Facial Recognition: Existing/Potential Impact on Different Kinds of People and Social Relations
As discussed in Module 7, building on your work in this class, you are asked to produce a short research paper that critically analyzes a technology and its existing/potential impact on different kinds of people and social relations.
For your paper topic, you can either:
Build on a previous topic from one of the first two assignments, or
Choose a new topic related to the course themes
In most cases, this means taking the research you’ve already done, expanding it to gather more information, then writing the paper fresh. If you want to pick an entirely new topic, this is okay, but check with me or your TA first!
This assignment is most similar to a typical ‘final research paper’; the key task here is to find, read, and cite relevant research around your chosen technology & major concerns/arguments.
The purpose of this assignment is to focus on rigorous, evidence-based academic research!
Good example: a paper on facial recognition (topic) and whether it amplifies racial bias (argument). Research would focus on academic research on facial recognition itself, but might also consider scholarship on racial bias, visual perception, etc. The paper might also cite from recent news articles, documentaries or government reports that provide notable examples of public debate around this issue, but note that this would not satisfy the requirement for peer-reviewed academic sources.
This means we ask you to focus on ‘secondary’ research, rather than ‘primary’ (e.g. interviews or surveys). Such empirical research often requires a lot of time and care to do rigorously, from piloting your questionnaires to filing ethics reviews. For the purposes of this class, stick with secondary research.
Submission rules and deadlines
You will submit a 1500 word essay to Canvas by August 2 at 9:00 am.
Your investigation should cite at least 5 pieces of academic research (peer-reviewed), using APA citation style.
Only 2 of these sources can be from the course materials (although you can use more if you have at least 3 resources that you found yourself outside of the course materials).
1 of your 3 sources that you find yourself can be from your previous assignment(s)
You can reuse more if you have at least 2 new sources unique to this assignment
Hi, the topic of assignment 3 should be related to one of the previous two assignments which I have uploaded for you. And you can also pick one of resource from that two assignments. Plz let me know if you have any question asap
Facial Recognition and its Existing/Potential Impact on Different Kinds of People and Social Relations
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Facial Recognition and its Existing/Potential Impact on Different Kinds of People and Social Relations
Technological advancements have widened the approaches corporations, security agencies, and other stakeholders use in identifying people for different purposes. Raji et al. (2020) indicate that face processing technology (FPT) has emerged as a widely employed tactic of providing a unique biometric of a person. FPT leverages complex algorithms to scan, detect, and create a digital template of a person’s face, which compares with existing ones in a database for similarities. Ritchie et al. (2021) refer to this technology as automatic facial recognition (AFR), which has gained momentum in advanced nations such as the United States, China, and Australia due to its unique identifier. The author underlines that while leading agencies such as law enforcement use this data for security-related purposes, the use by other firms remains unclear. However, the authors note that people routinely use AFR in routine aspects, including border crossing, entering malls, and unlocking their smartphones. Although facial recognition has triggered substantial improvements in the security niche, its effect on social relations and people of color remains questionable, triggering privacy and bias challenges.
Experts agree that AFR has drastically improved security in cities across the cities, making the work of law enforcement bodies easier and more efficient. The integration of advanced CCTVs in streets, buildings, and public spaces facilitates these agencies with real-time data that enables them to remain proactive in maintaining law and order. Ritchie et al. (2021) confirm that the U.S. police are already exploiting this technology to track persons of interest. The increased shift toward this technology demonstrates its potential to transform policing approaches. Waelen (2023) supports this observation by highlighting the numerous benefits this data management and recognition tool has induced in the security and safety industry. Before its widespread use, police encountered challenging procedures of physical surveillance, which remained futile due to the inadequate number of police officers. As a result, arresting suspects and other criminals was significantly more time-consuming. Andrejevic and Selwyn (2020) also