Privacy, Play, and the Digitalization of the University

Class: PHIL-282
Author: Glen Miller and Cora Drozd's
Book: The Ethical University: Transforming Higher Education

Digital age (since 1950s) transforms higher education (HE), driven by economic forces (e.g., EdTech "unicorns").
Communication shifts to digital platforms: LMS, Zoom, email, social media.
HE's fundamental social role (esp. in West): space for exploration ("play").

Definition: Political concern over power relations (govt/corp) & normative question of how info is handled.
Foundations:
- US: "Right to be left alone" (1890); 4th Amendment (against unreasonable govt search/seizure).
- EU: Article 8 ECHR (1950); 1995 Data Protection Directive (limits collection to legitimate purposes; ensures data accuracy/anonymization).
Key Concepts in Digital Age:
- Information Self-Determination (Westin): Individual right to control when, how, extent info is communicated. Empowers individual.
- Contextual Integrity (Nissenbaum): Adherence to comm. norms; balancing privacy w/ other goods (e.g., security). Internet disrupts this.
- Right to be Forgotten (GDPR): Right to "practical obscurity" (removing old/accurate records from public search).
- Mosaic Theory: Aggregating discrete data points (from varied contexts/times) may deserve 4th Amendment protection.
- Intellectual Privacy (Richards): Necessary for developing ideas/character. Requires freedom of thought & communication confidentiality.

Nature of Play: Not goal-oriented ("to-and-fro movement"). Temporary recontextualization/detachment. Spurs imagination, self-reflection.
University's Role: Traditionally buffered students/faculty from immediate pressures. Diverse contexts (courses, journals, etc.) minimized audience.
Identity Formation: Play is critical for students to "try on" identities/futures. Reflective determination of identity (Taylor) is iterative.
Forms of Play: Conversational banter, mastering skills, theatrical role-taking.

Context Annihilation: Digitalization "alters and often obliterates" context. Online life is "radically heterogeneous".
Digital Objects/Memory: Quasi-permanent, outside creator control. Digital memory is reproducible/decontextualized ("tertiary retention"), eroding the temporal distance needed for perspective/forgetting.
Surveillance Shift:
- Lateral Surveillance (Coveillance): Peer-to-peer observation w/o power differential. Most laws don't cover this.
- Real-time Comms: Accelerates conflict (risk of "reciprocal escalations").
Impact on Students: Awareness of constant digital audience (social media) leads to curated acts/utterances, causing prudence/reticence (fear of reputational harm, "cancel culture"), limiting experimentation.
Identity Redefined by Profilicity:
- Old models (sincerity/authenticity) replaced by Profilicity.
- Profilicity (Moeller/D'Ambrosio): Identity curated for external observation (achieving Attention, Acclaim, Approval).
- Tertiary Protention (Hui): Future choices/orientation shaped by algorithms analyzing retained data. This drives identity.
- Social Validation Loops (Parker): Behavior shaped by external feedback (likes/views) to draw future attention.

Institutional Reform: Increase scrutiny of quantification/efficiency metrics & private-public partnerships.
Pedagogical Adjustments (Focus on Intellectual Privacy):
- Acknowledge threats (e.g., "cancel culture").
- Implement Chatham House Rule (discuss ideas, protect identity of speaker).
- Encourage theatrical play (arguing positions not matching beliefs).
- Use Information Privacy/Self-determination as design principles.
Cultivate Contextual Literacy:
- Help students understand forces shaping identity (e.g., profilicity, algorithms).
- Develop modern version of the Sensus Communis (communal wisdom/virtues).
Digital CV: Student recognition should include diploma AND digital footprint/reflection on identity transformation.