“Our hope for this issue is that it will be what Seeta Peña Gangadharan, coorganizer of Our Data Bodies, calls ’a body of work that cannot be ignored’.” After seeing the open letter urging Google to reinstate their AI ethics scholar, J. Khadijah Abdurahman thought that appealing to corporations’ consciousness wouldn’t work to stop technology from taking advantage of us. Instead, they believe that inciting a mass movement through showing the world how technology affects the marginalized would work better as it will eventually be too large to ignore. Read full article here
Oddities
Why Do Modern Pop Songs Have So Many Credited Writers?
The music industry has changed dramatically over the last few decades – with the number of songwriters credited on number one hits more than doubling. This is due to a combination of factors, including money, the computer and a changing definition of what songwriting is. For example, if The Beatles’ classic “I Feel Fine” was released today, it would likely have four writers credited instead of two, due to the influence of producers, samples and interpolations. With the rise of lawsuits, artists now preemptively add songwriter credits to their songs, even if the similarities between their song and the source material are coincidental. It all goes to show that the music industry is becoming more complex and competitive. Read full article here