text, Hawken argues that the process of industrialization is destroying the world. To prevent this destruction, he advocates that corporate chief executives and other captains of industry fight against the worst parts of industrialization.
Figure #2 – Cover of The Ecology of Commerce
Practicing What He Preaches – Adopting A Corporate Environmentalist Ethos
Hawken’s book fundamentally changed Anderson. He characterized the revelations from the text as a “spear in the chest experience” (Vitelli, 2011). Shortly after reading the volume, Anderson began evangelizing to other corporate chiefs about drastically reducing carbon emissions and waste (Vitelli, 2011).
An Environmental Shift – Changing the Production Process
Anderson quickly focused on changing Interface’s production process. His first big move was weaning the company from using petroleum in its products (Fishman, 1998). Also, by incorporating what they called an innovation-based green strategy (Lampikoski, 2012), the company as a whole reduced its environmental impact by a third (Fishman, 1998).
Figure #3 – Functional and Fashionable (Interface, 2019)
What’s Next? Or Who’s Next?
Ray Anderson passed away in August 2011. Given that climate change is posing an increasingly mortal threat to humanity, who will lead the next wave of environmentally conscious CEOs?
Lampikoski, T. (2012). Green, innovative, and profitable: A case study of managerial capabilities at Interface Inc. Technology Innovation Management Review (November): 4–12. Retrieved from https://timreview.ca/article/624
“The media is the message” is the aphoristic introduction that many people have to media theorist icon Marshall McLuhan. Unfortunately, for us in a later part of the digital revolution where tectonic shifts in the world either seem to be happening as we speak or are lurking just around the corner, McLuhan died in the early 1980s.
As a result, his insights on the internet and social media (and both of these new media’s collective impact on corporate communication) are only matters of mere conjecture or wild speculation. It really is a shame that we do not have the thoughts of the great media master from the 60s on today’s multiplying transformations on our personal, professional, and academic life as well as their dislocating effects.
Figure #1 – You guessed it…
What is the Message of The Medium is the Message?
In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. (McLuhan, 1964, p. 7, emphasis is mine)
Quite a quote! It is elliptical in nature like much of McLuhan’s work. So what does this quote mean in media circles. For those who want to understand a particular medium, we need to move our focus away from the content that it covers. Instead, we need to look at its personal and social consequences. In terms of the internet and social media (and it makes some sense to combine the two given their overlap), these new media have a number of very disruptive consequences on modern society:
• The internet/social media requires electronic devices and wifi/4G connection to even interact with it. As such, if we are addicted to social media (or constantly refresh our news feed to see the latest development in TrumpLand!), we are forced to be addicted to the delivery devices that allow us to surf the web or scroll endlessly through our Facebook news Feed: smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, etc. From this, some of us are always online. Especially in online courses!
• The remote server driven architecture of the internet/social media fosters communications in multiple directions. Once you are online, you are potentially bombarded by multiple people who are also online, notifications from apps, teases for media to consume, and even bots. They seem to come everywhere, all the time. Annoying pop up ad anyone?
• The internet/social media is both immediate, but also asynchronous. When you are offline, you can evade the web’s presence, it is non-compulsory. You are Orwell’s Winston Smith spending a few moments away from the telescreens, independent and on your own. When you are back online, depending on the status you use for particular services (where you can toggle between online, offline, available, away, busy), internet-mediated communication comes at you.
• The internet/social media transcends time and space. You are instantaneously a member of what some would call a “global village” (McLuhan, 1964, p. 6). More McLuhan terminology anyone? In short, the pervasiveness of electric technology has collapsed the furthest reaches of the entire planet into a much smaller community. This is due to the seemingly instantaneous movement of information from everywhere to everywhere else, all at the same time.
Figure #2 – Somebody’s version of a global village
• The internet/social media includes all other media within its global reach across digital media. When you log in to YouTube, you see a form of old school television. When you find your favorite podcast or find the local NPR site, you essentially listen to digital radio. Log on to The New York Times, you have a digital newspaper in your digital hands. The internet has consumed all legacy media and put a great deal of its content on its multiple channels of distribution.
Figure #3 – McLuhan on television. A GIF of McLuhan on television that is…
• The internet/social media shortens the way that we communicate. Back in the good old days of print newspapers, when you were reading the Sunday edition, you had a combination of (mainly) text-based news articles leavened with some photos to break up the text and to provide a little bit of visual variety and break up long tracts of text. Now photographs and short text abound. Think Instagram and Twitter/text messages.
• The internet/social media fosters greater online (and less offline) communication. If you want to “hang out” with your friends, just Instant Message them on Facebook and look at their photo feed. Hello virtual friend time! Goodbye hard to organize weekend brunch!
• The internet/social media is populated with a great deal of decontextualized communication. Due to this frequent lack of context, it tends to elicit greater amounts and frequency of emotion than offline. Without the visual, aural, and emotional cues of normal human interaction, you can easily become emotionally worked up by an errant email or a poorly worded text. Irony and sarcasm do not play well online. More online life, the more it seems that there are strange, off-kilter, emotional tangents in real life.
McLuhan on Understanding Media (e.g., the beginning of media literacy)
From my own reflections on this subject, the media offerings that are provided by the internet/social media have had indelible impacts on the larger society within which we live and interact. More specifically, they have also had an impact on our very notions of literacy. In short, in today’s media saturated world, we need to be literate in a diversity of new ways beyond simply print newspapers, books, and academic articles.
For example, given the increasing use of online video (think YouTube or Kanopy!), online audio (think various online radio broadcasters or podcasts), and even the act of reading itself (reading a digital newspaper versus its print edition), we are asked to consume and understand multiple forms of media in ways we were never explicitly trained.
Or were we?
McLuhan’s academic work on media theory formed the basis for much of the first iterations of media literacy curricula. For example, as a consultant, he wrote curriculum for the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (Moody, ND; NAEB, 1960). McLuhan’s groundbreaking work in media was intended to help educators question their normal use of media during that time (when people became concerned with the impact of television, or as it was called derisively, the boob tube) as well as their conception of media itself. Instead of using the variety of educational technology available to them during that time (e.g., think of photograph slide carousels, standard definition television sets, 16 millimeter film with their infamously boring hygiene films, etc.), educators began to think of the impact of the specific medium itself.
Due to the heightened pace of today’s society, perhaps educators (and students; even college students!) need to think about the fundamental ways that the internet and social media have impacted the educational process itself. In short, how has your education shifted in substance and form due to the dislocating effects of the internet and social media?
In terms of the positive impacts, we can instantaneously peer into any of the most remote corners of the world at a moment’s notice from the convenience of our smartphones. From this, global awareness should be heightened. We can also participate remotely and asynchronously, which allows non-traditional students to learn when their hectic schedules let them. Welcome working parents!
But what of the costs? At the very least, the heightened pace and frenetic nature of online life seems at direct opposition to contemplation, concentration, deep reflection, and critical thought. In short, some of the fundamental skills and habits of thought that we try to inculcate in postsecondary education.
The internet and social media have incredible potential. There is no doubt. But they also have incredibly dear costs, especially for education in the digital age. Good luck.
References
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
“The medium is the message” (McLuhan, 1964, p. 7) is the aphoristic introduction that many people have to media theorist Marshall McLuhan. Unfortunately, McLuhan died in the early 1980s. During this later part of the digital revolution, when tectonic shifts in the world seem to be happening as we speak, we could use his insights. What a loss.
Figure #1 — You guessed it…
As a result, McLuhan’s insights on the internet and social media (and these new media’s impact on society, politics, and communications as a whole) are only matters of speculation. It is a shame that we do not have the thoughts of the great media master on the internet’s multiplying transformations on our personal, professional, and academic lives as well as their deeply dislocating effects.
What is the Message of The Medium is the Message?
In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium — that is, of any extension of ourselves — result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. (McLuhan, 1964, p. 7, emphasis is mine)
Quite a quote! It is elliptical in nature like much of McLuhan’s work. It is obvious in his writing that he was a big fan of James Joyce.
So what does the above quote mean in media circles? For those who want to understand a particular medium, we need to move our focus away from the content that it covers. Instead, we need to look at the medium itself and specifically its personal and social consequences.
In terms of the internet and social media, these new media have a number of disruptive consequences on modern society:
• Devices and Connections: The internet requires electronic devices and a wifi connection to interact. If we are addicted to social media (or constantly refresh our news feed to see the latest developments in Trump Land!), we are, by extension, forced to be addicted to internet delivery devices; namely, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers. They allow us to surf the web or scroll endlessly through our Instagram Feed, TikTok trending videos, Facebook News Feed, etc. From this, some of us are almost literally always online during our waking hours. Especially during online courses! Thanks professor!
• Multiple Directions: The architecture of the internet fosters communications in multiple directions. Once you are online, you are potentially bombarded by a broad array of actors, both real and virtual. This includes multiple people who are also online, notifications from apps, texts by friends to consume media and new services to use. They seem to come everywhere, all the time. Annoying pop-up ad anyone?
• Time: The internet impacts our conception of time. Somewhat paradoxically, our online existence is both immediate, but also asynchronous. When you are offline, you can evade the web’s presence, it is non-compulsory. You are Orwell’s Winston Smith spending a few moments away from 1984’s telescreens (1949); independent and on your own. When you are back online, depending on the status you use for particular services (where you can toggle between online, offline, available, away, busy), internet-mediated communication constantly comes at you, whether you like it or not.
Figure #2 — Time oh give me time…
Also, think about about an emotionally-fraught text message. Consider a break-up with a girlfriend or boyfriend; the results of a job interview; or a fight with a friend where you must immediately reply. The message that was sent to you appeared instantaneously, but your reply can come later. Depending on the sender, much much later… Instantaneous messaging and delayed replies come together. Time seems especially flexible.
• Space: The internet transcends not just time, but also space. You are instantaneously a member of what some would call a “global village” (McLuhan, 1964, p. 6). (More sophisticated McLuhan sayings anyone?) In short, the pervasiveness of electric technology has collapsed the furthest reaches of the planet into a much smaller community. This is due to the seemingly instantaneous movement of information from any point on the planet to everywhere else, all at the same time. Again, this can be deeply disorienting for those who want a little quiet time.
Figure #3 — Somebody’s version of a global village
• Includes All Media: The internet seems to include all other forms of media. It also shares it with a worldwide audience due to its global reach.
When you log in to YouTube, you can often view what seems to be an old school form of terrestrial television. When you discover a new podcast or find the local National Public Radio (NPR) site, you are essentially listening to digital radio. Log on to The New York Times website and you have a digital newspaper in your analog hands.
The internet has consumed all legacy media and put a great deal of its content on its multiple channels of distribution.
Figure #4 — McLuhan on television. A GIF of McLuhan on television that is… What is real anymore?!?
• Shortened Communication: The internet shortens the ways that we communicate.
Back in the good old days of print newspapers, you would sit in a café and read the Sunday edition, relaxing over a coffee and maybe some soft music. With the Sunday paper, you had a combination of (mainly) text-based news articles and paragraphs leavened with photos to break up this text. This provided a little bit of visual variety and broke up long tracts of type.
Now photographs and short text abound across the internet. Think Instagram and Twitter/text messages. Long. Sentences. Just. Seem. Too. Long… TLDR.
Figure #5 — Emojis: For those times when 140 characters seem just too long…
• Online Over Offline Communication: The internet fosters greater online (and due to our economy of time, less offline) communication. If you want to hang out with your friends, just Instant Message them on Facebook and look at their photo feed. Hello virtual friend time! Goodbye hard to organize weekend brunch! At least you don’t have to pick up the check…
• Decontextualized Communication: The internet is populated with a great deal of decontextualized communication. Due to this frequent lack of context, online spaces tend to elicit greater amounts and frequency of emotion than offline. Without the visual, aural, and emotional cues of normal human interaction, you can easily become emotionally worked up by an errant email or a poorly worded text message. Irony and sarcasm do not play well online. The more of our life we spend online, the more it seems that there are strange, off-kilter, emotional tangents in real life.
Thanks for the framework Marshall. It makes a chaotic digital world a little easier to understand.
References:
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Orwell, G. (1949). 1984. London, UK: Secker & Warburg.
Economic doom from leaving the E.U. v. economic prosperity by opening up the economy to the world without the cumbersome strictures of voluminous E.U. rules and regulations.
Almost any way you sliced it, it appeared as though the U.K. was going to go through a great deal of dispute, unrest, and uncertainty as the Brexit clock ticked down until the nation faced its original self-imposed March 29, 2019 deadline to leave the European Union.
Figure #1 – The Union Jack is still flying. For now (BBC, 2019)
One group, however, looks to continue benefitting from the Brexit chaos.
Lobbyists.
Britain is Leaving the E.U. – But the Lobbyist Money Train is Just Pulling Into the Station
What is the rationale for an increased number of lobbyists?
The logic is simple.
Increased legal and regulatory uncertainty.
Increased needs for lawmaking.
Increased demands for lobbying.
And not just in London, but also Brussels, the seat of the European Union’s governance and power.
Figure #2 – The precarious state of Brexit makes sand castles seem sturdy (Hunt & Wheeler, 2019)
Rezoning Zone – Restructuring the U.K. and the E.U.
When the Brexit negotiations were ongoing, it literally seemed like laws, rules, and regulations in the U.K. were up for negotiation. As a result of Brexit, many trade deals will need to be made.. From this, both foreign and domestic issues will need to be renegotiated.
As Katier Perrior, former Director of Communications for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said, “Every charity or business is taking this opportunity to lobby for a slight change in something” (McTague, 2017).
Lobbyists, prepare yourselves…
Figure #3 – The Brexit clock has almost struck negotiations midnight (Campbell, 2019)
Layers of Bureaucracy – The Long Road to Brexit
The U.K.-E.U. relationship has been ongoing for decades. As a result, untangling this mess will take a long time. Some expect it to last a decade.
Perrior stated that, “It’s a 10-year program that we’re going to go into now” (McTague, 2017).
Another complicating factor is the shifting sands of U.K. politics.
One senior consultant stated, “People worry that they will get a whole heap of shit poured on them by the Daily Mail for talking Britain down. They are going to contract it out to trade bodies or new umbrella groups. This pools the risk” (McTague, 2017).
Regardless, the fallout over Brexit will go on for years.
And invariably, lobbyists will continue to influence the negotiations one way or another.
It was December 2008 and it was announced that Steve Jobs would not be delivering his keynote speech for Apple.
As an isolated incident, that would be somewhat excusable and easy to avoid.
Perhaps there were no big new products?
Perhaps the product cycle for a new OS was taking longer than normal?
Perhaps Jobs had an illness?
Bingo.
Figure #1 – A gaunt Steve Jobs (Reuters, 2008)
Before the January 2008 event, Apple investors grew concerned when Jobs looked uncharacteristically thin at a June 2007 product launch.
The then 53-year-old Jobs was a cancer survivor. As a result, the rumor mill started to spin.
Figure #2 – The House That Apple Built – Apple Headquarters (Leswing, 2018)
To Disclose or Not to Disclose – More Than a Hormonal Imbalance
After the Twitterverse and broader circles became apprised of Jobs’ sudden weight loss during the June 2007 product launch, they needed to inform the public of his health status.
It came in December 2007.
The initial news was promising. Jobs was suffering from what was deemed an easily treatable hormone imbalance (Kahney, 2009).
Unfortunately, less than a week later, more ominous news emerged. Jobs was taking a six months medical leave to deal with medical issues that were “more complex” (Kahney, 2009).
Apple had full blown management, and corporate communications, problems on its hands.
Fighting for Their Lives – An Ethical Lapse?
Some corporate communications experts felt that Apple damaged its corporate credibility and trustworthiness due to its evasiveness.
“Clearly, this is going to affect not only Apple’s customers but employees that were lied to or kept in the dark about what was going on,” said Paul Argenti, a Professor of Corporate Communication at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. “Apple is one of the most admired companies in America and this is how they deal with this kind of news? It’s unacceptable, unethical and irresponsible to all constituents” (Kahney, 2009).
Cross Purposes – Going Against a Hard Earned Corporate Image
Similar to Argenti, other commentators criticized Apple’s corporate communications strategy. For example, although employees and investors were assured that Jobs only suffered from nutritional problems, one week later they made the announcement regarding his prolonged medical absence (Temin, 2012). The Apple stock price dropped precipitously (Temin, 2012) and employees were concerned.
There was also a similarly poorly received piece of communications with analysts. During a conference call in July 2008, one analyst asked about Jobs’ health and was told that this issues was “a private matter” (Temin, 2012). As a result, uncertainty continued to persist.
Coda – Successor Tim Cook Says Goodbye
Although there was justified criticism of Apple’s communications during his death, no one criticized them after Jobs’ passing.
Immediately following his death, the Apple Corporation needed to officially notify its employees of the bad news. Please find below a note from the new, and current, Apple CEO Tim Cook:
CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Apple CEO Tim Cook today sent the
following email to all Apple employees:
Team,
I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Tim (Cotton & Dowling, 2011a)
Also, after his death, the company needed to make another announcement that would be read by users of Apple products as well as the company’s investors:
Statement by Apple’s Board of Directors
CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– We are deeply saddened to announce that
Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts. (Cotton & Dowling, 2011b)
Coda – Apple Post-Jobs
Although investors and others were clearly saddened and worried by Steve Jobs’ death, in the interim, everything has worked out for the most part corporate-wise for Apple.
As of early March 2019, Apple’s stock price on NASDAQ is $173.91 (USD). As of February 2019, the market capitalization of the company was $785.19 billion (USD). And maybe most importantly, it was the first company to every surpass a market capitalization of $1 trillion dollars on August 2, 2018 (Picardo, 2019).
In sum, Steve Jobs’ company came back from bankruptcy fears in the late 1970s and has become one of the world’s most powerful companies. Regardless of its future, Apple has a bright outlook that surpasses the health of a single person. Even someone as iconic as Steve Jobs.
There had to be a first when it came to the essential public relations communications device known as the press release. And with all things related to Public Relations, it started with Ivy Lee.
Figure #1 – The father of public relations, Ivy Lee (Kennedy, 2010)
The date of the first press release? October 28, 1906.
The location? Atlantic City, N.J.
The precipitating incident? A train wreck.
The human cost? The lives of 50 people.
Figure #2 – A tragic train wreck (Gavin, 2015)
Pennsylvania Railroad owned the train, which had detailed off of a bridge near Atlantic City. The venerable company was a client of Mr. Lee. At the time, the convention was for companies to try to hide the facts of these types of tragedies from the public (The Museum of Public Relations, 2015). A former reporter for The New York Times, Lee instead had a novel approach to such a difficult situation.
He convinced the railroad to release a written statement to help describe to the country what had just occurred. He also invited members of the press to report on this horrible accident in person.
Mr. Lee’s press release was so well received that legend has it that Times ran the release verbatim (Kennedy, 2010, The Museum of Public Relations, 2015). The original press release, in its entirety, is included directly below:
Figure #3 – The First Press Release (The Museum of Public Relations, 2015)
Aftermath: The Birth of the Press Release:
Factually reporting a news event was a novel method for public relations; in the past, journalists only reported on publicity-related stories rather than detailing actually occurring events (Helquist, 2017). Lee was so convincing regarding his novel idea that the Pennsylvania Railroad even paid for news reporters to report on this tragic railroad incident as well as shoot photographs of it.
As you could imagine, all of these ideas were a startling development for the burgeoning public relations industry.
Declaration of Principles:
To deal with accusations that he was trying to manipulate public opinion through his act of creating press releases, Lee created what was called a Declaration of Principles for the public relations industry as per the following text:
This is not a secret press bureau. All our work is done in the open. We aim to supply news. This is not an advertising agency; if you think any of our matter ought properly to go to your business office, do not use it. Our matter is accurate. Further details on any subject treated will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most cheerfully in verifying directly any statement of fact. Upon inquiry, full information will be given to any editor concerning those on whose behalf an article is sent out. In brief, our plan is, frankly and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply to the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about. Corporations and public institutions give out much information in which the news point is lost to view. Nevertheless, it is quite as important to the public to have this news as it is to the establishments themselves to give it currency. I send out only matter every detail of which I am willing to assist any editor in verifying for himself. I am always at your service for the purpose of enabling you to obtain more complete information concerning any of the subjects brought forward in my copy (Morse, 1906, p. 460).
This Declaration has been considered as a kind of basis for the integrity of the public relations industry ever since it was created. It was intended to provide a form of journalistic legitimacy for this burgeoning industry. Many consider it Lee’s most longstanding contribution to this field (Turney, 2015).
Conclusion:
From his powers of creativity and persuasion, Ivy Lee was able to advocate for the power of press releases and this holds true until this very day.
Morse, S. (1906, September). An awakening in Wall Street: How the trusts, after years of silence, now speak though authorized and acknowledged press agents. The American Magazine, 62, 457-63.
“Alexa, how long has artificial intelligence been around?”
A lot longer than you think.
The idea of artificial intelligence, better known as A.I., has been around for thousands of years. But when it first appeared in real life, it was rather primitive in form. Back in 2,500 BC, Ancient Egyptians went to statues in search of divine advice. But instead of finding a sophisticated piece of technology, it turns out that these machines were designed so a priest could hide inside.
The technology that made computing and A.I. a practical possibility first started in England. In 1833, mathematician Charles Babbage invented the Analytical Engine. Mathematician Ada Lovelace recognized that the Analytical Engine had purposes beyond simple mathematical calculations. She also reassured the public that these new machines could be controlled, helping keep fears down.
Digital computers really brought A.I. forward into what we think of it as today. Due to this powerful new technology, the possibilities seemed endless.
Some pioneers of A.I. saw a future full of household robots. Others like the psychologist B. F. Skinner predicted thinking machines would be a daily part of education. One forward-thinking IBM employee even thought that computers would be used for learning, translating language, housing library books, and even composing music. Sound familiar?
Despite the great progress that machines have made in our lives, there have still been some bumps in the road. For example, Alan Turing proposed the “Turing Test.” This asked a panel to judge whether an answer cannot be distinguished between a person and a machine.
Although A.I. has not fully realized its full potential, expect more of its impact to come into the classroom and well beyond.
Glenn Rodriguez committed armed robbery when he was 16-years-old. A victim was tragically killed. Glenn was sentenced to 26 years in jail.
An algorithm eventually made this terrible situation even worse.
Algorithms and Bias
Algorithms are rules that tell a decision-maker what to do in certain situations. For example, traffic sensors can tell the light to stay green if a road full of cars awaits.
Algorithmic bias occurs when flawed information, like historical inequalities in race or gender, is input into an algorithm and causes negative real-world impact. Garbage in, garbage out.
Unfortunately for algorithms, the world is more complicated than traffic flows.
Real-World Algorithmic Impact
The COMPAS algorithm assesses a criminal’s risk of reoffending based on multiple factors. In Glenn’s case, a correctional officer entered incorrect information into COMPAS, raising the risk score. Glenn was denied parole. To make matters worse, he could neither access the assessment nor explain why the algorithmic error worsened his score. It was a closed black box.
Glenn’s case is one example of algorithms gone bad. Others include:
Glenn was eventually released from prison and works as a youth case manager, monitoring court-involved youth. Glenn helps them in ways he could have used when he was younger.
Ideally we will develop algorithms that are open to outside review, make humane decisions, and treat diverse citizens like Glenn equally.
Questions/Extensions
What is an algorithm?
What is algorithmic bias?
How could real-world examples of algorithmic bias be improved?
Using a flowchart, describe a set of your decisions (e.g., going to school). How could you add options to improve outcomes?
Trust me, there once was a time when television shows for older adults was not littered with endless commercials for pharmaceutical drugs… Golden Girls take me away!
Fighting the Blues – A Little Bit of Pharmaceutical Industry Lore
In 1999, the pharmaceutical industry powerhouse Pfizer had a lot riding on the release of a new drug: Viagra. The pill started as a bit of a fortuitous accident. Short story? It was initially intended to help users deal with heart problems. However, many drug trial participants identified a highly unexpected side effect… The rest is, as they say, history.
Pfizer knew that they had a potential hit drug on its hands. People take their sex lives very seriously and any way to improve people’s quality of life, especially with something that is very important to them, could be very lucrative. However, the problem that Pfizer had from a public relations and marketing standpoint was that there was not a lot of guidance on how to release this type of lifestyle improvement drug. As a result, they had to envision an entirely new way of creating a public relations/marketing campaign for a new type of product.
Figure #1 – Don’t be blue
One of the biggest challenges for Viagra was that it was a pill that was one of the burgeoning types of lifestyle drugs (Rahman, Gupta, Sukhlecha, & Khunte, 2010) that deal with a lifestyle condition. In short, the medication did not help to resolve an illness that was life threatening. This was completely uncharted territory in the pharmaceutical industry. Also, due to the underlying condition it was dealing with, it could be made fun of (cue inappropriate jokes that you will please not share in class here). As a result, Pfizer knew that it had to handle this particular pharmaceutical product in a highly sensitive new way. You do not want to emasculate or belittle the primary user of your product: men with a sexual dysfunction.
As a result, the public relations, marketing, and pharmaceutical executives and creatives who worked on this account knew that they needed to change their perspective on how the Viagra brand was marketed.
“It was one of the first times in the pharma space where we were really ideating on what a brand needed to be based on the customer perspective, not solely on the product perspective,” said Michael Sanzen who was a VP, group copy supervisor at Cline Davis & Mann who worked on the Viagra account during its early years (Dobrow, 2016). As a result, there had to be a radically changed approach to how the company dealt with the various stakeholders involved in terms of the perspectives that were taken.
Back to School – Educating an Industry
To help deal with these multiple layers of issues, the initial public relations and marketing efforts focused on education. As Ken Begasse, Cline Davis & Mann VP group account supervisor, stated, “We had to give physicians a reason to have a conversation about this (issue). That meant linking [erectile dysfunction (ED)] to the things physicians were traditionally concerned about — diabetes and cardiac conditions in particular. In so many words, it was pretty much, ‘Hey, doc, you should be asking about erectile dysfunction, because it often happens 18 months before a cardiac event’” (Dobrow, 2016).
In a related note, one of the biggest hurdles that public relations specialists and marketers faced was the stigmatization of the underlying physical condition of impotence. As a result, the approval by the FDA of the drug Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction in March 1998 was a key step in the success of marketing and public relations efforts (Wilson, 2013). Following this approval, some experts in the field believed that over 40,000 prescriptions of the drug had been dispensed by pharmacies (Wilson, 2013). Pfizer had the hit that it had always envisioned, but was worried that it would not be able to fully bring to fruition. In short, they had to bring even more information to the public and the health industry.
Figure #2: If an medical emergency, break plastic
What’s Up Doc? – Bridging An Informational Gap with Doctors
There was a bit of a misconception in regard to Viagra with respect to physicians. This was very important because these professionals stood at the very front of the prescription line. To summarize the problem, a large number of these medical practitioners believed that the underlying problem with men’s sexual performance was more psychological rather than physical in nature (Dobrow, 2016). In what may seem somewhat surprising given the intimate nature of their work, many doctors had difficulty bridging such a personal topic as sexual performance with men. “There was so much taboo around discussions with patients about sex and relationships. [Physicians] didn’t think it was their place to have that conversation. Maybe the language choice gave them a little more of an opening,” said VP Sanzen (Dobrow, 2016). As a result, by shifting the underlying medical discussion toward a physical problem, it gave doctors more comfort in broaching the topic of public relations with their male patients.
Bring on the Talent – The Start of the Celebrity Spokesperson Culture
Figure #3: Introducing Bob Dole – A serious pitchman for a serious campaign
Bob Dole played a fundamental role in not only the public relations and marketing campaigns for Viagra, but also the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. One of the most important aspects involving Dole was the personality and various brand meanings that the well-known and prestigious Kansas senator, congressman, and Republican party presidential nominee brought to the wider discussion of Viagra in the public sphere. Luckily, the formal aesthetic of the television commercial involving the senator met his real-life character that is portrayed in the ad: serious politician in a suit and tie dealing with a serious personal issue.
Figure #4: I am Bob Dole and I approved this message
And the script suitable fit the attempts at seriousness of the PR and marketing campaign: “It’s a little embarrassing to talk about (erectile dysfunction) ED, but it’s so important to millions of men and their partners that I decided to talk about it publicly.” In short, Bob Dole’s gravitas as a respected politician and national statesman fit the role that Pfizer needed to bring the public conception and discussion about Viagra to a more sophisticated, earnest, and respectable level.
Head for Cover – Freeing Up Thought on How to Market About an Embarrassing Issue
To help ingratiate the topic of Viagra and erectile dysfunction with the appropriate clientele at the appropriate place, public relations and marketing execs created a cover. Literally a magazine cover. They came up with the idea for a publication titled Voices. It was a magazine periodical designed to discuss the issue in a more general way than a brochure specifically focused on Viagra or erectile dysfunction. When strategically placed in doctor waiting rooms, potential Viagra users could leaf through the magazine without raising suspicions in onlookers, saving them embarrassment while also giving them additional supporting information on this new lifestyle drug.
On a similar note, to help normalize this medical condition, the magazine included popular figures across the entertainment and sports fields including members of the group Earth, Wind and Fire, Mark Martin (NASCAR driver) and Rafael Palmeiro (Baltimore Orioles baseball player) (Dobrow, 2016). When your favorite band, driver, ball player, or politician are dealing with the same issue as you are, it becomes normalized.
Home Run – Viagra Ushers a New Era in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Due to the collective creative thought of a sharp team of public relations and marketing executives and creatives, Viagra became a huge global hit. Newsweek called it the “hottest new drug in history almost everywhere in the world” (Watson et. al, 1998). And it took over popular lore during its initial run. For example, “Not since ‘sputnik’ has a new word entered so many languages so quickly” (Watson et. al, 1998). And maybe most importantly, to show its growing prominence across the pop culture landscape, it was featured in HBO’s hit show Sex and the City (Wilson, 2013). Carrie Bradshaw would approve!
Rahman, S. Z., Gupta, V., Sukhlecha, A., & Khunte, Y. (2010). Lifestyle drugs: Concept and impact on society. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Science, 72(4), 409–413. doi:10.4103/0250-474X.73902
The arc of news-driven, mass media narratives regretfully tends to mimic the form of the tragedies they cover. Intense in coverage. Short in duration. And unfortunately, after the incident mercifully settles down, sometimes are never heard about again. The vibrant red of the lead quickly bleeds dry, the process of recovery is more grey, wan by comparison. And as our interests shift and collective gaze refocuses on the next breaking story, the victims are deserted. Left to their own devices as they fitfully grasp at the remaining fragments of their lives, absorbing the outer chaos, desperately trying to reorder it into some form of lasting inner peace.
Project Rebirth is a documentary that challenges the ephemeral nature of most broadcast news stories, with salutary effects for both viewer and subject. Rebirth chronicles the aftermath of the most wide-reaching tragedy of our recent past, the cataclysmic destruction of the Twin Towers, and brings it to a more human scale. The film examines this atrocity through the prism of five sympathetic survivors as they have been forced to cope with 9/11’s fallout, whether it be physical, spiritual or emotional, sometimes all three in concert.
Rebirth follows the emotional journey of a firefighter dealing with guilt when his best friend does not survive. A female victim’s son who struggles with the practicalities of working in finance like his departed mother did at the time of her passing. It lingers on the story of young woman who lost both her beloved fiancé, and her idyllic dreams of a future together, in one horrific instant. It shows a woman dealing with the physical trauma of surviving a plane’s impact while working in the South Tower. And it conveys a construction worker’s pain after losing a brother and being left to build the Freedom Tower, and rebuild his life, alone. Their individual narratives intertwined through the inescapable bind of a sudden, inconceivable and absolute loss.
Democratic pluralistic societies necessitate a level of deliberation in their governance that can surpass the excessive, bridge into the seemingly incomprehensible and sometimes even verge on the ludicrous. Practical outcomes of the political process are utterly slow in their embodiment. The cogs of change do turn, but they move deliberately, over a prolonged gestation period. And the politically- and emotionally-charged grounds of Ground Zero have certainly not been immune. Far from it.
The most breathtaking aesthetic choice of Rebirth is the time-lapse photography that documents this glacially slow rebuilding of the 9/11 site. The subtle growth at Ground Zero, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, acts as a metaphor for the equally gradual reshaping of lives consumed by the aftermath of 9/11. Life simply cannot remain the same in the dark, omnipresent shadow of this soul-wearying conflagration. The only questions are the degree of change, the painful existential cost it must exact and the time it takes. Is following a mother’s career in finance the most appropriate homage to make up for a son’s sense of loss? When is it right to move on after the unexpected death of a beloved fiancé, the moment when it is appropriate to finally let go of your shared dreams together? Are endless surgeries the most suitable way to deal with disabling disfigurement? Or should we just surrender, the price we all must eventually pay as human beings fashioned in a fragile, tender and ultimately mortal form?
In a society obsessed with novelty and plagued by an ever-maddening quickness of pace, a slow building symphony of steady construction provides an appropriate framework to allow us to bear silent witness to these lives indelibly shaped by the defining tragedy of the new millenium.
To these victims, 9/11 is not just a terrorist act with shock waves that can still be felt in the geopolitical realities of the present as well as, most likely, distant future.
No. It is far more piercing.
For them, a paradigm has become inverted. The political has become the intensely personal. Infused with the most intimate and deeply profound emotions possible. And the existential detritus caused by the deaths of thousands of innocents caused by the collapse of two gleaming towers, erected as a testament to the hypercapitalism of our times, is something that can only be swept away slowly. Carefully. Painfully. Year-by-endless-year. Moment-by-searing-moment. Never truly exorcised from a psyche scarred deeply, irrevocably.
Similar to the luminous glow of the newest buildings on this hallowed site, as they stretch out to the boundless heavens above, reaching for a peace that these earth-bound victims can never have, the quiet dignity with which these five solemn people struggle to resuscitate their shattered souls is something equally dazzling to behold.
dino sossi 