Intelligent Personal Assistants and the Intercultural Negotiations of Dataveillance in Platformed Households

The platformization of households is increasingly possible with the introduction of “intelligent personal assistants” (IPAs) embedded in smart, always-listening speakers and screens, such as Google Home and the Amazon Echo. These devices exemplify Zuboff’s “surveillance capitalism” by commodifying familial and social spaces and funneling data into corporate networks. However, the motivations driving the development of these platforms—and the dataveillance they afford—vary: Amazon appears focused on collecting user data to drive personalized sales across its shopping platform, while Google relies on its vast dataveillance infrastructure to build its AI-driven targeted advertising platform. This paper draws on cross-cultural focus groups regarding IPAs in the Netherlands and the United States. It reveals how respondents in these two countries articulate divergent ways of negotiating the dataveillance affordances and privacy concerns of these IPA platforms. These findings suggest the need for a nuanced approach to combating and limiting the potential harms of these home devices, which may otherwise be seen as equivalents

Dispersion, solvent and metal effects in the binding of gold cations to alkynyl ligands: implications for Au(i) catalysis.

The coordination modes of the [Au(PPh3)](+) cation to metal alkynyl complexes have been investigated. On addition to ruthenium, a vinylidene complex, [Ru(η(5)-C5H5)(PPh3)2([double bond, length as m-dash]C[double bond, length as m-dash]CPh{AuPPh3})](+), is obtained while addition to a gold(iii) compound gives di- and trinuclear gold complexes depending on the conditions employed. In the trinuclear species, a gold(i) cation is sandwiched between two gold(iii) alkynyl complexes, suggesting that coordination of multiple C-C triple bonds to gold is facile

Synthesis of Phosphonium-Substituted Vinylidene Complexes from [HCCCH₂PPh₃]⁺: Exploring the Competition between Allene and Vinylidene Formation.

Reaction of the alkenyl-substituted carbene complex [Ru­(κ²-O₂CMe)­(OC­{Me}­O­(CCHCH₂)­(PPh₃)₂]⁺ with PPh₃ results in the formation of the vinylidene-containing species [Ru­(κ¹-O₂CMe)­(κ²-O₂CMe)­(CCHCH₂PPh₃)­(PPh₃)₂]⁺, among other products. This complex could also be obtained by reaction of [Ru­(κ²-O₂CR)­(PPh₃)₂] (R = Me, Ph) with [HCCCH₂PPh₃]⁺ although in this instance competitive formation of allene-containing [Ru­(κ¹-O₂CR)­(κ²-O₂CR)­(η²-H₂CCCHPPh₃)­(PPh₃)₂] occurred. Reaction of [Ru­(κ²-O₂CMe)₂(PPh₃)₂] with [H₂CCCHPPh₃]⁺ gives this allene complex in a selective fashion. Similar results were obtained when [RhCl­(PⁱPr₃)₂]₂ was used as the metal precursor. The reaction with [H₂CCCHPPh₃]⁺ gave [RhCl­(η²-H₂CCCHPPh₃)­(PⁱPr₃)₂]⁺, whereas treatment with [HCCCH₂PPh₃]⁺ afforded a mixture of the same complex and [RhCl­(η²-HCCCH₂PPh₃)­(PⁱPr₃)₂]⁺, which subsequently isomerized to vinylidene-containing [RhCl­(CCHCH₂PPh₃)­(PⁱPr₃)₂]⁺ via the alkynyl hydride complex [RhCl­(H)­(CCCH₂PPh₃)­(PⁱPr₃)₂]⁺. Consistent with previous findings [HCCCH₂PPh₃]⁺ isomerizes to [H₂CCCHPPh₃]⁺ in the absence of a metal and the balance between the vinylidene and allene complexes formed in these reactions appears to relate to the efficiency of the reaction with each substrate

Equality and erasure: Responses to subject negation in the art of Jill Magid

This chapter engages with contemporary surveillance as it is conceived of in art and literature, responding to the contemporary media culture of ubiquitous watching. Artistic discourse and its concern with this facet of modern life is examined via a series of art works. The chapter aims to present a discussion of several of the early-career performance pieces and accompanying short writings of American multimedia artist Jill Magid. By situating Magid’s work within a theoretical frame which synthesises two crucial concepts from technocultural theory—Kevin D. Haggerty and Richard V. Ericson’s surveillant assemblage and Donna Haraway’s cyborg— this chapter proposes an alternative way of looking at the construction of a dividual self within surveillant spaces, one which rejects the dialectical limitations imposed upon our identities in the post-Orwellian, post-Foucauldian era of surveillance. In this way, the chapter opens a discussion about the practices of art as a subsystem of culture, which engages with the notions of selves and surveillance.Scopu