Internet Services: Are We at the Helm?

Abstract

Internet services provide us with an unprecedented access to people and information, at the same time they seem to have taken control over our attentional choices. I briefly explain how that could have happened and what are the obstacles we need to overcome to regain control.

Keywords:

• Internet services
• attention

Notes

1 Claudia Roda et al., “Educational Requirements to Foster a Risk Management Culture.” PRIPARE, ICT-610613, Deliverable: D4.1, 3.0, 29 Mar. 2014, https://ac.aup.edu/∼croda/publications/PRIPARE_Deliverable_D4.1_v1.pdf. Accessed 22 Jan. 2019; Susan Perry and Claudia Roda, “Teaching Privacy by Design to Non-Technical Audiences.” Cyber Security and Privacy, edited by Frances Cleary and Massimo Felici, Springer, 2014, coll. “Communications in Computer and Information Science,” pp. 120–132; “User Privacy in a World of Digital Surveillance.” Human Rights and Digital Technology: Digital Tightrope, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 63–93.

2 Claudia Roda and Susan Perry, “Mobile Phone Infrastructure Regulation in Europe: Scientific Challenges and Human Rights Protection.” Environmental Science & Policy, vol. 37, 2014, pp. 204–214. ScienceDirect, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.09.009. Accessed 22 Jan. 2020.

3 Claudia Roda et al., “Effects of Task Switching on Creativity Tests.” Proceedings AAAI Spring Symposium 2013: Creativity and (Early) Cognitive Development. Stanford University, Stanford, California, AAAI, 2013.

4 Claudia Roda et al., “Using Conversational Agents to Support the Adoption of Knowledge Sharing Practices.” Intelligence & Interaction in Community-based Systems, special issue of Interacting with Computers, vol. 15, no. 1, 2003, pp. 57–89.

5 Claudia Roda and Julie Thomas, editors, Attention Aware Systems, special issue of Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 22, no. 4, 2006; Claudia Roda, “Human Attention and Its Implications for Human–Computer Interaction.” Human Attention in Digital Environments, edited by Claudia Roda, Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge UP, 2011, pp. 11–62; Waddick Doyle and Claudia Roda, Communication in the Era of Attention Scarcity. London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

6 Claudia Roda, “Attention Support in Digital Environments, Nine Questions to be Addressed.” New Ideas in Psychology, vol. 28, no. 3, 2010, pp. 354–364; Human Attention in Digital Environments. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge UP, 2011; Claudia Roda and Thierry Nabeth, “The Role of Attention in the Design of Learning Management Systems.” IADIS International Conference CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age), 2005; “The AtGentive Project: Attentive Agents for Collaborative Learners.” First European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning EC-TEL ’06, 1 Oct. 2006, Crete, Greece; “Attention Management in Virtual Community Environments.” Innovation et Systèmes d’Information, Journée de recherche de l’AIM (Association Information et Management), 6 Oct. 2006; “Supporting Attention in Learning Environments: Attention Support Services, and Information Management.” Creating New Learning Experiences on a Global Scale, edited by Erik Duval, Ralf Klamma, and Martin Wolpers, vol. 4753, Springer, coll. “Lecture Notes in Computer Science,” 2007, pp. 277–291; Claudia Roda and Julie Thomas, Attention Aware Systems.

7 Claudia Roda, “Économiser l’attention dans l’interaction Homme-Machine.” L’Économie de l’attention: Nouvel horizon du capitalisme?, edited by Yves Citton, Paris, La Découverte, 2014, pp. 179–190; “A Roadmap of Studies in Attention and Digital Technology.” Communication in the Era of Attention Scarcity, edited by Waddick Doyle and Claudia Roda, Palgrave, 2019, pp. 7–20.

8 See Claudia Roda, “Human Attention and Its Implications for Human–Computer Interaction,” discussion in section 2.2.3.

9 Jonathan Crary, Suspension of Perception: Attention, Spectacle, and Modern Culture. MIT P, 1999.

10 George Still, “The Goulstonian Lectures ON SOME ABNORMAL PSYCHICAL CONDITIONS IN CHILDREN.” The Lancet, vol. 159, no. 4104, 1902, pp. 1163–1168. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)74901-X. Accessed 22 Jan. 2020.

11 World Health Organization. “ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics: 6A05 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” WHO, https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/821852937. Accessed 22 Jan. 2020.

12 Herbert A. Simon, “Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World.” Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest, John Hopkins UP, 1971, pp. 38–52.

13 Jayson Harsin, “Political Attention: A Genealogy of Reinscriptions.” Communication in the Era of Attention Scarcity, edited by Waddick Doyle and Claudia Roda, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 75–111.

14 Waddick Doyle and Claudia Roda, Communication in the Era of Attention Scarcity.

15 Paul Grice, Studies in the Way of Words. Harvard UP, 1989; D. Wilson and D. Sperber, “Inference and Implicature.” Meaning and Interpretation, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1986, pp. 45–76.

16 Tristan Harris, “How Technology Is Hijacking Your Mind—from a Former Insider.” Medium, 6 July 2017. https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3. Accessed 22 Jan. 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claudia Roda

Claudia Roda is Professor of Computer Science at the American University of Paris. Her research in human computer interaction, which has been sponsored by several institutions and widely published, focuses on the impact of digital technology on human behavior and social structure. She has published Human Attention in Digital Environments (Cambridge UP, 2011), Human Rights and Digital Technology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), and Communication in the Era of Attention Scarcity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).