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Algorithms of Oppression Ebook: A Comprehensive Guide
Author: Safiya Noble, PhD. Dr. Noble is an associate professor at UCLA and a leading scholar in the field of information studies, specializing in the intersection of race, gender, and technology. Her groundbreaking work, including the seminal book "Algorithms of Oppression," has significantly shaped the discourse on algorithmic bias.
Publisher: New York University Press. NYU Press is a renowned academic publisher with a strong commitment to publishing impactful scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, including critical works on technology and society. Their expertise in disseminating impactful research makes them an ideal publisher for this essential text.
Editor: [Insert Editor's Name and Credentials Here - e.g., Jane Doe, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology, specializing in digital inequality.]
Keywords: algorithms of oppression ebook, algorithmic bias, racial bias in algorithms, gender bias in algorithms, social justice and technology, critical data studies, data ethics, algorithmic accountability, "Algorithms of Oppression" book, Safiya Noble.
Summary: This guide provides a comprehensive overview of Safiya Noble's influential work, "Algorithms of Oppression," exploring its key arguments and implications. We delve into the book's critique of biased algorithms and their role in perpetuating systemic oppression. We discuss best practices for mitigating algorithmic bias and highlight common pitfalls to avoid when designing and deploying algorithms. The guide is intended to serve as a practical resource for researchers, developers, policymakers, and anyone interested in understanding and addressing the ethical challenges posed by algorithms.
Understanding the Core Arguments of "Algorithms of Oppression" Ebook
Safiya Noble's "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook is not just a technical critique; it's a powerful social commentary. The book exposes how search engine algorithms, often presented as neutral and objective, systematically reinforce existing societal biases, particularly against marginalized groups. The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook argues that these biases aren't merely accidental glitches but are deeply embedded within the design, data, and deployment of these systems. Noble meticulously unpacks how these biases manifest in various ways, from perpetuating harmful stereotypes to limiting access to information and opportunities.
The Mechanisms of Algorithmic Oppression: A Deeper Dive
The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook meticulously details several mechanisms through which algorithms perpetuate oppression. These include:
Data Bias: Algorithms are trained on data, and if that data reflects existing societal biases, the algorithm will inevitably inherit and amplify those biases. The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook highlights how historical and ongoing discrimination is encoded within datasets.
Feedback Loops: Algorithmic systems often operate through feedback loops, where the output of the algorithm influences its future inputs. This can create a vicious cycle, reinforcing existing biases over time. The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook showcases how this can lead to discriminatory outcomes.
Lack of Transparency and Accountability: The opacity of many algorithmic systems makes it difficult to understand how they make decisions and identify biases. This lack of transparency hinders efforts to address algorithmic oppression. The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook underscores the urgent need for greater accountability.
Design Choices: The design choices made by algorithm developers – conscious or unconscious – can also contribute to biased outcomes. The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook calls for a critical examination of these choices.
Best Practices for Mitigating Algorithmic Bias
Addressing algorithmic bias requires a multifaceted approach. The key takeaways from the "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook, translated into practical steps, include:
Diverse and Representative Datasets: Ensuring the datasets used to train algorithms are diverse and representative of the populations they will affect.
Algorithmic Audits: Regularly auditing algorithms for bias and ensuring transparency in their decision-making processes.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Bringing together experts from diverse fields – computer science, social sciences, humanities – to address the complex social and technical challenges of algorithmic bias.
Ethical Frameworks: Developing and implementing ethical frameworks for the design and deployment of algorithms.
User Feedback Mechanisms: Incorporating mechanisms for user feedback to identify and address biases.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
The "Algorithms of Oppression" ebook highlights several common pitfalls that contribute to algorithmic bias:
Ignoring Context: Failing to consider the social and cultural context in which algorithms operate.
Overreliance on Technical Solutions: Assuming that technical solutions alone can address the complex social issues underlying algorithmic bias.
Lack of Diversity in the Tech Industry: A lack of diversity among algorithm developers can lead to biased outcomes.
Conclusion
"Algorithms of Oppression" ebook is a vital contribution to the ongoing conversation about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and its societal impact. By understanding the mechanisms of algorithmic oppression and implementing the best practices outlined, we can strive towards creating fairer and more equitable technological systems. The book serves as a crucial call to action, urging us to critically examine the technologies that shape our world and to actively work towards mitigating their potential for harm.
FAQs
1. What is the central argument of "Algorithms of Oppression"? The central argument is that search engine algorithms, far from being neutral, reflect and amplify existing societal biases, particularly against marginalized groups.
2. How do algorithms perpetuate oppression? Through biased data, feedback loops, lack of transparency, and design choices.
3. What are some examples of algorithmic bias discussed in the book? The book highlights examples relating to race, gender, and other marginalized identities in search engine results.
4. Who is the target audience for "Algorithms of Oppression"? The book is relevant for researchers, developers, policymakers, students, and anyone interested in the ethical implications of technology.
5. What are some practical steps to mitigate algorithmic bias? Using diverse datasets, conducting algorithmic audits, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and implementing ethical frameworks are key.
6. What is the role of data in algorithmic bias? Biased data is a primary source of algorithmic bias, as algorithms learn from and replicate patterns in the data they are trained on.
7. How does the book address the issue of accountability? It underscores the urgent need for greater transparency and accountability in algorithmic systems.
8. What are the limitations of solely technical solutions to algorithmic bias? Technical solutions alone are insufficient; they must be coupled with social and ethical considerations.
9. Where can I purchase "Algorithms of Oppression"? The book is widely available online and in bookstores.
Related Articles:
1. Algorithmic Bias Detection: Techniques and Challenges: This article explores various methods for detecting bias in algorithms, highlighting their limitations and the challenges involved.
2. The Ethics of Algorithmic Decision-Making: An examination of ethical frameworks and guidelines for developing and deploying algorithms responsibly.
3. The Impact of Algorithmic Bias on Marginalized Communities: This piece focuses on the disproportionate impact of biased algorithms on vulnerable populations.
4. Data Diversity and Algorithmic Fairness: This article discusses the importance of diverse and representative datasets in mitigating algorithmic bias.
5. Algorithmic Accountability and Transparency: An exploration of mechanisms for ensuring accountability and transparency in algorithmic systems.
6. The Role of Design in Mitigating Algorithmic Bias: This article examines how design choices can either perpetuate or mitigate algorithmic bias.
7. The Social Implications of Algorithmic Bias: A broader look at the societal consequences of biased algorithms, beyond individual harm.
8. Case Studies of Algorithmic Bias in Practice: A compilation of real-world examples of algorithmic bias across different sectors.
9. Building Fair and Equitable Algorithms: A Practical Guide: This guide provides step-by-step instructions and best practices for creating fairer algorithms.
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Algorithms of Oppression Safiya Umoja Noble, 2018-02-20 Acknowledgments -- Introduction: the power of algorithms -- A society, searching -- Searching for Black girls -- Searching for people and communities -- Searching for protections from search engines -- The future of knowledge in the public -- The future of information culture -- Conclusion: algorithms of oppression -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the author |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Algorithms of Oppression Safiya Umoja Noble, 2018-02-20 Acknowledgments -- Introduction: the power of algorithms -- A society, searching -- Searching for Black girls -- Searching for people and communities -- Searching for protections from search engines -- The future of knowledge in the public -- The future of information culture -- Conclusion: algorithms of oppression -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the author |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: The Ethical Algorithm Michael Kearns, Aaron Roth, 2020 Algorithms have made our lives more efficient and entertaining--but not without a significant cost. Can we design a better future, one in which societial gains brought about by technology are balanced with the rights of citizens? The Ethical Algorithm offers a set of principled solutions based on the emerging and exciting science of socially aware algorithm design. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Race After Technology Ruha Benjamin, 2019-07-09 From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce White supremacy and deepen social inequity. Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era. Presenting the concept of the “New Jim Code,” she shows how a range of discriminatory designs encode inequity by explicitly amplifying racial hierarchies; by ignoring but thereby replicating social divisions; or by aiming to fix racial bias but ultimately doing quite the opposite. Moreover, she makes a compelling case for race itself as a kind of technology, designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice in the architecture of everyday life. This illuminating guide provides conceptual tools for decoding tech promises with sociologically informed skepticism. In doing so, it challenges us to question not only the technologies we are sold but also the ones we ourselves manufacture. Visit the book's free Discussion Guide: www.dropbox.com |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Emotions, Technology, and Design Sharon Tettegah, Safiya Noble, 2015-12-28 Emotional design explicitly addresses the emotional relationship between the objects and the subjects of design—in this book, the objects are technologies, and the subjects are technology users. The first section delves into the philosophy and theory of emotional design to provide a foundation for the rest of the book, which goes on to discuss emotional design principles, the design and use of emoticons, and then intelligent agents in a variety of settings. A conclusion chapter covers future research and directions. Emotions, Technology, and Design provides a thorough look at how technology design affects emotions and how to use that understanding to in practical applications. - Discusses the role of culture, trust, and identity in empathetic technology - Presents a framework for using sound to elicit positive emotional responses - Details the emotional use of color in design - Explores the use of emoticons, earcons, and tactons - Addresses the emotional design specific to agent-based environments |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Distributed Blackness André Brock, Jr., 2020-02-25 Winner, 2021 Harry Shaw and Katrina Hazzard-Donald Award for Outstanding Work in African-American Popular Culture Studies, given by the Popular Culture Association Winner, 2021 Nancy Baym Annual Book Award, given by the Association of Internet Researchers An explanation of the digital practices of the black Internet From BlackPlanet to #BlackGirlMagic, Distributed Blackness places blackness at the very center of internet culture. André Brock Jr. claims issues of race and ethnicity as inextricable from and formative of contemporary digital culture in the United States. Distributed Blackness analyzes a host of platforms and practices (from Black Twitter to Instagram, YouTube, and app development) to trace how digital media have reconfigured the meanings and performances of African American identity. Brock moves beyond widely circulated deficit models of respectability, bringing together discourse analysis with a close reading of technological interfaces to develop nuanced arguments about how “blackness” gets worked out in various technological domains. As Brock demonstrates, there’s nothing niche or subcultural about expressions of blackness on social media: internet use and practice now set the terms for what constitutes normative participation. Drawing on critical race theory, linguistics, rhetoric, information studies, and science and technology studies, Brock tabs between black-dominated technologies, websites, and social media to build a set of black beliefs about technology. In explaining black relationships with and alongside technology, Brock centers the unique joy and sense of community in being black online now. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: The Constitution of Algorithms Florian Jaton, 2021-04-27 A laboratory study that investigates how algorithms come into existence. Algorithms--often associated with the terms big data, machine learning, or artificial intelligence--underlie the technologies we use every day, and disputes over the consequences, actual or potential, of new algorithms arise regularly. In this book, Florian Jaton offers a new way to study computerized methods, providing an account of where algorithms come from and how they are constituted, investigating the practical activities by which algorithms are progressively assembled rather than what they may suggest or require once they are assembled. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Digital Black Feminism Catherine Knight Steele, 2021-10-26 This book traces the long arc of Black women's relationship with technology from the antebellum south to the social media era demonstrating how digital culture transforms and is transformed by Black feminist thought-- |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Data Feminism Catherine D'Ignazio, Lauren F. Klein, 2020-03-31 A new way of thinking about data science and data ethics that is informed by the ideas of intersectional feminism. Today, data science is a form of power. It has been used to expose injustice, improve health outcomes, and topple governments. But it has also been used to discriminate, police, and surveil. This potential for good, on the one hand, and harm, on the other, makes it essential to ask: Data science by whom? Data science for whom? Data science with whose interests in mind? The narratives around big data and data science are overwhelmingly white, male, and techno-heroic. In Data Feminism, Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein present a new way of thinking about data science and data ethics—one that is informed by intersectional feminist thought. Illustrating data feminism in action, D'Ignazio and Klein show how challenges to the male/female binary can help challenge other hierarchical (and empirically wrong) classification systems. They explain how, for example, an understanding of emotion can expand our ideas about effective data visualization, and how the concept of invisible labor can expose the significant human efforts required by our automated systems. And they show why the data never, ever “speak for themselves.” Data Feminism offers strategies for data scientists seeking to learn how feminism can help them work toward justice, and for feminists who want to focus their efforts on the growing field of data science. But Data Feminism is about much more than gender. It is about power, about who has it and who doesn't, and about how those differentials of power can be challenged and changed. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Social Dominance Jim Sidanius, Felicia Pratto, 2001-02-12 This volume focuses on two questions: why do people from one social group oppress and discriminate against people from other groups? and why is this oppression so mind numbingly difficult to eliminate? The answers to these questions are framed using the conceptual framework of social dominance theory. Social dominance theory argues that the major forms of intergroup conflict, such as racism, classism and patriarchy, are all basically derived from the basic human predisposition to form and maintain hierarchical and group-based systems of social organization. In essence, social dominance theory presumes that, beneath major and sometimes profound difference between different human societies, there is also a basic grammar of social power shared by all societies in common. We use social dominance theory in an attempt to identify the elements of this grammar and to understand how these elements interact and reinforce each other to produce and maintain group-based social hierarchy. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Time and Social Theory Barbara Adam, 2013-03-01 Time is at the forefront of contemporary scholarly inquiry across the natural sciences and the humanities. Yet the social sciences have remained substantially isolated from time-related concerns. This book argues that time should be a key part of social theory and focuses concern upon issues which have emerged as central to an understanding of today's social world. Through her analysis of time Barbara Adam shows that our contemporary social theories are firmly embedded in Newtonian science and classical dualistic philosophy. She exposes these classical frameworks of thought as inadequate to the task of conceptualizing our contemporary world of standardized time, computers, nuclear power and global telecommunications. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Automating Inequality Virginia Eubanks, 2018-01-23 WINNER: The 2019 Lillian Smith Book Award, 2018 McGannon Center Book Prize, and shortlisted for the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice Astra Taylor, author of The People's Platform: The single most important book about technology you will read this year. Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body: A must-read. A powerful investigative look at data-based discrimination?and how technology affects civil and human rights and economic equity The State of Indiana denies one million applications for healthcare, foodstamps and cash benefits in three years—because a new computer system interprets any mistake as “failure to cooperate.” In Los Angeles, an algorithm calculates the comparative vulnerability of tens of thousands of homeless people in order to prioritize them for an inadequate pool of housing resources. In Pittsburgh, a child welfare agency uses a statistical model to try to predict which children might be future victims of abuse or neglect. Since the dawn of the digital age, decision-making in finance, employment, politics, health and human services has undergone revolutionary change. Today, automated systems—rather than humans—control which neighborhoods get policed, which families attain needed resources, and who is investigated for fraud. While we all live under this new regime of data, the most invasive and punitive systems are aimed at the poor. In Automating Inequality, Virginia Eubanks systematically investigates the impacts of data mining, policy algorithms, and predictive risk models on poor and working-class people in America. The book is full of heart-wrenching and eye-opening stories, from a woman in Indiana whose benefits are literally cut off as she lays dying to a family in Pennsylvania in daily fear of losing their daughter because they fit a certain statistical profile. The U.S. has always used its most cutting-edge science and technology to contain, investigate, discipline and punish the destitute. Like the county poorhouse and scientific charity before them, digital tracking and automated decision-making hide poverty from the middle-class public and give the nation the ethical distance it needs to make inhumane choices: which families get food and which starve, who has housing and who remains homeless, and which families are broken up by the state. In the process, they weaken democracy and betray our most cherished national values. This deeply researched and passionate book could not be more timely. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Behind the Screen Sarah T. Roberts, 2019-06-25 An eye-opening look at the invisible workers who protect us from seeing humanity’s worst on today’s commercial internet Social media on the internet can be a nightmarish place. A primary shield against hateful language, violent videos, and online cruelty uploaded by users is not an algorithm. It is people. Mostly invisible by design, more than 100,000 commercial content moderators evaluate posts on mainstream social media platforms: enforcing internal policies, training artificial intelligence systems, and actively screening and removing offensive material—sometimes thousands of items per day. Sarah T. Roberts, an award-winning social media scholar, offers the first extensive ethnographic study of the commercial content moderation industry. Based on interviews with workers from Silicon Valley to the Philippines, at boutique firms and at major social media companies, she contextualizes this hidden industry and examines the emotional toll it takes on its workers. This revealing investigation of the people “behind the screen” offers insights into not only the reality of our commercial internet but the future of globalized labor in the digital age. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: White Bound Matthew Hughey, 2012-08-22 Discussions of race are inevitably fraught with tension, both in opinion and positioning. Too frequently, debates are framed as clear points of opposition—us versus them. And when considering white racial identity, a split between progressive movements and a neoconservative backlash is all too frequently assumed. Taken at face value, it would seem that whites are splintering into antagonistic groups, with differing worldviews, values, and ideological stances. White Bound investigates these dividing lines, questioning the very notion of a fracturing whiteness, and in so doing offers a unique view of white racial identity. Matthew Hughey spent over a year attending the meetings, reading the literature, and interviewing members of two white organizations—a white nationalist group and a white antiracist group. Though he found immediate political differences, he observed surprising similarities. Both groups make meaning of whiteness through a reliance on similar racist and reactionary stories and worldviews. On the whole, this book puts abstract beliefs and theoretical projection about the supposed fracturing of whiteness into relief against the realities of two groups never before directly compared with this much breadth and depth. By examining the similarities and differences between seemingly antithetical white groups, we see not just the many ways of being white, but how these actors make meaning of whiteness in ways that collectively reproduce both white identity and, ultimately, white supremacy. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: The Intersectional Internet Safiya Umoja Noble, Brendesha M. Tynes, 2016 This volume provides a means of foregrounding new questions, methods, and theories which can be applied to digital media, platforms, and infrastructures. These inquiries include, among others, how representation to hardware, software, computer code, and infrastructures might be implicated in global economic, political, and social systems of control. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: One-Dimensional Queer Roderick A. Ferguson, 2018-12-06 The story of gay rights has long been told as one of single-minded focus on the fight for sexual freedom. Yet its origins are much more complicated than this single-issue interpretation would have us believe, and to ignore gay liberation's multidimensional beginnings is to drastically underestimate its radical potential for social change. Ferguson shows how queer liberation emerged out of various insurgent struggles crossing the politics of race, gender, class, and sexuality, and deeply connected to issues of colonization, incarceration, and capitalism. Tracing the rise and fall of this intersectional politics, he argues that the one-dimensional mainstreaming of queerness falsely placed critiques of racism, capitalism, and the state outside the remit of gay liberation. As recent activism is increasingly making clear, this one-dimensional legacy has promoted forms of exclusion that marginalize queers of color, the poor, and transgender individuals. This forceful book joins the call to reimagine and reconnect the fight for social justice in all its varied forms. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Weapons of Math Destruction Cathy O'Neil, 2016 A former Wall Street quantitative analyst sounds an alarm on mathematical modeling, a pervasive new force in society that threatens to undermine democracy and widen inequality,--NoveList. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Feminist Media Studies Alison Harvey, 2019-11-20 Feminist Media Studies is a cutting-edge introduction to the core and emerging theories, methods, and approaches in a field that has blossomed over the past twenty-five years. Adopting an intersectional approach – a framework concerning the interconnected character of oppression based on gender, race, class, and other constructed identities – Alison Harvey takes a global view of gendered practices in and around the media. She provides an accessible overview of classical and contemporary issues in media culture by exploring the past, present, and future of feminist media studies, accounting for changes in the media landscape, from digital technologies and globalized media systems to emergent inequalities, discourses, and practices. By engaging with research from a diverse body of scholarship, this book situates feminist media studies as vital to researching and analysing a range of significant issues. The go-to textbook for a new generation of students, as well as an important resource for scholars, Feminist Media Studies is both an exciting invitation to the field and a passionate call to arms. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Human-Centered Data Science Cecilia Aragon, Shion Guha, Marina Kogan, Michael Muller, Gina Neff, 2022-03-01 Best practices for addressing the bias and inequality that may result from the automated collection, analysis, and distribution of large datasets. Human-centered data science is a new interdisciplinary field that draws from human-computer interaction, social science, statistics, and computational techniques. This book, written by founders of the field, introduces best practices for addressing the bias and inequality that may result from the automated collection, analysis, and distribution of very large datasets. It offers a brief and accessible overview of many common statistical and algorithmic data science techniques, explains human-centered approaches to data science problems, and presents practical guidelines and real-world case studies to help readers apply these methods. The authors explain how data scientists’ choices are involved at every stage of the data science workflow—and show how a human-centered approach can enhance each one, by making the process more transparent, asking questions, and considering the social context of the data. They describe how tools from social science might be incorporated into data science practices, discuss different types of collaboration, and consider data storytelling through visualization. The book shows that data science practitioners can build rigorous and ethical algorithms and design projects that use cutting-edge computational tools and address social concerns. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Misogynoir Transformed Moya Bailey, 2021-05-25 Where racism and sexism meet—an understanding of anti-Black misogyny When Moya Bailey first coined the term misogynoir, she defined it as the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces. She had no idea that the term would go viral, touching a cultural nerve and quickly entering into the lexicon. Misogynoir now has its own Wikipedia page and hashtag, and has been featured on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time. In Misogynoir Transformed, Bailey delves into her groundbreaking concept, highlighting Black women’s digital resistance to anti-Black misogyny on YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, and other platforms. At a time when Black women are depicted as more ugly, deficient, hypersexual, and unhealthy than their non-Black counterparts, Bailey explores how Black women have bravely used social-media platforms to confront misogynoir in a number of courageous—and, most importantly, effective—ways. Focusing on queer and trans Black women, she shows us the importance of carving out digital spaces, where communities are built around queer Black webshows and hashtags like #GirlsLikeUs. Bailey shows how Black women actively reimagine the world by engaging in powerful forms of digital resistance at a time when anti-Black misogyny is thriving on social media. A groundbreaking work, Misogynoir Transformed highlights Black women’s remarkable efforts to disrupt mainstream narratives, subvert negative stereotypes, and reclaim their lives. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Routledge Companion to Global Cyber-Security Strategy Scott N. Romaniuk, Mary Manjikian, 2021-01-28 This companion provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date comparative overview of the cyber-security strategies and doctrines of the major states and actors in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. The volume offers an introduction to each nation’s cyber-security strategy and policy, along with a list of resources in English that may be consulted for those wishing to go into greater depth. Each chapter is written by a leading academic or policy specialist, and contains the following sections: overview of national cyber-security strategy; concepts and definitions; exploration of cyber-security issues as they relate to international law and governance; critical examinations of cyber partners at home and abroad; legislative developments and processes; dimensions of cybercrime and cyberterrorism; implications of cyber-security policies and strategies. This book will be of much interest to students and practitioners in the fields of cyber-security, national security, strategic studies, foreign policy, and international relations. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: New Laws of Robotics Frank Pasquale, 2020-10-27 “Essential reading for all who have a vested interest in the rise of AI.” —Daryl Li, AI & Society “Thought-provoking...Explores how we can best try to ensure that robots work for us, rather than against us, and proposes a new set of laws to provide a conceptual framework for our thinking on the subject.” —Financial Times “Pasquale calls for a society-wide reengineering of policy, politics, economics, and labor relations to set technology on a more regulated and egalitarian path...Makes a good case for injecting more bureaucracy into our techno-dreams, if we really want to make the world a better place.” —Wired “Pasquale is one of the leading voices on the uneven and often unfair consequences of AI in our society...Every policymaker should read this book and seek his counsel.” —Safiya Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression Too many CEOs tell a simple story about the future of work: if a machine can do what you do, your job will be automated, and you will be replaced. They envision everyone from doctors to soldiers rendered superfluous by ever-more-powerful AI. Another story is possible. In virtually every walk of life, robotic systems can make labor more valuable, not less. Frank Pasquale tells the story of nurses, teachers, designers, and others who partner with technologists, rather than meekly serving as data sources for their computerized replacements. This cooperation reveals the kind of technological advance that could bring us all better health care, education, and more, while maintaining meaningful work. These partnerships also show how law and regulation can promote prosperity for all, rather than a zero-sum race of humans against machines. Policymakers must not allow corporations or engineers alone to answer questions about how far AI should be entrusted to assume tasks once performed by humans, or about the optimal mix of robotic and human interaction. The kind of automation we get—and who benefits from it—will depend on myriad small decisions about how to develop AI. Pasquale proposes ways to democratize that decision-making, rather than centralize it in unaccountable firms. Sober yet optimistic, New Laws of Robotics offers an inspiring vision of technological progress, in which human capacities and expertise are the irreplaceable center of an inclusive economy. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Shoshana Zuboff, 2019-01-15 The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called surveillance capitalism, and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior. In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth. Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new behavioral futures markets, where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new means of behavioral modification. The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a Big Other operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled hive of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit -- at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future. With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future -- if we let it. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Masked by Trust Matthew Reidsma, 2019 Examines library discovery systems to show how the algorithms that power them are not the neutral and unbiased systems that they are claimed to be, but are affected by the human biases of programmers and the commercial influences of their production-- |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Your Computer Is on Fire Thomas S. Mullaney, Benjamin Peters, Mar Hicks, Kavita Philip, 2021-03-09 Technology scholars declare an emergency: attention must be paid to the inequality, marginalization, and biases woven into our technological systems. This book sounds an alarm: we can no longer afford to be lulled into complacency by narratives of techno-utopianism, or even techno-neutrality. We should not be reassured by such soothing generalities as human error, virtual reality, or the cloud. We need to realize that nothing is virtual: everything that happens online, virtually, or autonomously happens offline first, and often involves human beings whose labor is deliberately kept invisible. Everything is IRL. In Your Computer Is on Fire, technology scholars train a spotlight on the inequality, marginalization, and biases woven into our technological systems. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Honky Dalton Conley, 2023-09-05 This vivid memoir captures how race, class, and privilege shaped a white boy’s coming of age in 1970s New York—now with a new epilogue. “I am not your typical middle-class white male,” begins Dalton Conley’s Honky, an intensely engaging memoir of growing up amid predominantly African American and Latino housing projects on New York’s Lower East Side. In narrating these sharply observed memories, from his little sister’s burning desire for cornrows to the shooting of a close childhood friend, Conley shows how race and class inextricably shaped his life—as well as the lives of his schoolmates and neighbors. In a new afterword, Conley, now a well-established senior sociologist, provides an update on what his informants’ respective trajectories tell us about race and class in the city. He further reflects on how urban areas have (and haven’t) changed over the past few decades, including the stubborn resilience of poverty in New York. At once a gripping coming-of-age story and a brilliant case study illuminating broader inequalities in American society, Honky guides us to a deeper understanding of the cultural capital of whiteness, the social construction of race, and the intricacies of upward mobility. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Design Justice Sasha Costanza-Chock, 2020-03-03 An exploration of how design might be led by marginalized communities, dismantle structural inequality, and advance collective liberation and ecological survival. What is the relationship between design, power, and social justice? “Design justice” is an approach to design that is led by marginalized communities and that aims expilcitly to challenge, rather than reproduce, structural inequalities. It has emerged from a growing community of designers in various fields who work closely with social movements and community-based organizations around the world. This book explores the theory and practice of design justice, demonstrates how universalist design principles and practices erase certain groups of people—specifically, those who are intersectionally disadvantaged or multiply burdened under the matrix of domination (white supremacist heteropatriarchy, ableism, capitalism, and settler colonialism)—and invites readers to “build a better world, a world where many worlds fit; linked worlds of collective liberation and ecological sustainability.” Along the way, the book documents a multitude of real-world community-led design practices, each grounded in a particular social movement. Design Justice goes beyond recent calls for design for good, user-centered design, and employment diversity in the technology and design professions; it connects design to larger struggles for collective liberation and ecological survival. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Power of Position Robert D. Montoya, 2022-05-24 How biodiversity classification, with its ranking of species, has social and political implications as well as implications for the field of information studies. The idea that species live in nature as pure and clear-cut named individuals is a fiction, as scientists well know. According to Robert D. Montoya, classifications are powerful mechanisms and we must better attend to the machinations of power inherent in them, as well as to how the effects of this power proliferate beyond the boundaries of their original intent. We must acknowledge the many ways our classifications are implicated in environmental, ecological, and social justice work—and information specialists must play a role in updating our notions of what it means to classify. In Power of Position, Montoya shows how classifications are systems that relate one entity with other entities, requiring those who construct a system to value an entity’s relative importance—by way of its position—within a system of other entities. These practices, says Montoya, are important ways of constituting and exerting power. Classification also has very real-world consequences. An animal classified as protected and endangered, for example, is protected by law. Montoya also discusses the Catalogue of Life, a new kind of composite classification that reconciles many local (“traditional”) taxonomies, forming a unified taxonomic backbone structure for organizing biological data. Finally, he shows how the theories of information studies are applicable to realms far beyond those of biological classification. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Artificial Unintelligence Meredith Broussard, 2019-01-29 A guide to understanding the inner workings and outer limits of technology and why we should never assume that computers always get it right. In Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard argues that our collective enthusiasm for applying computer technology to every aspect of life has resulted in a tremendous amount of poorly designed systems. We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even choosing romantic partners—that we have stopped demanding that our technology actually work. Broussard, a software developer and journalist, reminds us that there are fundamental limits to what we can (and should) do with technology. With this book, she offers a guide to understanding the inner workings and outer limits of technology—and issues a warning that we should never assume that computers always get things right. Making a case against technochauvinism—the belief that technology is always the solution—Broussard argues that it's just not true that social problems would inevitably retreat before a digitally enabled Utopia. To prove her point, she undertakes a series of adventures in computer programming. She goes for an alarming ride in a driverless car, concluding “the cyborg future is not coming any time soon”; uses artificial intelligence to investigate why students can't pass standardized tests; deploys machine learning to predict which passengers survived the Titanic disaster; and attempts to repair the U.S. campaign finance system by building AI software. If we understand the limits of what we can do with technology, Broussard tells us, we can make better choices about what we should do with it to make the world better for everyone. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: #HashtagActivism Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey, Brooke Foucault Welles, 2020-03-10 This “well-researched, nuanced” study of the rise of social media activism explores how marginalized groups use Twitter to advance counter-narratives, preempt political spin, and build diverse networks of dissent (Ms.) The power of hashtag activism became clear in 2011, when #IranElection served as an organizing tool for Iranians protesting a disputed election and offered a global audience a front-row seat to a nascent revolution. Since then, activists have used a variety of hashtags, including #JusticeForTrayvon, #BlackLivesMatter, #YesAllWomen, and #MeToo to advocate, mobilize, and communicate. In this book, Sarah Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Brooke Foucault Welles explore how and why Twitter has become an important platform for historically disenfranchised populations, including Black Americans, women, and transgender people. They show how marginalized groups, long excluded from elite media spaces, have used Twitter hashtags to advance counternarratives, preempt political spin, and build diverse networks of dissent. The authors describe how such hashtags as #MeToo, #SurvivorPrivilege, and #WhyIStayed have challenged the conventional understanding of gendered violence; examine the voices and narratives of Black feminism enabled by #FastTailedGirls, #YouOKSis, and #SayHerName; and explore the creation and use of #GirlsLikeUs, a network of transgender women. They investigate the digital signatures of the “new civil rights movement”—the online activism, storytelling, and strategy-building that set the stage for #BlackLivesMatter—and recount the spread of racial justice hashtags after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and other high-profile incidents of killings by police. Finally, they consider hashtag created by allies, including #AllMenCan and #CrimingWhileWhite. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: It's Complicated Danah Boyd, 2014-02-25 Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Ghost Work Mary L. Gray, Siddharth Suri, 2019 A startling exposé of the invisible human workforce that powers the web--and how to bring it out of the shadows. Hidden beneath the surface of the internet, a new, stark reality is looming--one that cuts to the very heart of our endless debates about the impact of AI. Anthropologist Mary L. Gray and computer scientist Siddharth Suri unveil how the services we use from companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Uber can only function smoothly thanks to the judgment and experience of a vast human labor force that is kept deliberately concealed. The people who do 'ghost work' make the internet seem smart. They perform high-tech, on-demand piecework: flagging X-rated content, proofreading, transcribing audio, confirming identities, captioning video, and much more. The shameful truth is that no labor laws protect them or even acknowledge their existence. They often earn less than legal minimums for traditional work, they have no health benefits, and they can be fired at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. An estimated 8 percent of Americans have worked in this 'ghost economy,' and that number is growing every day. In this unprecedented investigation, Gray and Suri make the case that robots will never completely eliminate 'ghost work' and the unchecked quest for artificial intelligence could spark catastrophic work conditions if not stopped in its tracks. Ultimately, they show how this essential type of work can create opportunity--rather than misery--for those who do it.--Dust jacket. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: The Cambridge Handbook of Computing Education Research Sally A. Fincher, Anthony V. Robins, 2019-02-13 This is an authoritative introduction to Computing Education research written by over 50 leading researchers from academia and the industry. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Making All Black Lives Matter Barbara Ransby, 2018-08-28 A powerful — and personal — account of the movement and its players.—The Washington Post “This perceptive resource on radical black liberation movements in the 21st century can inform anyone wanting to better understand . . . how to make social change.”—Publishers Weekly The breadth and impact of Black Lives Matter in the United States has been extraordinary. Between 2012 and 2016, thousands of people marched, rallied, held vigils, and engaged in direct actions to protest and draw attention to state and vigilante violence against Black people. What began as outrage over the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin and the exoneration of his killer, and accelerated during the Ferguson uprising of 2014, has evolved into a resurgent Black Freedom Movement, which includes a network of more than fifty organizations working together under the rubric of the Movement for Black Lives coalition. Employing a range of creative tactics and embracing group-centered leadership models, these visionary young organizers, many of them women, and many of them queer, are not only calling for an end to police violence, but demanding racial justice, gender justice, and systemic change. In Making All Black Lives Matter, award-winning historian and longtime activist Barbara Ransby outlines the scope and genealogy of this movement, documenting its roots in Black feminist politics and situating it squarely in a Black radical tradition, one that is anticapitalist, internationalist, and focused on some of the most marginalized members of the Black community. From the perspective of a participant-observer, Ransby maps the movement, profiles many of its lesser-known leaders, measures its impact, outlines its challenges, and looks toward its future. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Bitstreams Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, 2021-10-08 In Bitstreams, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum distills twenty years of thinking about the intersection of digital media, textual studies, and literary archives to argue that bits—the ubiquitous ones and zeros of computing— always depend on the material world that surrounds them to form the bulwark for preserving the future of literary heritage. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Prefigurative Politics Paul Raekstad, Sofa Saio Gradin, 2020-02-03 Many of us wonder what we could possibly do to end oppression, exploitation, and injustice. People have studied revolutions and protest movements for centuries, but few have focused on prefigurative politics, the idea of 'building the new society within the shell of the old'. Fed up with capitalism? Get organised and build the institutions of the future in radical unions and local communities. Tired of politicians stalling on climate change? Set up an alternative energy collective. Ready to smash racism and the patriarchy? Root them out in all areas of our lives, not just in 'high politics'. This is the first book dedicated to prefigurative politics, explaining its history and examining the various debates surrounding it. How can collective decision-making be inclusive? In what ways are movements intersectional? Can prefigurative organisations scale up? It is a must-read for students of radical politics, anarchism, and social movements, as well as activists and concerned citizens everywhere. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Patterns, Predictions, and Actions: Foundations of Machine Learning Moritz Hardt, Benjamin Recht, 2022-08-23 An authoritative, up-to-date graduate textbook on machine learning that highlights its historical context and societal impacts Patterns, Predictions, and Actions introduces graduate students to the essentials of machine learning while offering invaluable perspective on its history and social implications. Beginning with the foundations of decision making, Moritz Hardt and Benjamin Recht explain how representation, optimization, and generalization are the constituents of supervised learning. They go on to provide self-contained discussions of causality, the practice of causal inference, sequential decision making, and reinforcement learning, equipping readers with the concepts and tools they need to assess the consequences that may arise from acting on statistical decisions. Provides a modern introduction to machine learning, showing how data patterns support predictions and consequential actions Pays special attention to societal impacts and fairness in decision making Traces the development of machine learning from its origins to today Features a novel chapter on machine learning benchmarks and datasets Invites readers from all backgrounds, requiring some experience with probability, calculus, and linear algebra An essential textbook for students and a guide for researchers |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Biased Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD, 2019-03-26 Poignant....important and illuminating.—The New York Times Book Review Groundbreaking.—Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy From one of the world’s leading experts on unconscious racial bias come stories, science, and strategies to address one of the central controversies of our time How do we talk about bias? How do we address racial disparities and inequities? What role do our institutions play in creating, maintaining, and magnifying those inequities? What role do we play? With a perspective that is at once scientific, investigative, and informed by personal experience, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt offers us the language and courage we need to face one of the biggest and most troubling issues of our time. She exposes racial bias at all levels of society—in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and criminal justice system. Yet she also offers us tools to address it. Eberhardt shows us how we can be vulnerable to bias but not doomed to live under its grip. Racial bias is a problem that we all have a role to play in solving. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Extremism J. M. Berger, 2018-08-28 What extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence. A rising tide of extremist movements threaten to destabilize civil societies around the globe. It has never been more important to understand extremism, yet the dictionary definition—a logical starting point in a search for understanding—tells us only that extremism is “the quality or state of being extreme.” In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, J. M. Berger offers a nuanced introduction to extremist movements, explaining what extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence. Berger shows that although the ideological content of extremist movements varies widely, there are common structural elements. Berger, an expert on extremist movements and terrorism, explains that extremism arises from a perception of “us versus them,” intensified by the conviction that the success of “us” is inseparable from hostile acts against “them.” Extremism differs from ordinary unpleasantness—run-of-the-mill hatred and racism—by its sweeping rationalization of an insistence on violence. Berger illustrates his argument with case studies and examples from around the world and throughout history, from the destruction of Carthage by the Romans—often called “the first genocide”—to the apocalyptic jihadism of Al Qaeda, America's new “alt-right,” and the anti-Semitic conspiracy tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He describes the evolution of identity movements, individual and group radicalization, and more. If we understand the causes of extremism, and the common elements of extremist movements, Berger says, we will be more effective in countering it. |
| algorithms of oppression ebook: Not All Dead White Men Donna Zuckerberg, 2018-10-08 A Times Higher Education Book of the Week A virulent strain of antifeminism is thriving online that treats women’s empowerment as a mortal threat to men and to the integrity of Western civilization. Its proponents cite ancient Greek and Latin texts to support their claims—from Ovid’s Ars Amatoria to Seneca and Marcus Aurelius—arguing that they articulate a model of masculinity that sustained generations but is now under siege. Not All Dead White Men reveals that some of the most controversial and consequential debates about the legacy of the ancients are raging not in universities but online. “A chilling account of trolling, misogyny, racism, and bad history proliferated online by the Alt-Right... Zuckerberg makes a persuasive case for why we need a new, more critical, and less comfortable relationship between the ancient and modern worlds in this important and very timely book.” —Emily Wilson, translator of The Odyssey “Explores how ideas about Ancient Greece and Rome are used and misused by antifeminist thinkers today.” —Time “Zuckerberg presciently analyzes these communities’...embrace of stoicism as a self-help tool to gain confidence, jobs, and girlfriends. Their adoration of men like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Ovid...is founded in a limited and distorted interpretation of ancient philosophy...lending heft and authority to sexism and abuse.” —The Nation “Traces the application—and misapplication—of classical authors and texts in online communities that see feminism as a threat.” —Bitch Media |
Algorithm - Wikipedia
Algorithms are used as specifications for performing calculations and data processing. More advanced algorithms can use conditionals to divert the code execution …
What is an Algorithm | Introduction to Algorithms
Apr 29, 2025 · Algorithms are necessary for solving complex problems efficiently and effectively. They help to automate processes and make them more reliable, faster, and …
What Is an Algorithm? | Definition & Examples - Scribbr
Aug 9, 2023 · Algorithms are fundamental tools for problem-solving in both the digital world and many real-life scenarios. Each time we try to solve a problem by breaking it …
What is an Algorithm? Definition, Types, Implementation
Sep 28, 2023 · Understanding the different types of algorithms can help in selecting the most appropriate one for solving a specific problem. Broadly, we can categorize …
Algorithm | Definition, Types, & Facts | Britannica
Apr 22, 2025 · Algorithms exist for many such infinite classes of questions; Euclid’s Elements, published about 300 bce, contained one for finding the greatest …
Algorithm - Wikipedia
Algorithms are used as specifications for performing calculations and data processing. More advanced algorithms can use conditionals to divert the …
What is an Algorithm | Introduction to Algorithms
Apr 29, 2025 · Algorithms are necessary for solving complex problems efficiently and effectively. They help to automate processes and make them more …
What Is an Algorithm? | Definition & Examples - Scribbr
Aug 9, 2023 · Algorithms are fundamental tools for problem-solving in both the digital world and many real-life scenarios. Each time we try to …
What is an Algorithm? Definition, Types, Implement…
Sep 28, 2023 · Understanding the different types of algorithms can help in selecting the most appropriate one for solving a specific problem. …
Algorithm | Definition, Types, & Facts | Britannica
Apr 22, 2025 · Algorithms exist for many such infinite classes of questions; Euclid’s Elements, published about 300 bce, contained one for finding the …
