Evaluation of New York Times Stories

Each day, thousands of news articles appear online and it quickly becomes important to look within the stories to find out whether or not it will be useful to pursue. Digging deeper will often facts you may have never expected which can be incredibly helpful to know.

NASA Goddard "Detailed Satellite Imagery of the Idaho Wildfires" 9/20/13 via flickr. Public Domain License

A Space Station, With Surveillance Cameras for Hire

1. Does there seem to be a "main character" or "protagonist" to the story? If so, who is it and how are they are the "center" of the story? If not, are there any important or central characters in the story at all? What role do they play?

In this story, the "main character" would be played by the company UrtheCast. It is this company whose cameras have been placed aboard the ISS, allowing them to sell their services to customers looking for high altitude surveillance.

2. Where do the specific events in the story take place? Is there a specific setting? Describe the settings for the stories and how they influence the plot and characters.

The setting for this story is aboard the International Space Station, or ISS. This is a multinational effort to create a laboratory in space to carry out experiments and promote cooperation between nations. This drastically effects the story as what was meant to be a neutral territory can now be used to spy on the very nations that helped build it.

3. Is there any kind of disagreement or debate happening in the story? If so, who is participating, why are people debating and what seems to be at stake for the different characters in the story?

While there is not a great deal of debate within this story, it shows that there are a number of companies competing within the surveillance field, each attempting to get the upper hand. Every one of these companies will be fighting for profits, and UrtheCast has determined putting cameras on the ISS is one way to do that.

Miller, Chad "Another Game of Go" 3/23/05 via flickr. Public Domain License

Alphabet Program Beats the European Human Go Champion

1. Does there seem to be a "main character" or "protagonist" to the story? If so, who is it and how are they are the "center" of the story? If not, are there any important or central characters in the story at all? What role do they play?

The main character within this story is the company Alphabet, a conglomerate which owns companies such as Google and various other divisions such as DeepMind whose machine has now beat the human Go champion. This makes Alphabet one of the front runners in A.I. technology as they continue to develop their technologies further.

2. Where do the specific events in the story take place? Is there a specific setting? Describe the settings for the stories and how they influence the plot and characters.

Within the story, the events likely take place in Europe, however this was not specified. However, by having a machine face off against a human player, it sets a precedent where A.I. is capable of increasing difficult tasks and often outperforming its human counterparts.

3. Is there any kind of disagreement or debate happening in the story? If so, who is participating, why are people debating and what seems to be at stake for the different characters in the story?

Yes, within the story the debate is being brought up about whether or not A.I. technology should be introduced to different aspects of life, such as playing the game Go. Opponents such as Mark Zuckerberg are attempting to limit the uses of A.I. where as companies like Alphabet stand to gain a great deal if they're able to produce and market their software to businesses and even governments.