User:Rschober/sandbox

Digital care
Digital care refers to both digital care-taking, such as digital health monitors and online treatment platforms as well as practices of caring for digital platforms, infrastructures, and interactions within a specifically digital care ethics. Aspects of digital care include content moderation, data cleaning, user feedback, digital archiving, community management, platform maintainance, fact checking, and management of personal media usage.

Community Management
Community management is the process of building and supervising an authentic community, shaped by the employees, brand customers and partners. This way brands can create a network and interact with their customers and potential customers on digital media. The goal is to improve a brand's "digital presence" and grow its audience.

Community management allows businesses to provide support for their customers, increase brand and product awareness, learn about customer wishes and the customer experience via feedback among a variety of other things.

Apropos support; answering questions and simplifying more complex topics is also part of the workload of a community manager. Summarizing and relaying information in a fun and easily digestible manner is also called infotainment.

As Community management is a fundamental part of building a thriving community, a proactive approach can turn a virtual space into a safe space for a variety of different users. Conversely, Community management can also be used in a reactive manner as a form of Crisis management.

Content analysis and revision allow to look beyond the mere appearance of a brand. The goal is to pay attention to what the company's community is saying and asking. By understanding the audience's interests and needs it is possible to create a better relation with the community and also proceed creating more valuable content for the community. As a result, by taking care of the community's emotions and giving them the feeling of being heard and understood.

Community Building
A part of community management is the building and caring for an online community, both in a private and professional context.

A major cornerstone of community building and organization was the popularization of blogging platforms in the early 2000s “when the addition of free platforms like Blogger meant more users could create and publish content without needing coding skills.”

An example of the positive impact of blogging platforms is the natural hair vlogs and blogs that continue to serve an essential need in the Black community not only for offering practical guidance but also a community of peer support. It also generally provides “a unique space for the creation and maintenance of alternate rhetorical spheres for Black Americans.” Specifically the increased attention on Black Twitter “has allowed researchers to engage in a more nuanced discussion about Black technoculture.” Because of the wide access to blogging in the early 2000s, the blogosphere also provided a fruitful space for Black feminist thinkers who “through long-form writing, community building, and digital archiving, began to craft foundational principles for digital Black feminist rhetoric that we now see on sites like Twitter and Instagram.” As a space less likely to be found by people outside of the community, who would have had to purposefully search for these blogs, “Blogging provided a landscape for digital Black feminists to work out principles through dialogue protected from outside interference within the virtual beauty shop.”

Social networks as platforms of community building are also widely discussed in the context of the health care and online health communities. As social media can “link people who have a health experience in common and who would otherwise not interact because of geographical isolation from each other” or a generally “limited ability to interact”, online communities provide a space for social and emotional peer-support. “[Two] major motivations for ill people to use social networks” are the informational support by “increasing knowledge about one’s own disease and its therapies by sharing the experiences with other users” or the aforementioned social and emotional support “gained from peer-to-peer interactions, which have been emphasized as the most critical benefits of social media settings.”

In addition to private community building the online space also makes it possible for brands to reach a widespread audience. Especially the emergence of social media contributed to what is now called “social media based brand community (SMBBC).” This new form of commercial community connection uses social media as a “highly efficient distribution and communication channel,” giving the possibility to increase the value of an online brand. This is not limited to traditional brands but includes influencers, who build their following and brands through social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. While influencers often portray an illusion of care concerning their audience, the lack of transparency can decrease the credibility of the content creator.

Data Cleaning
The cleanliness, correctness, and security of the data collected and stored within digital systems are all ensured through data cleaning and privacy protection, which are essential components of digital care. These procedures seek to maintain data quality, secure personal information, and abide by applicable data protection laws. However, there are some disadvantages to data cleaning. One of the most significant disadvantages is data loss or inaccuracy. Strict data cleaning procedures sometimes lead to the removal of important data or the introduction of inadvertent biases. Excessive data cleaning might distort the representation of some populations or situations or cause the loss of important insights. Additionally, without having a connection to the data being cleaned the issue arises of whether those handling the data are in a position to determine what is crucial and what is not. This is why it is important to involve individuals from backgrounds connected to the data being cleaned as this is crucial for making informed decisions regarding data relevance and significance. To find mistakes, inconsistencies, and anomalies that could have an influence on data quality, data cleaning requires an understanding of the context and domain-specific knowledge. Involving people with relevant backgrounds allows the data cleaning process to make use of their knowledge and experience. These people have a thorough comprehension of the data and can assist in identifying the data points that are essential for precise analysis and decision-making. This leads to organizations being able to decide on data relevance, significance, and potential biases. In the end, this results in more trustworthy and useful insights that encourage the use of evidence in decision-making.

Content Moderation
By content moderation one refers to an “organized practice of screening user-generated content (UGC),” which examines the content that is shared and uploaded on the Internet for its appropriateness and, where necessary, removing it. However, depending on the community rules of each site, the acceptability of the content shared may be subject to differences.

Performing content moderation fundamentally falls into two groups: individuals manually intervene in verifying to what extent published posts conform to the correctness associated with the respective community's policy rules as well as whether there is legitimate justification for removing the content. In general, individuals who undertake the function of content moderation do so on a voluntary basis driven by the motivation of respectful interaction, expression, and involvement in the community. An example of such a model “where volunteer content moderation is used exclusively to control site content is Wikipedia.” In addition, content moderation can be conducted on an automated basis, utilizing software algorithms to detect and remove inappropriate content. Such automated tools are “commonly powered by databases of known infringing content and machine learning algorithms.” However, while the automatic initiative provides a useful tool to maintain appropriate behavior, it fails to capture the “critical reflection of humans” and nuanced decision-making.

Content moderation intervention and enforcement involves, for example, deleting or editing inappropriate content and implementing word filters, either publicly, in a responsive interaction in which moderation provides reasons for its intervention, or opaquely, in which content or user removal proceeds silently.

Digital care and content moderation constitute essential components of online platforms and are instrumental in ensuring user safety, upholding community standards, and promoting a healthy digital environment. Considering that the internet enjoys an enormous scope of user-generated content, it is inevitable that along with such a collective network of content, particularly on various social media platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Twitch or Reddit, harmful and toxic conduct accompanies it. In an American survey in 2017, for example, 41% claimed to have been victims of online harassment.

Content moderation is therefore an essential function to create a digitally safe space to prevent harassment, toxic behavior, obscenity, stalking, threats, racism or cyberbullying and to foster positive engagement that promotes inclusivity and trust.

Nevertheless, content moderation does not come without its challenges. Content moderation inherently involves authority. “Moderation is an expression of power” that may be exploited for the wrong purposes, such as silencing and disregarding minority voices, sexual harassment , or censorship of political expression contrary to the status quo.

Digital Care for Marginalised Groups
Minority groups or marginalized groups are “different groups of people within a given culture, context and history at risk of being subjected to multiple discrimination due to the interplay of different personal characteristics or grounds, such as sex, gender, age, ethnicity, religion or belief, health status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, education or income, or living in various geographic localities.” They often have their voice taken from them. Other people speak for them or make decisions for them. Additionally, racial discrimination in digital health care for black people and other ethnic minorities shows a need for diversity in leadership. Commercial algorithms used by the U.S. healthcare system discriminate against black patients by assuming that low spending on black patients indicates lower needs. As a result, black patients receive half the amount of extra care that would be required. Therefore, digital care is especially important for these groups. According to Knight Steele, who focuses on Digital Black Feminism, black and LGBTQ+ people can use the digital space to find each other and connect. They can therefore form communities online and link with people from all over the world. Especially in the Black community, the virtual beauty shop helps the community to share hair- and skincare tips in a world that is catered to white people. Her example shows how important and helpful the digital is for marginalised people. However, lately, the digital space has become more dangerous for marginalised groups again. They have to be more careful and protect their privacy. While it was possible for people to interact relatively anonymously online, it now becomes easier and easier for “Haters” to track others down since anonymity is not the norm any more thanks to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and data mining. “For marginalized groups, the ways in which data is collected and often shared with third parties can put their lives in danger.” The web foundation gives an example from Egypt, where Grindr was used by police to track down and torture gay people. Other governments also require apps that have been developed for self-care to share their data. Since many US states started to abolish abortion, women online advise against using period trackers because their data could be sold to the government and used to prosecute women who are suspected to have abortions. It becomes clear, that it is (maybe increasingly?) difficult for marginalised groups to take care of themselves in digital spaces. Health Care and dating apps can be used against them, they may face hate on Twitter and Facebook… This makes community building even more important as a community can help protect its members. Allegiances with other communities also make sense, something that Knight Steele calls “complicated allegiances.”

CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
Since dominant groups decide what is important and what is not, content by marginalised groups is often filtered by white people and they pick out what is shown, distributed and archived and how. Indigenous people’s knowledge is marginalised, especially when it is part of oral traditions. The GIDA (Global Indigenous Digital Alliance) aims at changing this with the help of CARE-Principles. They added the CARE principles to the existing FAIR principles, which exist in the digital realm but do not fully assist indigenous people’s cause: it aims at distributing data freely (Findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) but ignores historical contexts and power hierarchies. CARE adds the principles of collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility and ethics in order to make sure that indigenous and marginalised knowledge is valued. These principles help indigenous groups to achieve data sovereignty, autonomy, and self-governance.

Fact-checking
As a digital care element, fact-checking refers to the practice of verifying and assessing the accuracy of information or claims presented in digital content, such as articles, social media posts, and videos. This practice focuses on promoting online safety, credibility, and informed decision-making. As the volume of information available online continues to grow exponentially, fact-checking plays a crucial role in combating misinformation, disinformation, and fake news. Digital care providers, such as social media platforms, news organizations, or fact-checking organizations, employ various strategies and tools to evaluate the veracity of online content. Fact-checking organizations such as Snopes.com, FactCheck.org, and PolitiFact.com utilize tools like reverse image searching and source verification, along with data analysis and expert consultation.

Misinformation is especially prevalent in issues such as health care, climate change, immigration and among political candidates.

Studies show that correcting dis- and misinformation through fact-checking is not necessarily effective for all subjects, and that corrections that come from friends and those with a mutual relationship tend to be more effective.

Digital media literacy and critical thinking skills are essential for individuals to navigate the online information landscape effectively. By integrating fact checking as a digital care element, platforms and organizations aim to promote responsible information sharing, protect users from false or misleading content, and foster a more informed and critical digital society.

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)151 has also developed a code of principles that guide conscientious fact-checkers in their everyday work.

Photography - A medium in the fight for care
In Curtis Chin's documentary "Dear Corky" he shows Corky Lee's photography activism. In showing images of asian american protests, for example against police brutality and rising anti-asian violence, publically, Lee drew attention to the grievances in the asian american community. He did not build community using his photography but fought for equal rights and treatment, therefore caring for his community. Lee shows that care can look very different. While every aspect of care mentioned on this Wikipedia page is an important part of the concept Digital Care, social and activism photography such as Lee's is a version of care that is easily recognized and has an immense impact on the communities affected.

Archiving as an act of care
To question historical archives and archiving processes itself can be an act of care. Archiving is always connected to decisions: what to include, what to exclude and how to assemble information. The person in charge of (or the machine trained to do) the archivng process can never act one hundred percent objective. To challenge the completeness of older archives and to seek the completeness of newer archives can contribute to care practices of marginalized groups For instance, in their YouTube video on Memory Work as Care Work, the NY Bard Grad Center highlight the importnace of Black Archives and Archival Practices to their community.