Paperback, 256 pages
English language
Published Oct. 30, 2018 by NYU Press.
4 stars
(10 reviews)
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms
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 …
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms
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.
barbara fister reviewed Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble
Review of 'Algorithms of Oppression' on 'LibraryThing'
Safiya Umoja Nobleâs Algorithms of Oppression is a book I waited for impatiently because I was familiar enough with her research to know it fit my reading interests and was important in my profession. (It jumped into the pages of Inside Higher Ed when a hasty Twitter questioning of the book's validity by a major tech organizationâs official Twitter account based on nothing more than a quick glance at a publisherâs description led to a backlash. And many comments here at IHE, of course.) Itâs the culmination of years of studying the ways algorithmic information systems â Google Algorithms of Oppression coverSearch in particular â represent people who are not white and not male. She noticed years ago, when shopping for her nieces, that black girls looking themselves up, would see lots of porn because thatâs what Google thought you must be looking for. After she published an article about …
Safiya Umoja Nobleâs Algorithms of Oppression is a book I waited for impatiently because I was familiar enough with her research to know it fit my reading interests and was important in my profession. (It jumped into the pages of Inside Higher Ed when a hasty Twitter questioning of the book's validity by a major tech organizationâs official Twitter account based on nothing more than a quick glance at a publisherâs description led to a backlash. And many comments here at IHE, of course.) Itâs the culmination of years of studying the ways algorithmic information systems â Google Algorithms of Oppression coverSearch in particular â represent people who are not white and not male. She noticed years ago, when shopping for her nieces, that black girls looking themselves up, would see lots of porn because thatâs what Google thought you must be looking for. After she published an article about it, those search results changed. Thereâs no way of knowing what prompted the change, but every so often, when Google is called out for search results that are surprising â denial sites, for example, topping the list of results when searching for information about the Holocaust â they make some tweaks. This is not a systematic overhaul of how the algorithm works, itâs PR and brand protection, with a side of âoh heck, we didnât expect that to happen.âreturnreturnNoble unpacks the trouble with corporations that have no public accountability except to shareholders dominating our information landscape and, in particular, how problematic their systems are for women and people of color. The design of our most dominant information gateway poaches unpaid labor, imagines the world to be just like those who write the code to sell attention and adds, and gives us back a reflection of ourselves that is warped by not jumbling information together without context. Its dominance means journalists now have to make their stories more sensational to be found in the din, and that whole communities lose their connections as their own histories are crowded out. (Thereâs an excellent interview that shows how Yelp has affected one black womanâs business and how the system we may use casually to check out options actually demands constant payments from businesses to make their online profiles more visible while making networks of word-of-mouth less vital.)returnreturnThis is a book librarians and anyone else who worries about the state of our information systems should check out. Iâll share a few of the many quotes I noted down to give you some flavor.returnreturn Algorithmic oppression is not just a glitch in the system but, rather, is fundamental to the operating system of the web (10).returnreturn Googleâs enviable position as the monopoly leader in the provision of information has allowed its organization of information and customization to be driven by its economic imperatives and has influenced broad swathes of society to see it as the creator and keeper of information culture online, which I am arguing is another form of American imperialism that manifests itself as âgatekeeperâ on the web (86).returnreturn Algorithms are, and will continue to be, loaded with power (171).returnreturnThough in an epilogue, written after Trumpâs election, Noble admits her solutions â strengthening the social institutions that are unlikely to get anything but decreased budgets and creating public options - aren't in the cards, she believes we need to change our information systems fundamentally.returnreturn Without public funding and adequate information policy that protects the rights to fair representation online, an escalation in the erosion of quality information to inform the public will continue . . . My hope is that the public will reclaim its institutions and direct our resources in service of a multiracial democracy. Now, more than ever, we need libraries, universities, schools, and information resources that will help bolster and further expand democracy for all, rather than shrink the landscape of participation along racial, religious, and gendered lines" (181, 186).
Subjects
- Sociological aspects
- Search engines
- Discrimination