How to Tame

As our social worlds increasingly shift online, many of the technologies people encounter are mediated by algorithms. Algorithms have become deeply embedded into people's online lives, often working to tailor and personalize their routine encounters with the world. How does one domesticate, or make one's own, an algorithmic system? One of the goals as people adopt new technologies is to weave them into their everyday routines, establishing a pattern of use in order to make that technology their own. In this paper we focus on people's experiences domesticating the short-form video sharing application, TikTok. Through an interview study with 16 LGBTQ+ TikTok users, we explore how people's routine experiences with TikTok's For You Page algorithm influence and inform their domestication process. We first highlight people's motivations for adopting TikTok and the challenges they encounter in this initial acquisition phase of domestication. After adopting the platform, we discuss the challenges people experience across the final three phases of domestication: objectification, incorporation, and conversion. We find that though they enjoy TikTok, our participants feel that they are never fully able to domesticate TikTok. As they are never able to fully control their digital selves, and thus integrate it into their routine lives, TikTok is in constant misalignment with their personal moral economy. We discuss the implications of domesticating algorithmic systems, examining the questions of whose values shape the moral economy created by and through people's uses of algorithmic systems, and the impact of nostalgia on the domestication process.

Rate of forgetting is independent of initial degree of learning

It is commonly assumed that the rate of forgetting depends on initial degree of learning. Hence, comparison of forgetting across groups is usually carried out equating initial performance. However, these matching procedures add confounding variables. In four experiments, following Slamecka and McElree (1983, Exp 3), we challenge this assumption through manipulating initial acquisition by varying the number of presentations of the material and studying the effect on rate of subsequent forgetting. A set of 36 sentences was presented either visually or auditorily. Different participants were exposed to the material two, four or six times. Forgetting was measured by means of a cued recall test at three time-intervals (30 s, 1 day and 1 week in experiments 1 and 2; 30 s, 1 day, and 3 days in experiments 3 and 4). A different subset of 12 sentences was tested at each delay. The outcome of these experiments showed that the initial acquisition depends on number of learning trials. However, the rate of forgetting proved to be independent of initial acquisition. This pattern remains constant across modalities of presentation and of the number of learning trials. The conclusion is that forgetting does not depend on initial acquisition.

A Comprehensive Review on the Role of the Gut Microbiome in Human Neurological Disorders

The human body is full of an extensive number of commensal microbes, consisting of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, collectively termed the human microbiome. The initial acquisition of microbiota occurs from both the external and maternal environments, and the vast majority of them colonize the gastrointestinal tract (GIT).

Patterns of handgun divestment among handgun owners in California

Background Little is known about voluntary divestment of firearms among US firearm owners. Here, we aim to estimate the proportion of handgun owners who divest their handguns in the years following their initial acquisition; examine the timing, duration, and dynamics of those divestments; and describe characteristics of those who divest. Methods We use data from the Longitudinal Study of Handgun Ownership and Transfer, a cohort of registered voters in California with detailed information on 626,756 adults who became handgun owners during the 12-year study period, 2004–2016. For the current study, persons were followed from the time of their initial handgun acquisition until divestment, loss to follow-up, death, or the end of the study period. We describe the cumulative proportion who divest overall and by personal and area-level characteristics. We also estimate the proportion who reacquired handguns among persons who divested. Results Overall, 4.5% (95% CI 4.5–4.6) of handgun owners divested within 5 years of their first acquisition, with divestment relatively more common among women and among younger adults. Among those who divested, 36.6% (95% CI 35.8–37.5) reacquired a handgun within 5 years. Conclusions Handgun divestment is rare, with the vast majority of new handgun owners retaining them for years.

Fruitful collaborations: the Taylor White project in the Blacker Wood Natural History Collection

As part of a themed print issue of Notes and Records dedicated to a research project surrounding the eighteenth-century Taylor White collection of animal paintings, this article provides context by describing the initial acquisition of the collection, and by situating it within the larger Blacker Wood Natural History Collection held at McGill University Library. Highlights of the Blacker Wood Collection are discussed, along with the collection's founder, Dr Casey Wood. The second part of the article provides a brief examination of the movement, in some academic administrative circles, towards the ‘de-professionalization’ of librarian work within academic libraries, and offers an outline of the specialized skills that librarians bring to the description, analysis and preservation of special collections. The Taylor White Project is then offered as an example of research collaborations between scholars and librarians; a description of the advantages of embedding a scholar within specific library collections to work with, rather than replace, a librarian is provided. The author suggests this strategy as one potential answer to the question of ‘de-professionalization’, to move away from divisive discussions towards a more symbiotic relationship between scholars and librarians.

Costs and Benefits of Native Language Similarity for Non-native Word Learning

The present study examined the costs and benefits of native language similarity for non-native vocabulary learning. Because learning a second language (L2) is difficult, many learners start with easy words that look like their native language (L1) to jumpstart their vocabulary. However, this approach may not be the most effective strategy in the long-term, compared to introducing difficult L2 vocabulary early on. We examined how L1 orthographic typicality affects pattern learning of novel vocabulary by teaching English monolinguals either Englishlike or Non-Englishlike pseudowords that contained repeated orthographic patterns. We found that overall, the first words that individuals learned during initial acquisition influenced which words they acquired later. Specifically, learning a new word in one session made it easier to acquire an orthographically similar word in the next session. Similarity among non-native words interacted with native language similarity, so that words that looked more like English were easier to learn at first, but they were less effective at influencing later word learning. This demonstrates that although native language similarity has a beneficial effect early on, it may reduce learners' ability to benefit from non-native word patterns during continued acquisition. This surprising finding demonstrates that making learning easier may not be the most effective long-term strategy. Learning difficult vocabulary teaches the learner what makes non-native words unique, and this general wordform knowledge may be more valuable than the words themselves. We conclude that native language similarity modulates new vocabulary acquisition and that difficulties during learning are not always to be avoided, as additional effort early on can pay later dividends.

The Emergence of Determiners in French L2 from the Point of View of L1/L2 Comparison

The acquisition of determiners in French presents a significant challenge for both children in L1 and adults in L2. Research in L1 acquisition has found that French determiners, which are highly constrained, appear quite early relative to other languages. Using the conversational data of two beginning learners of French—a native speaker of Spanish and a native speaker of Arabic—in a natural setting (comparable to the L1 data), the present study seeks to understand how these constraints affect the acquisition of the determiner system in L2 French. Analyses reveal the following: (1) Unlike French children who produce “fillers” without clear functional distinctions, adults produce idiosyncratic pre-nominal monosyllables that not only fulfil the obligatory position of “determiner” but are also characterized by identifiable functions in terms of definiteness or indefiniteness. (2) Adult learners’ L1s (Spanish and Arabic) influence the acquisition of NP in French L2, as observed in the emergence of determination in the two learners’ productions. (3) Adult learners’ productions provide evidence of shared “language-neutral” processes attested in initial acquisition in a natural setting; these are independent of the L1 and L2 input properties.

A Problem of Self-Ownership for Reproductive Justice

This paper raises three concerns regarding self-ownership rhetoric to describe autonomy within healthcare in general and reproductive justice in specific. First, private property and the notion of “ownership” embedded in “self-ownership,” rely on and replicate historical injustices related to the initial acquisition of property. Second, not all individuals are recognized as selves with equal access to self-ownership. Third, self-ownership only justifies negative liberties. To fully protect healthcare access and reproductive care in specific, we must also be able to make claims on others to respect, protect, and fulfill our positive rights. As much as nondomination remains an urgent demand for reproductive rights, it does not go far enough to ensure reproductive justice.

LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY VERSUS PROPERTARIAN DOGMA: A FURTHER REPLY TO BLOCK

This replies to Block 2019 (B19), which responds to Lester 2014 (L14). The main issues in the, varyingly sized, sections are as follows. 1 Further explanations of critical rationalism, the theory of liberty, and problems with the non-aggression principle. 2.1 The relationships among law, morality, and libertarianism. 2.2 The objective invasiveness of low-level radiation and that it is, therefore, a proactive imposition (albeit trivial) if someone inflicts it on non-consenting people. 2.3 The objective and subjective aspects of proactive impositions; and how clashes can be resolved. 2.4 How liberty relates to risk and self-ownership. 2.5 Libertarian initial acquisition versus absolute property rights by labour-mixing. 2.6 Organisational note. 2.7 Libertarianism and mens rea. 2.8 Libertarian rectification versus lex-talionis doubling. 2.9 Indirectly clashing rights, self-preservation, trespasser-hiker, flagpole-grasper, and landmine-layer. 2.10 A logical point is not a moral point. 2.11 Pacifism and libertarianism. 3.1 A weak criticism of utilitarianism. 3.2 Hedonometers; approximate interpersonal comparisons of utility imply libertarianism; what a libertarian is; libertarian rankings. 4. Libertarian philosophy versus propertarian dogma. Coda: the need to take seriously the philosophical problems with propertarian-justificationist libertarianism. Readers that might be interested include those engaging in libertarian philosophy and those using the Rothbardian/Blockian theoretical approach to libertarianism.