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I was particularly intrigued by a quote on page three of “What is a File?.” The authors state: “It is important to bear in mind that all of this work, all these doings are not necessarily seen or understood by users.” The idea that users do not completely understand the inner workings of files or technology at large became more compelling to me when coupled with the example of deletion. What happens when users “delete” a file, particularly when it has already been uploaded to social media sites?
This meme illustrates the difficulty in deleting Facebook, or photos from it, that users experience. Photo from: https://imgflip.com/i/ygk1f
In 2012, a Venture Beat article was released revealing that deleting a photo on Facebook did not permanently get rid of the photo. When a user clicks delete, the photo disappears from their album and profile. However, if someone had copied the direct link to that photo it is still easily accessible. This means that until the photo is directly wiped from Facebook’s servers, it is still available for not only those with access to the server but the general public. The article did not mention how often Facebook wipes or updates their server to permanently delete these files. However, the authors were able to find photos that users had deleted in 2008 or four years before the article was published.
This illustrates a discrepancy between what users believe delete means and how those who engineered the technology define the word. Much like the word “file”, deletion in this context acts as a boundary object between users and computer scientists. The paper defines failure of a boundary objects as the inability of both sides to “get on with their concerns.” (page 4) This boundary can break down when users believe they deleted something from an online platform but it could come back to affect them later. This is increasingly relevant as privacy concerns become a widely debated topic.
Posted from Intro to Digital Studies by Kat