Algorithms of Oppression

Run a Google search for black girls what will you find Big Booty and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms But, if you type in white girls, the results are radically different The suggested porn sites and un moderated discussions about why black women are so sassy or why black women are so angry presents a disturbing portrait of black womanhood in modern society.In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities Data discrimination is a real social problem Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color.Through an analysis of textual and media searches as well as extensive research on paid online advertising, Noble exposes a culture of racism and sexism in the way discoverability is created online As search engines and their related companies grow in importance operating as a source for email, a major vehicle for primary and secondary school learning, and beyond understanding and reversing these disquieting trends and discriminatory practices is of utmost importance.An original, surprising and, at times, disturbing account of bias on the internet, Algorithms of Oppression contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in the 21st century. New Download eBook Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble – kino-fada.fr So you read So You Want to Talk About Race and now you havequestions Specifically, you re wondering how privilege affects your life online Surely the Internet is the libertarian cyber utopia we were all promised, right It s totally free of bias and discrimina sorry, I can t even write that with a straight face.Of course the Internet is a flaming cesspool of racism and misogyny We can t have good things.What Safiya Umoja Noble sets out to do in Algorithms of Oppression How Search Eng So you read So You Want to Talk About Race and now you havequestions Specifically, you re wondering how privilege aff...Noble began collecting information in 2010 after noticing the way Google Search and other internet sites collect and display information about non white communities Her results dovetail with other studies e.g., Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O Neil positing that algorithms are flawed by their very nature choosing weighting only some variables to define or capture a phenomenon will deliver a flawed result Noble wrote this book to explore reasons why Google couldn t, or wouldn t, Noble began collecting information in 2010 after noticing the way Google Search and other internet sites collect and display information about non white communities Her results dovetail with other studies e.g., Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O Neil positing that algorithms are flawed by their very nature choosing weighting only some variables to define or capture a phenomenon will deliver a flawed result Noble wrote this book to explore reasons why Google couldn t, or wouldn t, address concerns over search results that channel, shape, distort the search itself, i.e., the search black girls yielded only pornographic results, beginning a cascade of increasingly disturbing and irrelevant options for further search.In her conclusion Noble tells us that she wrote an article about these observations in 2012 for a national women s magazine, Bitch, and within six weeks the Google Search for black girls turned up an entire page of results like Black Girls Code, Black Gi...Dr Safiya Umoja Noble deconstructs the myth of online democracy with this brilliant illustration of how white male supremacy has adapted its course to the ever expanding reaches of the internetNoble provides plenty of instances where search engine algorithms Google s especially have produced racially unfortunate and offensive results, has outrage aplenty about the structural racism and exclusions that exist in society at large, and doesn t think solutions can come through capitalist structures All true, albeit banal, with nothing new added here.Wh...Despite the author saying she intends this book as a practical project, her foreword has a first paragraph of 21 lines, and the introduction has a first paragaph of 23 lines the first chapter includes a paragraph of 47 lines, and one of 37 The fact that I am studying journalism has doubly reinforced my belief that paragraphs that long won t get read by most people I also think we could do without invented words like problematized Why make this kind of point about a book which describes race Despite the author saying she intends this book as a practical project, her foreword has a first paragraph of 21 lines, and the introduction has a first paragaph of 23 lines the first chapter includes a paragraph of 47 lines, and one of 37 The fact that I am studying journalism has doubly reinforced my belief that paragraphs that long won t get read by most people I also think we could do without invented words like problematized Why make this kind of point about a book which describes race and gender bias in search engine algorithms The author tells us Google said it was not responsible for what its algorithm did or how the results looked Frank Pasquale tells us in Black Box Society that even coders don t entirely know how black box applications work If something looks too complex, too dense a block, increasingly people, including students, think they can t get to grips with it This is partly the twitter effect Ask yourself if the Washington Post would presen...I would give the book 5 stars for how important this research is But the book is not easy to read It feels like it s written just for academics Besides bulky language, there are a lot of references to other work and literature It s also a bit unfocused and disorganized However, she is absolutely right that this is a huge problem that people are not paying attention to It s a really hairy problem that needsbooks like this to dissect and to make tech aware of their power in reienforcin I would give the book 5 stars for how important this research is But the book is not easy to read It feels like it s written just for academics Besides bulky language, there are...Interesting and so appreciative of Safiya who got the conversation started a few years ago about bias algorithms But this book would have been a better article because it was extremely repetitive.I must admit, I was very eager to read this book A very necessary topic that really deserves to be tackled in a very thorough manner Racism, sexism and discrimination in general are structural parts of societies in the West and we know that the net is no exception here I was really interested in finding out exactly how Search Engines reinforce Racism That they do it, is by now a common thing We know for instance how the alt right uses the internet and the algorithms of commercial platform I must admit, I was very eager to read this book A very necessary topic that really deserves to be tackled in a very thorough manner Racism, sexism and discrimination in general are structural parts of societies in the West and we know that the net is no exception here I was really interested in finding out exactly how Search Engines reinforce Racism That they do it, is by now a common thing We know for instance how the alt right uses the internet and the algorithms of commercial platforms to push their racism into the world Safiaya Umoja Noble is an assistant professor in Information Studies at the university of California, Los Angelos Considering this title I was expecting to read find a methodologically well established analysis of the algorithms of Google and how it contributes to the spread an rise of racism and sexism My enthusiasm was severely tempered when I started reading and found that...Most conversations about racism in America focus on individual acts and people Was LuAnn wearing blackface as Diana Ross racist When white people use the n word ironically is it racist Is Steve King of Iowa racist Yes, yes, and yes Unfortunately, those conversations consume so much of the air in the room, there is little energy to focus on the structures that reinforce and sustain racism...Rated five stars due to how important and groundbreaking this book is An essential read for anyone in the remarkably white fields of information science and information technology This book opens up a much needed dialogue and it should be required reading in MLIS information studies programs proving especiall...

• 14 May 2018
Safiya Umoja Noble
• Paperback
• 256 pages
• 1479837245
• Safiya Umoja Noble
• Algorithms of Oppression