scholarly journals Eavesmining: A Critical Audit of the Amazon Echo and Alexa Conditions of Use

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Neville

The emergence of smart speakers and voice-activated personal assistants (VAPAs) calls for updated scrutiny and theorization of auditory surveillance. This paper introduces the neologism and concept of “eavesmining” (eavesdropping + data mining) to characterize a mode of surveillance that operates on the edge of acoustic space and digital infrastructure. In contributing to a sonic epistemology of surveillance, I explain how eavesmining platforms and processes burrow the voice as a medium between sound and data and articulate the acoustic excavation of smart environments. The paper discusses eavesmining in relation to theories of dataveillance, the sensor society, and surveillance capitalism before outlining the potential contributions offered by a theoretical alignment with sound studies literature. The paper centers on an empirical case study of the Amazon Echo and Alexa conditions of use. By conducting a discourse analysis of Amazon’s End User Agreements (EUAs), I provide evidence in support of growing privacy and surveillance concerns produced by Amazon’s eavesmining platform that are obfuscated by the illegibility of the documents.

Author(s):  
Kelley O’Reilly ◽  
Zsolt Ugray

This case study explores the attitudes and perceptions of franchise owner-operators in regard to their acceptance of advanced Internet innovation and technologies. Because these franchisees serve a dual role as both the decision maker and the end user of new technology and innovation, they provide a dichotomy of perspectives that yield insights into many aspects of business leadership, customer service, and operational proficiency. Findings suggest five key attributes of Internet use and adoption by franchisees. The data in this exploratory case study also reveals three areas of disparity regarding franchisee behavior worthy of consideration by practitioners and academics: (1) The inward focus of franchisees, (2) project costs are considered superficially, and (3) the micro SME as change agent. This research is significant and accretive by capturing the voice of franchisees in regard to Internet acceptance and by providing a strategic look at how the franchise micro SME is significantly different than non-franchised and larger SMEs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-129
Author(s):  
Magdalena Nowicka

The paper presents the concept of “a voice from outside” — a specific discursive position of an author and their work which is constructed in a process of defining the social distances between an author and a public discourse. The category of a voice from outside derives from the tradition of social constructionism, Foucaultian approaches to discourse and the responsive phenomenology of „a stranger” by Bernhard Waldenfels. In this paper, the concept of the voice from outside is introduced on the basis of a case study of Oriana Fallaci, a journalist, and author of a controversial essay The Rage and the Pride. The discourse analysis covers the press articles published in Polish mainstream daily and weekly newspapers in 2001–2006 and discusses three major types representations of Fallaci’s text in the public discourse in Poland, as: (1) the voice of “a guilty” conscience, (2) a “politically incorrect” voice of Western elites and (3) an anti-voice.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 309-329
Author(s):  
Claudia V. Camp

I propose that the notion of possession adds an important ideological nuance to the analyses of iconic books set forth by Martin Marty (1980) and, more recently, by James Watts (2006). Using the early second century BCE book of Sirach as a case study, I tease out some of the symbolic dynamics through which the Bible achieved iconic status in the first place, that is, the conditions in which significance was attached to its material, finite shape. For Ben Sira, this symbolism was deeply tied to his honor-shame ethos in which women posed a threat to the honor of his eternal name, a threat resolved through his possession of Torah figured as the Woman Wisdom. What my analysis suggests is that the conflicted perceptions of gender in Ben Sira’s text is fundamental to his appropriation of, and attempt to produce, authoritative religious literature, and thus essential for understanding his relationship to this emerging canon. Torah, conceived as female, was the core of this canon, but Ben Sira adds his own literary production to this female “body” (or feminized corpus, if you will), becoming the voice of both through the experience of perfect possession.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Puji Santoso ◽  
Rudy Setiawan

One of the tasks in the field of marketing finance is to analyze customer data to find out which customers have the potential to do credit again. The method used to analyze customer data is by classifying all customers who have completed their credit installments into marketing targets, so this method causes high operational marketing costs. Therefore this research was conducted to help solve the above problems by designing a data mining application that serves to predict the criteria of credit customers with the potential to lend (credit) to Mega Auto Finance. The Mega Auto finance Fund Section located in Kotim Regency is a place chosen by researchers as a case study, assuming the Mega Auto finance Fund Section has experienced the same problems as described above. Data mining techniques that are applied to the application built is a classification while the classification method used is the Decision Tree (decision tree). While the algorithm used as a decision tree forming algorithm is the C4.5 Algorithm. The data processed in this study is the installment data of Mega Auto finance loan customers in July 2018 in Microsoft Excel format. The results of this study are an application that can facilitate the Mega Auto finance Funds Section in obtaining credit marketing targets in the future


2021 ◽  
pp. 1354067X2110040
Author(s):  
Linus Paul Frederic Guenther

This case study shows how allegories are a means to express the inexpressible and how Allegory Analysis can be a method to reveal it and bring out the subjective meaning making, life script ideology, and capability to deal with the ambivalent in critical life situations. From a cultural psychological perspective, the research is based on feelings during the quasi-quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tries to understand the coping strategies with which people deal with a psychological crisis in general concerning for the COVID-19 lockdown. It discusses further ways to deal with the ambivalences and subjective meaning making arousing through such a crisis. The case study analysis of Miss K. not only showed her meaning making processes and attitude of life but also showed how to deal with the uncertainty during the critical lockdown period. Through her allegories, she utters her current life script ideology that living nowadays means to function like a machine while being creative, self-reflective at the same time. Her meaning making process counterbalanced between the voice of being delivered to withdrawal or depression versus the voice of being able to learn, connect, and relax. Her coping strategy was bearing the ambivalence in a psychological crisis with faith.


Author(s):  
Ibrahim Er

AbstractThis article highlights the importance of multimodality in the study of discourse with a discussion of a segment from the Turkish adaptation of the global television format, The Voice. In the segment under discussion, a contestant is disqualified from the show by the host for her allegedly disrespectful style of speech towards the coaches. Departing from traditional (sociolinguistic) critical discourse analysis, the article seeks to unveil the deep power discourse hidden in the multimodal landscape of the show by extending the scope of discourse analysis to include both linguistic and non-linguistic modes of communication and representation such as the camerawork, and mise-en-scene. The findings shed light on the inherently asymmetrical nature of the show and how the contestant's highly non-standard language and manners are demonized (multimodally) while the coaches and the host find a relatively less judgmental environment as the “authority” in the show.


2020 ◽  
pp. 095792652097721
Author(s):  
Janaina Negreiros Persson

In this article, we explore how the discourses around gender are evolving at the core of Brazilian politics. Our focus lies on the discourses at the public hearing on the bill 3.492/19, which aimed at including “gender ideology” on the list of heinous crimes. We aim to identify the deputies’ linguistic representation of social actors as pertaining to in- and outgroups. In addition, the article analyzes through Critical Discourse Analysis how the terminology gender is represented in this particular hearing. The analysis shows how some of the conservative parliamentarians give a clearly negative meaning to the term gender, by labeling it “gender ideology” and additionally connecting it with heinous crimes. We propose that the re-signification of “gender ideology,” from rhetorical invention to heinous crime, is not only an attempt to undermine scientific gender studies but also a way for conservative deputies to gain more political power.


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