5.3

Google “What age groups use Facebook” vs “… TikTok”? What does the data say? Is there purposeful exclusion in these platforms? Is it harmful? Should it be corrected? Is it good business?

“Approximately 18% of the users were in the age group of 18 to 24. The 13 to 17 year old group was the smallest user group on Facebook with only 5% of users falling into this category. There was a slight majority of female users compared to male users.”

“In the U.S., TikTok has the largest user base among the age group of 10-19 with 32.5%, followed by 20-29 with 29.5%, 30-39 with 16.4%, 40-49 with 13.9%, and 50+ with 7.1%. This indicates that TikTok’s user demographic is becoming older.”

Since platforms like TikTok mostly consist of a younger audience, it makes it easier for businesses and corporations to efficiently influence young consumers. Same goes with Facebook if corporations intend to influence other age groups. This can be harmful sometimes, especially in this age where spreading misinformation is so easy.

Why do virtual assistants have female voices? Amazon, Alexa Google, Apple Siri. Was this purposeful? Is it harmful? Should it be corrected? Is it good business?

I believe that this was intentional. A female voice might sound more appealing and comforting to most people, which would attract more consumers and encourage them to buy these products. This comes from the stereotype that women work in the retail and secretary business more often than men. The designers probably used female voices with this in mind.

Talk about an algorithm that influences your decisions, think about these companies (ie FAANG - Facebook, Amazon, Apple,Netflix, Google)

Media has a significant impact on consumers’ daily lives. It can shape consumers’ beliefs and behaviors by providing information, entertainment, and advertisements. It can also influence the way consumers perceive ideas such as products. However, dangers created by media such as spreading misinformation and harmful material should also be accounted for.

5.4

Does the owner of the computer think this was intentional?

I believe he is jokingly saying that HP is racist. However, I don’t think he actually believes that.

If yes or no, justify you conclusion.

I am sure that the owner of the computer knows that this is a design/testing flaw. HP would not intentionally try to drive away its consumers.

How do you think this happened?

This happened to flaws in detection algorithms and lack of texting. Perhaps designers and developers at HP did not have this scenario in mind when creating their computers.

Is this harmful? Was it intended to be harmful or exclude?

It can be harmful, but it was not intentionally designed to be harmful.

Should it be corrected?

It should definitely be corrected and I think it already has been corrected. Its correction would attract more consumer groups.

What would you or should you do to produce a better outcome?

This can be corrected by having different consumer groups in mind when designing and developing products. This can be done using crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is the practice of turning to a body of people to obtain needed knowledge, goods or services. Throughout the last couple of years, many companies and corporations have started to design their products in a way that people with disabilities can use them with ease.

Write summary/thoughts/conclusions from each of the exercises above. Focus on avoiding Bias in algorithms or code you write.

While developing our website, I had a debate with one of my teammates over accounting for accessibility in creating our game and other features. I believed that we should avoid doing so for the sake of time and doing “easy work”. However, my teammate insisted that it would be a good idea. Thinking about it now, I agree with my teammate. Including different consumer groups helps with presenting products to the largest number of consumers efficiently and productively. It also “makes life easier” for all groups.