Seeing Beneath the Surface

Current reads that offer real and imagined dangers  

[two hardcover books: Seen Yet Unseen: A Black Woman Crashes the Tech Fraternity by Bari A. Williams, There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh] 

[front cover of a hardcover book: Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble] 

Algorithms of Oppression:How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble 

non-fiction information technology 

NYU Press, 2018 

This wonk-erful text is compelling and accessible for non-wonks. The information provided is also disturbing. 

On page 29 the author declares her intentions: 

...In the ensuing chapters, I continue to probe results that generated by Google on a variety of keyword combinations relating to racial and gender identity as a way of engaging a commonsense understanding of how power works... By seeing and discussing these intersectional power relations, we have a significant opportunity to transform the consciousness embedded in artificial intelligence,  since it is in fact, in part, a product of our own collective creation. 

And later on page 33: 

I intend to meaningfully articulate the ways that commercialization is the source of power that drives the consumption of Black women's and girls' representative identity on the web.  

Algorithms of Oppression does more than identify the problem; it suggests practical solutions. 

Overall intentions summarized at the end of chapter four: 

In addition to public policy, we can conceptualize the design of indexes of the web that might be managed by librarians and information institutions and workers to radically shift our ability to contextualize information. This could lead to significantly greater transparency, rather than continuing to make the neoliberal capitalist project of commercial search opaque.   

Chapter five, "The Future of Knowledge in the Public" makes the argument that currently representation in commercially driven search engines strips context from groups of people who are routinely marginalized and dominated by systemic discrimination, to their further detriment.  

The final words of the epilogue issue a call to action: 

In short, we must fight to suspend the circulation of racist and sexist material that is used to erode our civil and human rights. I hope this book provides some steps toward doing so. 

It does. 

Acknowledgements, an introduction, six succinct chapters that blend hard science with intention and human connection, a conclusion, epilogue, notes, references, index, and professional tidbits about the author make Algorithms of Oppression a fascinating, enlightening read.  

Enjoy the author's Time 100 conversation here: 

https://time.com/5901379/prince-harry-meghan-markle-tristan-harris-safiya-noble/