Last Blog: A look into Past Blog Posts
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Some thoughts on previous blog posts and the writing process.
Writing is not something I always enjoy. In political science, we’re supposed to write free of bias and personal opinion to make our arguments stronger and more solid. In computer science, there is very little writing of actual words, instead the focus is on writing code. I enjoy much of what I’m studying, but I also have strong opinions about what I’m studying. The study of the ethics of computer science blends my two interests in a unique way.
Out of all the posts I’ve written, the most creative to write was Society Blog #2: Implications of a Tech Focused Society. This blog post focused on AI and companionship. Writing that post made me think about the future in ways that I hadn’t really thought about, specifically what it means if companies do not protect their users when it comes to AI companionship. This is an idea that feels dystopian and very far away but is much closer than I would like to believe. I think part of this nervousness around the topic was what made it so exciting to explore. I got to really think about the role companies play in AI companionship, how the field will expand and how it is already existing.
As for the most the most engaging case study to read and blog post to right, the award goes to Bias Blog #2: Harms in Machine Learning. I think this was most engaging simply because it was a topic I was already so engaged and interested in previously. It kind of fit both of my interests the best, exploring how systemic injustices are further perpetuated by the technology that is already implemented and that is being created. I think this is an important topic to discuss and educate yourself and others on so I think that’s why it was also why it was my longest blog post.
When it comes to progress, I feel like my writing progress can be seen most evidently in Algorithm Blog Post #2: How Generative AI Works and How It Fails. This blog post was written pretty early on and was one that I struggled to write. I was at first struggling to share my own thoughts, beliefs, and opinions in my writing. In political science, it is incredibly common to avoid sharing your own thoughts. You don’t want your own beliefs to get in the way of the research done or skew people’s opinion in one way or another. It’s funny, when I first started in political science I struggled to shift my focus away from what I believed. For these blog posts, I needed to shift my focus back to what I believed. This was hard at first. I also wanted to answer discussion questions posed by the case study but wasn’t sure how to include them in a way that was natural. After a couple of rewrites, I eventually got it to feel much more comfortable in my writing.
Overall, I feel my writing has improved. I notice it in the way that writing about myself and my opinions feels much more natural. I also think that writing the blog posts started to become something that was much quicker and it became easier to write for longer. I had more to say. I’m not sure that’s because of the sources I was relying on, but rather that it became something that felt much more second-nature. It became easier to share my personal experiences and beliefs. I also think my writing style grew to be much more conversational and with that, personal. I no longer needed the shift to be unbiased. I got to share a piece of myself in my writing and it was really interesting to see that aspect evolve throughout writing the blog posts.
I think at first, I wanted traditional essays. It was what I was used to, but I did really enjoy the blog posts. Ethics is such a personal thing where everyone has different morals and that’s often unseen in traditional essays. I think that if blog posts weren’t done that critical aspect of personal beliefs would be missing and that would be really sad. I think it also would have made things more difficult to write about because ethics is such a personal thing that doesn’t always have a true right and wrong. I do think that a key part that should be defined early on should be exactly who the audience is and what the formality is. That might make writing the first blog posts a little bit easier, too.
Some of the case studies were a little bit harder to understand, some got too in the weeds which made it difficult to write about your own beliefs. When I say this, I am specifically talking about blog post Info Blog #2. It was hard to understand just exactly what to write about because when there’s so much specific information given it can be hard to understand the full picture.
While I’m not sure if I will continue the blog or not, there are certain aspects of writing the blogs that I will take with me. The power of being able to write about your own beliefs and opinions is super important, especially as a woman in STEM whose voice may at times be ignored or silenced. It is important to stand and speak clearly about what you believe in and why you believe it. There is so much power that comes with knowing how to make a strong argument. I also think it’s important to think about others throughout the entire process of computer science, whether that be in development, research or the implementation of technology. Writing these blog posts also made me think of the type of writer I was, am, and will be. I think that while I started in a very academic mindset, I have shifted into being able to write in a more reflective way. I also think that podcasts, such as the one on the Black Mirror episode pitches have encouraged me to think more creatively. I hope to continue to lean into my creative side and see where I can go with it. I am very happy with the progress I’ve seen and am excited to see how it progresses in the next year.