[HN Gopher] A Study of the "Human Flesh" Search Engine (2010) [pdf]
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       A Study of the "Human Flesh" Search Engine (2010) [pdf]
        
       Author : jasperpilgrim
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2021-01-18 12:14 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.u.arizona.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.u.arizona.edu)
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
       | Weaponized Autism didn't come until 2016 -
       | 
       | https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/weaponized-autism
        
       | jasperpilgrim wrote:
       | I discovered this paper while lost in a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
       | For anyone curious about the phrase "human flesh", the paper
       | notes it comes from a literal translation and that it might be
       | better understood as "people-powered".
       | 
       | One takeaway (certainly not the only) from the paper is that most
       | research is done by a few participants, even as participation
       | size increases.
        
         | ganzuul wrote:
         | So muscle-powered?
        
           | jasperpilgrim wrote:
           | Yep, a few do the heavy lifting. A good portion of the paper
           | analyzes the crowd/participants as a whole and touches on
           | what effects they may have on each other (I think), but I
           | wasn't able to understand it well enough to have any
           | thoughts.
           | 
           | As for the muscle-powered, on page 4 of the document there's
           | a graphic that shows the ratios, and it's no contest. The
           | vast majority are involved in announcing (the situation) and
           | uploading / re-uploading (the information). Informing and
           | spreading.
           | 
           | It's obvious to me in hindsight, but I wasn't expecting such
           | a wide gulf.
        
       | stareatgoats wrote:
       | This seems to be an old social network analysis of a primarily
       | Chinese web phenomenon which entails doxing people for various
       | reasons (including corruption in government).
       | 
       | The phenomenon is interesting as one example (among many others)
       | of the democratization and 'cutting out the middle man' that the
       | web offers: citizens taking legal and ethical matters into their
       | own hands. It relates to things like the #metoo movement and
       | Anonymous in the west.
       | 
       | Ultimately these 'courts' tend to devolve into witch-hunts and
       | mob rule without possibility to appeal, but it doesn't mean that
       | they don't play some positive role - in nudging law enforcement
       | to step up their game if nothing else.
       | 
       | This document doesn't explore those aspects however.
        
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       (page generated 2021-01-19 23:03 UTC)