Author: Heather Oldenborg

I had not been familiar with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prior to this module.  I really enjoyed Cory Doctorow’s video, and found much of what he brought up to be disappointing.  I say disappointing because, after Snowden, not much surprises me in tech anymore.  In his talk, I found it most concerning that people are not legally allowed to find out the code that is running in the devices that they believe they own.  I understand in some cases it is brands just trying to protect and preserve their brand, but what about the safety of people.  We seem to be in a time where the law could interfere with human safety.  These codes and encryptions are protected by the law, and the justice system will protect them.

I think that I am most concerned with the level of unknown that we are exposed to.  Cory shares a story of a man who has seen the code for the insulin pump.  After seeing the code, he has made the decision not to wear the pump.  That may not seem like a big deal but, as mentioned in the video, the pump could improve a person’s lifespan by 5-10 years.  It was mentioned that the device could be broken into and inject a person with enough insulin to kill them.

Cory mentions something interesting about the vulnerabilities being abandoned in a way.  The vulnerabilities cannot be discussed and therefore never get patched.  If I am following this right, the code could be improved if vulnerabilities were patched.  An improvement of this sort could reduce the potential of human harm, but it can’t be done with these protections in place.

Over the summer, I worked for a tech center that educated us on ways to secure and protect information that we were dealing with.  It seems that it is a common practice now for companies to use encrypted messaging apps, require updates, and two factor logins.  That experience helped me realize how unsafe I had been in my online practices, and how I can improve my protection methods.

I have connected that experience to this module because, while I have a password on my computer, I don’t have the legal option to “unlock” or jailbreak the computer.  Those options are only available for phones.  So even though I believe I own everything on my computer because I have a password; I likely don’t own or know everything about my computer.  I think that this is similar to the data on social sites of which I am very active on.  I have password protection on my accounts and on some I set my privacy settings to the most restrictions allowed, but we can’t always be sure what is being collected.  I think we are given a good idea when we learn about target marketing ads, but there will always feel like there is an element of unknown.

Moving forward, I will always be careful about what I share on my devices and platforms.  I think that this module has encouraged me to be wary of new tech and always seek more information about the development and security of the tech.

As I touched on last week in my blog, Veganuary has ended.  Veganuary was a one-month pledge people made to try out the vegan diet.  Now that January has come and gone, people are trying to decide if maintaining this diet long term can be doable.  I will be conducting an analysis on a recent article written by Lisa Drayer, “Thinking of going vegan? What you need to know first,” as she discusses the trend of the vegan diet, differences in diets, and how to be responsible when switching to a vegan diet.

 

Vegan diet trends:

Drayer discusses trends for the vegan diet and how the topic has become increasingly mainstream.  A common number I have seen throughout vegan discussions, and one that she mentions, is the 5% increase in vegans from 2014 to 2017, which she backs up.

She also mentions several celebrities that are vegan and links the audience to several stories where celebrities open up about their experience.  Drayer includes a disclaimer that, “rich and famous vegans have professionals to keep them on track,” which I believe serves as a balance statement for those considering immediate change.

 

Varying diets:

Drayer does a good job outlining what a vegan diet is and isn’t.  One of Drayer’s sources, Sharon Palmer, a registered dietician, defines veganism as abstaining from all animal products and honey.  Drayer includes information on other similar diets that may interest this audience.

 

Changing one’s diet responsibly:

Switching to a vegan diet can be a big decision, and Drayer is dedicated to making sure that her audience has the information to decide if the change is doable for them.  Drayer’s source, Amy Kimberlain a registered dietician provides tips for cooking vegan dishes at home or when ordering out.  Kimberlain emphasizes that making the change needs to be handled with care, and that people need to be prepared to do some planning to meet all of their nutritional needs.

 

The purpose for the article:

This article does a good job a job explaining the increase in vegan population and how the diet can be maintained.  Closer to the beginning of the article, Drayer uses credible web linked sources.  Throughout the article, Drayer uses credible registered dietician sources.  As the number of vegans increases, the public health awareness on this topic becomes more pressing.  This is a public health awareness topic because some people on this diet do not take enough care to ensure that they are meeting dietary needs.

 

Drayer’s credibility:

Drayer is a CNN reporter, and I find her to be a credible source on this topic because she herself is a registered dietician and has a track record for reporting health journalism.  She has written other nutrition related articles covering plant burgers, soda, and hydration.

 

Concluding thoughts:

I would give this article an “A” for credibility because it provides information on how to transition to a vegan diet in a healthier way by encouraging readers to plan first.  I think that this article does miss some of the points for why people make the transition.  In an effort to not make the article too lengthy, I think the audience could have benefitted from linked sources on why regular people (non celebrities) make the change.

Health comparison between an omnivore diet and a vegan diet:

While Veganuary has ended, I don’t foresee the discussion around the vegan diet ending anytime soon.  Veganuary was a pledge individuals made for the New Year, to try the vegan diet for a month.  The movement started in the UK, but became increasingly popular in the United States.

One of the larger concerns emerging in the media is whether or not the diet supports the health and wellness of humans.  Two emerging narratives are that the diet doesn’t provides enough of the essential vitamins to support the brain, while others would argue that a vegan diet could decrease BMI, cholesterol levels, and other risks.

In my research for vegan diet on health, it seemed to be in the same territory of diets in general.  In this space, I found it a little difficult to decipher news from opinion, but ultimately decided outside sources and facts to be the news, while linked opinions to be more of analysis and opinion pieces.

 

Vegan diet in news:

Source: BBC

When viewing the top hits on Google News I noticed some of the known news organizations advocated one way or the other.  BBC currently has one of the top articles against a vegan diet.  This article talks about what vegans are low on, but doesn’t always provide the audience with direct sources to the studies.  This article does do a better job on educating the audience about which essential vitamins do what.  I would say that this is a semi-one sided news piece on the omnivore diet, but it does provide many sources to back up some of the claims made.

Other BBC articles discussing the risks of a vegan diet are more of opinion pieces including having a  higher stroke risk or how some individuals could use the diet as a cover for an eating disorder claiming it is a more acceptable way to be restrictive.  I cite these as opinion pieces, because there are few links to outside sources, and some of the bulkier content comes from individual opinions and experiences.

 

Source: Good Food

Good Food is a news article that presents information about a vegan diet having negative effects on one’s health.  The article does seem to have a stance against veganism and while it doesn’t include direct links, it does cite outside sources which speaks to the credibility of this article.

 

Vegan diet in opinion:

Source: Insider
Initially, I wanted to believe that this article was news probably because of my own confirmation bias, but after reviewing some of the sources, I believe it is an opinion piece.  How going vegan can affect your body and brain, is an article that generally focuses on the positive aspects of adopting a vegan diet, such as weight loss, more energy, better sleep, skin improvement, and more.  This article briefly touches on the some of the negative effects of a vegan diet claiming that vegans may be deficient in some essential vitamins.  This article does link some sources, but I do not find them credible because they link to other internal Insider sources.

 

Source: Plant Based News

Brendyn Nyhan, professor at Dartmouth, coined the term “backfire effect.”  Backfire effect is when a person hears the opposite of their opinions or views, and step back or dig deeper into their beliefs.  After reading the BBC article, it was interesting to see this loud opinion against the article.  This piece is an analysis of the facts that were made in the BBC article, but they have a one sided view, pro veganism.  This is a semi-creedible piece as it links to few studies and other opinion pieces.

 

Final thoughts:

As discussed in this week’s material, it is difficult to navigate the world of science in news.  When reviewing content covering vegan diets and really diets in general, there is a lot of charged emotion feeling one way or the other, and it is important for the audience to follow the cited sources to verify the credibility.

A vegan diet excludes any product that comes from an animal, this includes but is not limited to: meat, dairy, eggs, and fish.  This is an important topic to me because I was a vegetarian for three years and am coming up on one year of being 100% vegan.  In general, I feel the media presents vegan diets in a guilt seeking way.  There are several benefits in adopting a vegan diet, but the diverse reasons are often ignored because of memes saying “not your milk” or videos of animals being slaughtered.

Why I care:

I care about this topic, because I see an opportunity for improvement.  If this topic can cut out the bias and present the facts, I think more people will be able to find ways in which they could be motivated to try the diet.  The transition took me years, because it was difficult to start saying no to my family cooking for me or ditching restaurants that wouldn’t accommodate.  As I learned more about the positive impact myself, a singular person could make, the transition was worth it.  Three reasons started to stand out to me that pushed me over the edge, while these reasons are enough for me, others might still need more information.

What I think of the coverage:

I think the coverage is hyper focused on the animal cruelty.  The animal cruelty is extremely alarming.  Recently a pig was put was pushed off a ledge to bungee jump, because it was already being sent to the slaughterhouse (WARNING: this example is PAINFUL to watch).  The video is an example of the torture that is happening to animals, but this is also just one of the reasons a vegan diet can push our world towards improvement.

The persuasion to decrease animal cruelty gets a lot of attention, I think that there is a need to educate to public on a more rounded view of veganism by focusing more of the benefits and ways to make small changes with a big impact.

I have been hearing of loud media on the climate crisis, and I don’t think enough people know that a vegan diet can decrease the negative effects on the climate.  Vegan diets significantly decrease a person’s carbon footprint.  If you have never taken a carbon footprint quiz, they are extremely interesting and helpful in understanding personal impact.

Many documentaries go into the benefits of a vegan diet, but one that really impacted myself was Forks Over Knives.  While this documentary and way of eating is focused on plant based oil free eating, it does a great job explaining how many of the life threatening diseases expanded so rapidly.

Moving forward:

All of the media I have mentioned, focuses on the benefits and the good things about a vegan diet.  I would like to focus on a balanced view of veganism where all of the benefits are provided, but also find any possible negative effects of a vegan diet.