The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Monday, October 9, 2017 — 3A

MAX KUANG/Daily

LSA senior Mike Podesta paints a pumpkin at the Harvest Festival at the Campus Farm Saturday.

FINALLY FALL

from Rat Chat.

“Information
tools
and

services can create new ways
of
collaborating
with
city

governments and collaboration
between
citizens
and
cities

or governments is really what
citizenship is about,” Lampe
said.
“It’s
about
productive

relationships and collaboration.
We think information plays a
huge role for that in the new
digital future.”

On the academic side, assistant

Information professor Steve Oney
discussed why studying computer
programming is a worthwhile
endeavor past what the current
occupational field looks like. He
touched on how programming
helps the modern world manage
its online potential but a lack of
accessibility is hurting the field’s
future. He said tapping into the
humanity of programming will
make the field more accessible for
those willing to learn.

“Programming tools need to

not only scale up to handle more
complex tasks that programming
tools are mostly designed for, but
they also need to scale down to
make simple things easy to do,”
Oney said. “In other words, we
need to make programming more
human.”

In a similar vein of social

equality, Information professor
Nicole Ellison presented her
research on the cognitive impacts
of social media on our concept
of social capital. She related her
research to how first-generation
college students can use the
massive web of social media to
connect with college alumni.
Ellison developed the app College
Connect, with funding from the
Gates Foundation, to show first-
generation students the resources
they might not be aware of on
their Facebook profiles.

Ellison said social media’s

ability
to
do
good
should

outweigh our criticism of the new

technology.

“We shouldn’t really spend a

whole lot of time worrying about
why people are posting pictures
of avocado toast on Instagram
and rather really think about how
we can use social media to benefit
us and to make things happen
and one of those things might
be getting more first-generation
students to place in colleges,”
Ellison said.

The
keynote
panelists

consisted of all University of
Michigan alumni — Peter Lee,
vice
president
of
corporate

research at Microsoft, Bradley
Horowitz,
vice
president
of

product at Google, and Jamie
Voris, chief technology officer at
Walt Disney Studios.

To begin the panel discussion,

moderator Thomas A. Finholt,
dean of the University’s School
of
Information,
asked
the

speakers for their predictions of
technology in the next decade
and century.

Horowitz’s future prediction

discussed
technology
escape

velocity — technology changing
faster than society can absorb
it. He also spoke on the relevant
topics
discussed
in
science

fiction and how these are real
possibilities for the future of
technology.

“We get to see the collective

societal thinking about where
technology is going through
science fiction,” Horowitz said. “
‘Black Mirror’ is looking at very
near future scenarios — what
happens when we can record
every moment of our lives? How
does that change things?”

Horowitz
also
related

this
notion
to
the
student

experience.
The
University’s

future developments will greatly
influence education, research and
preparing future leaders. When
hiring young employees in the
technology industry, Horowitz
considers a degree from the
University of Michigan to speak
to a candidate’s ability to get a job
done.

Finholt asked panelists what

they think are the essential skills

students need today to achieve a
tenured timeline.

Lee spoke about the issues

surrounding losing touch with the
purely curiosity-driven and open
fundamentals of research that are
in liberal forms of education. He
further applied this idea to how
bringing particular skills to the
table can prepare students.

“It’s
important
to
have

an
innate
curiosity,
open-

mindedness and an ability to
work on a team of people,” Lee
said. “I think that foundation is of
a higher value to the future.”

Voris spoke about the special

elements that the University of
Michigan possesses in providing
students with a well-rounded
technological
education.

According to Voris, even in a
career where you are the main
player, having the tangibility of
the University experience as a
foundation allows students to
continuously learn.

“I think from a research

perspective,
I
think
that

partnership
between
the

university
and
industry
is

incredibly
important,”
Voris

said. “I think fundamentally the
university experience, more than
any specific piece of knowledge,
is about learning how to learn.”

LSA
freshman
Dustin

Stabinski, a preferred admissions
student
to
the
School
of

Information, said he felt excited
about
how
these
technology

professionals believe currently
stereotypical
ideas
of
the

future, such as “Black Mirror”,
can become real possibilities.
After attending this event, he
felt
reaffirmed
in
pursuing

information studies and building
a future for himself in the
technology industry.

“I
think
this
definitely

reassured me of the information
I want to go into because
definitely being in a place where
we’re socially not in the best
place advancing towards the
future, this gives us hope that
as technology advances, there
is definitely some positive out
there.”

SYMPOSIUM
From Page 1A

things can happen.”

Addressing
recent
racist

incidents and subsequent protests
on campus, Jon Lovett, co-host
and
another
former
Obama

speechwriter, said he believes
there is merit in pressuring
the
University
of
Michigan

administration but also believes it
is important to ensure the students
feel safe on campus.

“I think there’s two parts to it. I

think aiming some of the outrage
at the college itself and at the
University itself and pushing for
a strong response is a really good
idea,” Lovett said. “But ultimately
it’s about everybody speaking out
for a culture which treats people
with respect and where people
don’t feel as though … they can
start writing racist things and
think that that’s acceptable.”

Tommy Vietor, co-host and

former National Security Council
spokesman, encouraged students
to get involved in whatever way
they can and highlighting political
groups such as Indivisible, Swing
Left and College Democrats.

“I think after Trump got elected,

people understood again what is at
stake in these campaigns,” Vietor
said. “The next step is helping
people figure out how you can
get involved, because it sounds
complicated and it sounds hard but
it’s actually really easy.”

Lovett noted it is a unique time

to be a student with Trump as
president, but he again emphasized
the need to get involved.

“This is a really dark time. It’s

actually a really unique thing to be
coming of age and starting to really
follow college a lot for the first
time and see Donald Trump as
president, that’s never happened
before,” Lovett said. “And I think
it can be discouraging because
he’s our worst person, which is
unfortunate. But at the same time
there’s been this outpouring of
activism that we’ve never seen
before … People are engaged and

active, and it’s not a silver lining, I
don’t think that’s the right term for
what’s going on, but there has been
an equal and opposition reaction
to what has been going on with
Trump and being a part of that is
important.”

During the show, the group

discussed recent events including
healthcare,
new
contraceptive

guidelines
and
the
newly

uncovered links between white
supremacy
and
Breitbart,
a

conversative media outlet. Sen.
Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., also
appeared in the middle of the show
for a brief interview.

The
Trump
administration

announced
Friday
it
was

rescinding
Obama-era
birth

control mandate, which required
employers to cover contraceptives
in insurance plans. Ana Marie Cox,
host of “With Friends Like These”,
said the decision is important not
just in the day-to-day impacts it
will have, but also in the message
it sends to women.

“It’s consequential no matter

what,” Cox said. “Because it sends
a message to women primarily
that you are not worth as much as
men.”

On the same issue, Stabenow

said she was disappointed in the
decision and doubts Congress will
take any action to reverse it.

“It’s terrible, and it’s just one

more nail in the coffin in terms of
trying to kill the ACA,” Stabenow
said. “Unfortunately, the House
and Senate, being in Republican
hands, we are not going to be able
to turn that around.”

Discussing the recent Buzzfeed

article
detailing
direct
links

between
white
supremacist

groups,
Brietbart
and
Milo

Yiannopoulos,
former
Senior

White
House
Advisor,
Dan

Pfeiffer, co-host and Obama’s
former communications director,
expressed the danger in allowing
publications with relations with
white supremacist groups to be
considered normal conservative
media.

“Brietbart, which hangs out

with Nazis, is in direct contact

with them, as in rates Nazism, is
now considered a mainstream
conservative publication,” Pfeiffer
said. “Mainstream media outlets
cannot understand this because
they have to immediately treat
whatever is happening on the left
as equal.”

On the subject of her rumored

opponent in 2018, Robert Ritchie,
better known as Kid Rock,
Stabenow said she also played
guitar in college and suggested a
musical debate.

“I actually worked my way

through college playing acoustic
guitar,” Stabenow said. “We may
have to have dueling guitars, but
we will wait and see. I love music
and it could be very musical.”

Following
Stabenow’s

interview, Lovett imitated a game
poking fun at Kid Rock and a
specific tweet, which mocked
Washington elites and praised his
local state. Lovett asked his cohosts
in the game to guess how much
different items in the photo cost.
Lovett concluded that the point
of the game was that he believes
Kid Rock would “campaign like
Kid Rock but govern like Robert
Ritchie.”

In the interview with the Daily,

Lovett also stated his support for
Michigan football ahead of the
Michigan State game on Saturday.

“Obviously,
I
support
the

team from the campus that I am
currently in. I am going to run for
office,” Lovett said. “I support the
Michigan team, the Wolverines.
I love Harbaugh, the whole
Harbaugh family.”

Ritam Mehta, an LSA senior,

wrote in an interview with the
Daily he is a fan of the podcast
because of the lighthearted, yet
important discusion of politics.

“I think the show was a really

good episode of the podcast. It
includes a lot of good news analysis
and talk about current events,
which is why I like listening to
the pod,” he wrote. “I also kind of
idolize those four guys, especially
Jon Lovett, who literally got a
White House job because he’s
funny.”

POD
From Page 1A

Mike Pence walked out on the
Indianapolis Colts’ game against
the San Francisco 49ers after a
number of players took a knee in
protest. He later tweeted he will
not exalt any forms of protest he
finds disrespectful to U.S. soldiers
and the flag.

Demonstrations against racism,

especially by Michigan student-
athletes, are not new. Last Fall,

student-athletes raised fists or
kneeled
during
the
national

anthem in almost every game,
even when the cameras were not
focused on them.

In an interview last year with

the Daily, current LSA senior and
cheerleader Priscille Huddleston
explained why she decided to lead
other athletes in raising their fists
as a form of protest — emphasizing
how her position as an athlete
makes her more visible as an
activist for social justice.

“It’s
historically
been
the

athlete’s position to empower their
community,” Huddleston said. “It’s
sparking conversations in classes.
I only have a platform for four
hours … I only matter in uniform,
and I have to use that time and
make it count. I have a block ‘M’
on and I’m not just supposed to
wave a pom-pom and cheer you on.
You can’t expect me to be silent. I
didn’t understand how much of a
platform I had until now.”

KNEEL
From Page 1A

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com