⭐ First Summative Essay (worth 30%)
🎯 OBJECTIVE: Write a 1,500-word essay using Quarto Markdown and Zotero 1
⌛ DUE DATE: 4 April 2023.
🗺️ Context
Since the first weeks of this course, we have been discussing the enormous power that Big Techs hold just by virtue of the data they collect. However fancy we get with our algorithms, the data is still the most important part of the equation. Thinking along these lines, in this essay, you will be asked to research the Cambridge Analytica scandal and then reflect on the potential dangers of big data misuse this case reveals. More than familiarising yourself with this particular scandal, you will also be asked to reflect on the broader application of big data and data science tools for microtargeting and political campaigning.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is a case study of the dangers of big data (Wong 2019) (Perrigo 2019). The company was hired by the Trump campaign to target voters with personalized messages. The company used data from Facebook to create a model of each voter’s personality, which the campaigners could then use to create personalized messages that would appeal to each voter.
📖 Suggested readings
🗞️ In the news
- Wong, Julia Carrie. 2019. “The Cambridge Analytica Scandal Changed the World – but It Didn’t Change Facebook.” The Guardian, March.
🧐 Academic
Isaak, Jim, and Mina J. Hanna. 2018. “User Data Privacy: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and Privacy Protection.” Computer 51 (8): 56–59.
Bakir, Vian. 2020. “Psychological Operations in Digital Political Campaigns: Assessing Cambridge Analytica’s Psychographic Profiling and Targeting.” Frontiers in Communication 5 (September): 67.
Podoletz, Lena. 2022. “We Have to Talk about Emotional AI and Crime.” AI & SOCIETY, May.
Feel free to use other sources as well, but make sure you cite them properly. Why not try using the recommendations from Week 10 lecture to find more sources?
🕸️ LSE Blogs
“How People Feel about What Companies Do with Their Data Is Just as Important as What They Know about It.” British Politics and Policy at LSE.
“Why You Should Talk to Your Children about Cambridge Analytica.” Parenting for a Digital Future at LSE.
“Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: Let This Be the High-Water Mark for Impunity.” LSE Business Review.
“Data and Privacy in the Digital Age: From Evidence to Policy.” Media@LSE.
Scenario and your task
Consider you are writing an online article for LSE Blogs with the topic: “Potential of misuse of data science tools for microtargeting and political campaigning, lessons from Cambridge Analytica and beyond”. You do not need to use this exact title, just make sure you are writing about the same topic.
Your target audience is a general audience of non-experts, so you should try to explain the main ideas and arguments clearly and concisely. You should also try to make your writing as engaging as possible so that your readers can easily follow your arguments and understand the main points.
📝 Instructions
What we are looking for
From the point of view of assessment, the main thing we are looking for here is: can you draw on the topics we have been discussing in class when reflecting and writing about the Cambridge Analytica scandal? (Weeks 01 - Week 11)
Expanding on that, we could say that we would be also looking to see the following in your essay:
- can you make connections between the ideas we have discussed and the case study?
- can you reflect beyond this specific case and think about the wider implications of using data science/machine learning tools for microtargeting and political campaigning?
- can you explain the main ideas and arguments clearly and concisely?
- can you use the right tone and style to engage your readers?
👉 Avoid making explicit references to the course (e.g., writing things like “As we saw in Week 05…”), as this would go against the spirit of the exercise, which is to write to a general audience. Instead, refer to the bibliography we have provided and try to make connections between the ideas we have discussed and the case study. The same goes for AI-generated text.
💡 Tips
Note that some of the suggested readings might be challenging to understand, as some of them rely on a lot of technical jargon and are written for a specialized audience. What is most important is that you get a sense of the main ideas and arguments and try to relate them to the techniques and things we have discussed in class.
👉 Why not organise a study group with your classmates to discuss these readings? You can create a shared 📚 Zotero library or use our ☁️ Sharepoint folder to share your notes and resources. Feel free to use Slack to organise your study group.
Group work is a great way to learn and to get to know your classmates and it is highly encouraged. Just make sure your essay contains your own original ideas and that you cite any sources you use. The same applies to AI tools (more on that in the next section).
🤖 Using AI help?
You are allowed to use Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to help you write your essay. If you do use it, however minimal use you made, you are asked to report the AI tool you used and add an extra section to your essay to explain the extent to which you used it (this won’t count towards the word limit).
Note that, while these tools can be helpful, they tend to generate responses that sound convincing but are not necessarily correct. Another problem is that they tend to generate responses that are formulaic and repetitive; thus, limiting your chances of getting a high mark.
In effect, you are asked to explain the following:
- What AI tool did you use?
- How did you use it? For example, did you use it to generate ideas, write a draft, proofread your essay, etc.?
- How much of your essay was written by the AI tool? For example, did you feed it the entire prompt and it wrote the entire essay? Or did you feed it guided questions?
- If you didn’t edit the AI tool’s output, what was the output like? For example, did it produce a coherent essay?
- What did you do to make sure that the AI tool did not produce gibberish? and that the essay was not formulaic.
- Importantly, how did you ensure that the essay did not contain any plagiarism?
Structure
I will leave it to you to decide how to structure your essay. There is no need to adhere to a rigid standard 5-paragraphs opinion piece. If you need help deciding on the main text blocks, consider the following order of ideas:
A brief introduction to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the main arguments and ideas you will be discussing in your essay.
A discussion of the potential dangers of big data misuse shown in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
A discussion of the broader application of big data and data science tools for microtargeting and political campaigning.
✅ Submission
- Render your Quarto Markdown file to HTML
- ⚠️ IMPORTANT ⚠️: Rename your HTML to
DS101L-2023-summative-essay1-<CANDIDATE_NUMBER>.html, replacing<CANDIDATE_NUMBER>with your candidate number.- For example:
DS101L-2023-summative-essay1-123456.html. - You might be deducted marks if you don’t follow this naming convention.
- For example:
- Upload this file to Moodle under the appropriate assignment.
✋ Getting Help
- If you have any questions about the assignment, please post them on
#assignmentschannel on Slack. - Book office hours.
- 🏅 Organise a study group with your classmates.
📑 Marking Scheme
80% or above
- Shows a strong element of independent critical analysis of social or controversial issues
- Not formulaic
- Good structure to essay and interesting to read
- Sophisticated arguments demonstrating critical engagement with the subject
- Demonstrates very good knowledge and familiarity with the data science concepts related to the essay prompt
- Good use of markdown and formatting
- Good use of Zotero references
- Managed to include more current issues and/or more recent developments
60% to 79%
- A structured essay that is well-presented and concluded
- Logical paragraphing
- Ability to present arguments critically and assess alternate views
- Substantive engagement with issues or problems raised
- Some original elements
- Good use of Zotero references
- Well-researched (the bibliography is relevant and up-to-date)
- Good use of markdown and formatting
40% to 59%
- Some understanding of the subject matter but poor presentation
- Simplistic arguments
- Some inaccuracy or irrelevance
- Inadequate use of Zotero references
- Inadequate use of markdown and formatting
20% to 39%
- Very weak answers
- Poorly written and lacking relevance, accuracy or substance
- Barely attempted question
References
Footnotes
Revisit what you learned about Quarto markdown and Zotero from 💻 Week 08 lab. Try using a custom theme to make your essay look more professional.↩︎