Skepticism and the Digital Information Environment

Deepfakes are audio, video, or still-image digital artifacts created by the use of artificial intelligence technology, as opposed to traditional means of recording. Because deepfakes can look and sound much like genuine digital recordings, they have entered the popular imagination as sources of serious epistemic problems for us, as we attempt to navigate the increasingly treacherous digital information environment of the internet. In this paper, I attempt to clarify what epistemic problems deepfakes pose and why they pose these problems, by drawing parallels between recordings and our own senses as sources of evidence. I show that deepfakes threaten to undermine the status of digital recordings as evidence. The existence of deepfakes thus encourages a kind of skepticism about digital recordings that bears important similarities to classic philosophical skepticism concerning the senses. However, the skepticism concerning digital recordings that deepfakes motivate is also importantly different from classical skepticism concerning the senses, and I argue that these differences illuminate some possible strategies for solving the epistemic problems posed by deepfakes.

Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant Strong-Motion Records of the 12 December 2018 M 4.4 Decatur, Tennessee, Earthquake

The moment magnitude M 4.4 on 12 December 2018 Decatur, Tennessee, earthquake occurred in the eastern Tennessee seismic zone. Although the causative fault is not known, the earthquake had a predominantly strike-slip mechanism with an estimated hypocentral depth of about 8 km. It was felt over a distance of 500 km stretching from Southern Kentucky to Georgia. Strong shaking, capable of causing slight damage, was reported near the epicenter. The Watts Bar nuclear power plant (NPP) is only 4.9 km from the epicenter of the earthquake and experienced only slight shaking. The earthquake was recorded by the plant’s seismic strong-motion instrumentation installed at four different locations. Near-real-time calculations by the plant operators indicated that the operating basis earthquake (OBE) ground motion was not exceeded during the earthquake. We obtained and processed the recorded motions to calculate corrected accelerations, velocities, and displacements. In addition, we computed the Fourier and 5% damped response spectra to compare them with the plant’s OBE. Comparisons of the ground-motion prediction models with the digital recordings at the plant site indicated that recorded ground motions were significantly below the predicted results calculated using the ground-motion prediction models approved for regulatory use. Availability of high-quality, digital recordings in this case helped make a quick decision about the ground motions not exceeding the OBE and hence prevented unnecessary shutdown of the NPP. Availability of earthquake recordings from the four locations in the NPP also presented an opportunity to analyze the linear response of plant structures.

Interaction of radionuclide 131I and cadmium chloride in an alternative bioassay with Artemia franciscana evaluated by a digital record

The interaction of radionuclide 131I and cadmium chloride was investigated by an alternative bioassay using the crustaceans Artemia franciscana. Fifty individuals were placed in each Petri dish. Due to radiation protection, evaluation of the experiment was performed using digital recordings taken by a camera. In the group containing a cadmium solution with an added radionuclide with a volumetric activity of 32 MBq·l-1, the lethality was significantly lower than in the group containing only a cadmium solution of 0.250 mmol·l-1. In the cadmium solution group and higher volumetric activity of radionuclide 131I (370 MBq·l-1), the lethality was significantly higher than in the control group, which demonstrated a synergistic effect. It was found that lethality was lower in the group containing only radionuclide 131I with a volumetric activity of 138 MBq·l-1 than in the control group. This result supports the theory of radiation hormesis.

Application of Electrical Network Frequency of Digital Recordings for Location-Stamp Verification

Electrical network frequency (ENF) is a signature of a power distribution grid. It represents the deviation from the nominal frequency (50 or 60 Hz) of a power system network. The variations in ENF sequences within a grid are subject to load fluctuations within that particular grid. These ENF variations are inherently located in a multimedia signal, which is recorded close to the grid or directly from the mains power line. Thus, the specific location of a recording can be identified by analyzing the ENF sequences of the multimedia signal in absence of the concurrent power signal. In this article, a novel approach to location-stamp authentication based on ENF sequences of digital recordings is presented. ENF patterns are extracted from a number of power and audio signals recorded in different grid locations across the world. The extracted ENF signals are decomposed into low outliers and high outliers frequency segments and potential feature vectors are determined for these ENF segments by statistical and signal processing analysis. Then, a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) classification model is developed to verify the location-stamp information of the recordings. The performance evaluations corroborate the efficacy of the proposed framework.

Reciprocal Relationships Between Efficacy and Performance in Athlete Dyads: Self-, Other-, and Collective Constructs

This study’s purpose was to evaluate the unique contributions of self-, other-, and collective constructs in the efficacy–performance reciprocal relationship for athlete dyads involving low- and high-dependence roles. Data were obtained from 74 intact cheerleading pairs on self-, other-, and collective efficacy and subjective performance evaluations for each of 5 successive trials. Objective assessments of dyad performances were obtained from digital recordings. Across path models involving a single efficacy construct, similar reciprocal relationships between objective dyad performance and self-, other-, or collective efficacy were observed. In path models composed of multiple efficacy or performance constructs, unique efficacy contributions were observed in the prediction of objective dyad performance, and unique subjective performance contributions were observed in the prediction of efficacy beliefs. Partner effects were observed more often for athletes in the high-dependence role than for those in the low-dependence role. Findings support how self-, other-, and collective beliefs are processed by team athletes.

Announcement: First Edition of IASA-TC 06 Online

Archives hold original video recordings in a range of types, from media-dependent, carrier-based analogue videotapes to computer-file-based digital recordings. The appropriate preservation treatments for this array reflect the variation in the source recordings. For analogue videotapes, for example, digitisation is called for. Meanwhile, examples of digital file-based recording may require rewrapping into a fresh file "wrapper" or a combination of digital transcoding and rewrapping. When complete, IASA-TC 06 will cover the full range of topics in the preceding paragraph, as well as providing advice on shooting ethnographic, documentary, and oral history video footage in a manner that maximizes its "preserve-ability".

From creator to data: the post-record music industry and the digital conglomerates

This article contributes to research on the changing music industries by identifying three dynamics that underpin the shift towards a post-record music industry. First, it examines how musicians have found themselves redefined as content providers rather than creative producers; a historical change from recorded music as product to content. Second, it focuses on tensions between YouTube and recording artists as symptomatic of disputes about the changing artistic and economic value of recorded music. Third, it extends this debate about the market and moral worth of music by exploring how digital recordings have acquired value as data, rather than as a commercial form of artistic expression. The article explores how digital conglomerates have become ever-more significant in shaping the circulation of recordings and profiting from the work of musicians, and highlights emergent dynamics, structures and patterns of conflict shaping the recording sector specifically, and music industries more generally.