Comments on: Code Talker https://fixingsocialmedia.mit.edu/2020/05/09/code-talker/ MAS S.67 // Spring 2020 Wed, 20 May 2020 20:24:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 By: Anna Chung https://fixingsocialmedia.mit.edu/2020/05/09/code-talker/#comment-69 Thu, 14 May 2020 19:41:27 +0000 https://fixingsocialmedia.mit.edu/?p=856#comment-69 This is a really intriguing and thoughtful project, and it was great to see your expertises in software development, design, and journalism come together. The background research and interviews with Indigenous activists were strongly aided in framing the problem statement and the eventual features of Code Talker. The notion of a “private conversation in a public space” is quite compelling, and it definitely made me rethink what is possible for online protest.

I also appreciated how thoughtfully technical decisions were made, such as using attribute-based encryption. In addition, the fact that the tool might actually deter bad actors for using it for covert communication — in having a public awareness raising component — speaks to the nuanced design decisions that went into really making it a tool for activists.

I agree that a major challenge could be the nature of Facebook’s News Feed, in which encrypted content could very well be deprioritized. So I echo the feedback in class that incorporating some kind of visual component to the encrypted posts might make it more compelling and perhaps even address this News Feed content prioritization issue.

Overall a really exciting project, and it’s awesome that you were able to build a working prototype. (Also, I love the origin of the name!).

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