Databite No. 124: Ruha Benjamin
Benjamin discussed how structural racism operates in algorithms, social media, and other technology that has not yet been discovered. “Tech fixes for social problems aren’t just about tech impact, but also about social norm, racial norm, and structure shape what tools are imagined in the first place.” The best example would be the racist robot in the medical algorithm that favors white patients over sicker black patients. Indifference to social reality on the part of tech designers and adopters can be more harmful than malicious intent. The New Jim Code shows how the algorithms can extend instead of diminishing racial discrimination.
Main question:
What are some other examples of discriminatory design?
What are the ways tech designers/artists can do to construct a different social reality? Is it really possible to create fair and just algorithms in an unfair and unjust society?
Laboring Infrastructures
Nakamura talks about VR2.0. Though VR2.0 still shares some major commons with our current VR experience: expensive equipment and male-dominated developers/users, it helps generate specific engineering feelings like compassion sympathy and tears. “You can’t trust people when they speak their own truth, but you need to experience for yourself to know”.
Is VR a promising industry for you? Where do you see the industry go in the future?
Algorithms of Oppression
Noble discussed the biased algorithm towards the underrepresented people. I’ve heard of all those search engine algorithm’s racist examples (image results of three black kids vs white kids, Asian/Latino/Black girls)- but I think they tweaked the algorithm, so the search results are not the same anymore. I realized how far we’re from real gender equality even though it’s 2020 now.
Is Google the only browser having this issue? Or all the search algorithms are like this?