من تصميم Safiya Umoja Noble
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.
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.
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February 15, 2018
Noble (information studies, Univ. of California, Los Angeles; coeditor, The Intersectional Internet) presents convincing evidence of the need for closer scrutiny and regulation of search engine architecture and algorithms and challenges the accepted premise that Google results can be trusted as credible and unbiased. Using a feminist lens, the author demonstrates specific examples of search results that feature sites promoting racist and sexist stereotypes, reinforce society's hegemonic frameworks, and lead to technological redlining of women and minority groups. The book also addresses inherent problems with the corporate control of online public information sources, how sites game the system through search optimization, and how it is nearly impossible to have personal information removed from the Internet. Noble closes with recommendations for the future, ranging from needed regulations on search engines to a call for information science professionals to collaborate with researchers from the fields of sociology, gender and minority studies, and communication. She argues that while Google is a powerful resource for organizing and accessing information, it will never reach its potential without a greater commitment to shared democratic values and social justice. VERDICT A thought-provoking, well-researched work with historical and current discussions that are especially important for information professionals.--Theresa Muraski, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Lib.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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January 1, 2018
How Google and other search engines represent marginalized people in "erroneous, stereotypical, or even pornographic ways."Noble (Information Studies/UCLA; co-editor: Emotions, Technology, and Design, 2016, etc.) was drawn to her subject in 2011, when her Google search on the keywords "black girls" brought up a black pornography site as the first hit. Her subsequent research has led her to conclude that such web searches yielding racism and sexism as the first results reflect "a corporate logic of either willful neglect or a profit imperative that makes money from racism and sexism." Google has since changed its algorithm for the "black girls" search, but the author has identified and writes here about many other instances of search engine "recklessness and lack of regard" for women and people of color--e.g., a 2016 Google Images search for "gorillas" that produced photographs of black women. Arguing from a black feminist perspective, Noble says such search findings "increasingly lead to racial and gender profiling, misrepresentation, and even economic redlining." She notes that contrary to the popular belief that Google is a public resource, the search engine is a commercial enterprise--an advertising agency--that "biases search to its own economic interests." As a result, she writes, the company often prioritizes powerful or highly capitalized industries and interests. Also, due to the lack of diversity in Silicon Valley and the general lack of people with an understanding of racism and sexism, search engines fail to carefully analyze the potential impacts of their products. Whether by neglect or deliberation, girls' identities are often "commercialized, sexualized, or made curiosities." As Noble writes, "intention is not particularly important." Meanwhile, pornography and other businesses work to maximize their search results. Other topics covered include Google's monopoly on information and the need for regulation. Jargon limits the book's accessibility, and a chapter on the views of search engine officials is curiously lacking.A distressing account of algorithms run amok.COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- Chicago Tribune Rather than being a neutral arbiter that sorts content by quality, Noble argues that search engines are easily gamed in ways that reflect discriminatory practices. Even without malevolent actors, search engines may be perpetuating racist stereotypes.
- The Financial Times Nobles thesis is a new tune in the ever-louder chorus that, in light of the dominance of the big tech companies, is singing for 'protections and attention that work in service of the public'.
- Library Journal [P]resents convincing evidence of the need for closer scrutiny and regulation of search engine[s].A thought-provoking, well-researched work.
- Los Angeles Review of Books Noble argues...that the web is ...a machine of oppression...[Her] central insight - that nothing about internet search and retrieval is political neutral - is made...through the accumulation of alarming and disturbing examples. [She] makes a compelling case that pervasive racism online inflames racist violence IRL.
- Kirkus Reviews A distressing account of algorithms run amok.
- New York Journal of Books Algorithms of Oppressionis a wakeup call to bring awareness to the biases of the internet, and should motivate all concerned people to ask why those biases exist, and who they benefit.
- Pacific Standard Noble offers a compelling look into the structure of digitized informationmost of it driven by advertising revenueand how it perpetuates racist assumptions and ideologies.
- Popmatters.com Noble makes a strong case that present technologies and search engines are not just imperfect, but they enact actual harm to people and communities.
- Popmatters.com 50 Best Book of 2018 So Far, "There's been a growing swell of concern in the academic community about the stranglehold that commercial (for-profit) search engines have over access to information in our world. Safiya Umoja Noble builds on this body of work...to demonstrate that search engines, and in particular Google, are not simply imperfect machines, but systems designed by humans in ways that replicate the power structures of the western countries where they are built, complete with all the sexism and racism that are built into those structures.
- STARRED Booklist Noble demolishes the popular assumption that Google is a values-free tool with no agenda...She astutely questions the wisdom of turning so much of our data and intellectual capital over to a corporate monopoly.Nobles study should prompt some soul-searching about our reliance on commercial search engines and about digital social equity.
- Metascience Nobles incisive work centers around the fact that, at present, Googles search engine promotes structural inequality through multiple examples and that this is not just a & design problem but an inherent political problem that has shaped the entirety of twentieth-century technology design. In addition to her illustrative examples and incisive criticism, Noble offers practicable policy solutions.
- This Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory A good read for anyone interested in how bias can be expressed by lines of code. Even those already familiar with the issues will find new insight in the connections and impact Noble outlines. The book is accessible even to those who are not well-versed in the technology of search engines.
