{"id":840,"date":"2019-11-24T10:32:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T15:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/?p=840"},"modified":"2019-11-24T10:32:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T15:32:46","slug":"racism-technology-kirstin-yip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/cities-and-society\/racism-technology-kirstin-yip\/","title":{"rendered":"Racism & Technology – Kirstin Yip"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 18th<\/sup> November\u2019s discussion, Katie and I led a discussion on the first three chapters of \u201cAlgorithms of Oppression\u201d by Safiya Umoja Noble. As a class, we discussed the ways in which we individually interact with Google and the Internet and how it shaped (or did not shape) our upbringing. We shared about how Google has changed racist or sexist search results over the years since the book first started collecting data and saw how algorithms warped our ideas of both race and gender. We delved into the topics of censorship, corporate interests and finding agency and familiarity within technology (in the creation of safe spaces on the Internet).<\/p>\n

We linked Noble\u2019s book to several theories and past readings: Google and Silicon Valley are seen as white spaces, per Anderson\u2019s theory, where people of color (or even people that are not men) are systematically being denied access or treated as outsiders when they are there. Linking to our previous discussions around DiAngelo\u2019s White Fragility<\/em>, we discussed who the onus should fall on for representation in algorithms: the dominant group already present in the industry or the marginalized people of color, through programs such as Black Girls Code. Noble also brought up the idea of Omi and Winant\u2019s theory on racial formation on page 79, but we did not discuss much about that.<\/p>\n

As a class, we were introduced to new concepts to further our understanding of capitalism vis-a-vis our discussion on Google and algorithms. We learned about the idea of soft power and hard power and Max Weber\u2019s iron cage of rationality. Weber\u2019s idea of the iron cage becomes relevant to analyze technology\u2019s place in our lives as it grows in dominance. Are we okay with giving up our privacy and data and conforming to using racist and sexist software if it\u2019s the most convenient? Is it even possible to avoid using Google and all its algorithms?<\/p>\n

I was surprised to learn how many people still used Google as their main search engine, expecting that there would be more push back since more people across the globe are beginning to understand its more nefarious, profit-driven intentions. Upon reflection with Prof. Greene I also understood how connected I still was to Google, through Gmail, Google Docs, Google Slides, Duo and the use of my Gmail account to link to accounts on other websites. Even if I wasn\u2019t using the main search engine, I was still stuck in the iron cage that is Google\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

We also analyzed how soft and hard power could explain whether Google was a form of American or Western imperialism. Noble raised a point about how Google is seen as an international product but is predicated on U.S.-based norms, which several classmates refuted, or attributed to more \u2018Western\u2019 ideals rather than American ideals.<\/p>\n

I found this particularly interesting. As someone who grew up outside of the United States,\u00a0I knew Google was from the U.S., but I never doubted its knowledge of regional contexts given that it had special extensions like .sg for Google Singapore, or .uk for Britain. I couldn\u2019t see how something like Google \u2013 which to me, was more like a sandbox \u2013 could impose any norms on its users. It\u2019s still difficult for me to see it in my own life at this point, but now I have a new lens to view it with as I go about my further interactions with Google.<\/p>\n

When I presented the article about using your forearm as a \u2018pass\u2019 to get into the Black People Twitter, I was surprised at the responses from the class and how many people thought it was unacceptable. I disagree and think that people are entitled to safe spaces, even digitally, especially people who have been denied and degraded for so long in these same spaces.\u00a0I don\u2019t think using your forearm is the best way to go about it, for efficiency\u2019s sake, but I understand the intention behind it.<\/p>\n

Technological redlining and algorithmic oppression as terms to frame the discussion were things that could have been discussed more. Noble also brought up suggestions of legal protections and education that we could have touched on, with more general deliberation on what we can do to counter this technological iron cage.<\/p>\n

Abby raised an interesting question about which advertisers pay Google the most. I wasn\u2019t able to find any information for recent years, but a chart revealed that Amazon was the top spender in 2013, followed by Priceline, AT&T, and Expedia. (Source<\/a>) More recent data<\/a> from 2018 shows the industries that spend the most on Google advertising, which are retail, automotive and telecom. These are some interesting things to consider about how capitalism and technology have become so deeply intertwined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For 18th November\u2019s discussion, Katie and I led a discussion on the first three chapters of \u201cAlgorithms of Oppression\u201d by Safiya Umoja Noble. As a class, we discussed the ways in which we individually interact with Google and the Internet and how it shaped (or did not shape) our upbringing. We shared about how Google […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":863,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cities-and-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/863"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}