{"id":13026,"date":"2025-02-21T15:55:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T19:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=13026"},"modified":"2025-03-04T15:45:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T19:45:36","slug":"understanding-the-biases-of-digital-media-a-talk-by-douglas-rushkoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/2025\/02\/21\/understanding-the-biases-of-digital-media-a-talk-by-douglas-rushkoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the biases of digital media: A talk by Douglas Rushkoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On Thursday, February 20, Douglas Rushkoff, an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy, gave a talk titled \u201cProgram or Be Programmed: The Biases of Digital Media.\u201d Melissa Chomintra, a Libraries faculty member, hosted the event co-sponsored by Purdue University\u2019s Tech Justice Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the talk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the talk, Rushkoff referenced his book \u201cProgram or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age,\u201d<\/a> providing a blueprint for navigating the challenges of the modern digital era. The book presents guidelines for using technology to empower individuals rather than diminish their agency. Rushkoff\u2019s “Ten Commands” serve as a framework for maintaining autonomy in an increasingly digital world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rushkoff began his talk by discussing the history and evolution of digital technology. Initially, digital tools seemed ready to open up a world of potential and promised to unlock creativity, novelty, and a sense of freedom for its users. But over time, the vision and focus changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe turned the Internet from a space of infinite possibility into one of probability,\u201d Rushkoff said, reflecting on how commercialization shifted the focus of the digital world. The Internet, once a place for exploration and experimentation, has increasingly been used to guide behavior and influence actions in specific, profit-driven ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also addressed the darker side of digital technology. \u201cIf you analyze how technology is being used today, it’s largely about domination, subjugation, and control,\u201d he explained, setting the tone for a deep dive into how our digital landscape shapes\u2014and limits\u2014our autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Rushkoff urged the audience to evaluate the technologies we use daily: \u201cWhen you look at a new piece of technology\u2014an app, a platform\u2014ask yourself, \u2018Is it creating new possibilities, or is it shepherding?\u2019\u201d He also discussed the often-overlooked issue of labor behind technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting how these systems rely on invisible, often exploitative work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The central theme of Rushkoff\u2019s talk was the growing acceptance of new technologies without a true understanding of how they work and impact us. He emphasized that while we eagerly adopt new devices, we often fail to learn how they are programmed or how they program us in return. Most people don\u2019t know how to code their computers, and even fewer are concerned with the underlying systems that govern these tools. Instead, we spend our energy using these technologies to manipulate and influence each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rushkoff cautioned that this lack of awareness could be a serious mistake. By blindly adopting digital technologies, we surrender control over our autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the invention of written language reshaped society\u2014detaching us from much of our traditional ways of life\u2014Rushkoff believes that our shift to the digital realm requires a new framework to preserve our humanity. He argued that understanding the biases inherent in digital media is key to ensuring that we use these tools to support, rather than undermine, our collective well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Douglas Rushkoff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douglas Rushkoff, named one of MIT\u2019s \u201cworld\u2019s ten most influential intellectuals,\u201d is an author, documentarian, and expert on digital age autonomy. His twenty books include \u201cSurvival of the Richest\u201d<\/strong><\/a> and \u201cTeam Human,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> and he has produced PBS Frontline documentaries like \u201cGeneration Like\u201d<\/strong><\/a> and \u201cThe Persuaders.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> Rushkoff has coined terms such as \u201cviral media\u201d and \u201csocial currency\u201d and advocates for using digital media for social justice. A professor at CUNY\/Queens and research fellow at the Institute for the Future, he is also a columnist for Medium, with his novels and comics in development for film.Visit Rushkoff\u2019s website<\/strong><\/a> to learn more about him and his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, February 20, Douglas Rushkoff, an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy, gave a talk titled \u201cProgram or Be Programmed: The Biases of Digital Media.\u201d Melissa Chomintra, a Libraries faculty member, hosted the event co-sponsored by Purdue University\u2019s Tech Justice Lab. About the talk Throughout the talk, Rushkoff referenced his book \u201cProgram or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":13029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,13101],"tags":[13102],"class_list":["post-13026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-news-and-announcements","tag-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/02\/IMG_0951-edited-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1439&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pT6ms-3o6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13026"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13044,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13026\/revisions\/13044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}