Exploring the Impact of Algorithmic Bias: A Look at How Search Engines Reinforce Racism

Schneider: This good explains to non technical audience the processes and procedures that create racist and misogynic results when using public available algorithms

Germany on Apr 29, 2023

Lover of Books: Everyone should read this.

Canada on Dec 11, 2022

Preston: This was a great book and one of a kind, and very much needed. It took me about 2 weeks to read and it helped me connect the history of categorization to oppression.

The one thing that I wish could have been done better is making it an easy read for folks NOT in academia. I was able to comprehend, but this read is definitely not reader friendly for folks outside academia. In order to fully understand, one must be very informed about the impact of structural oppression (which unfortunately the average person is not). It looks like the authors purpose in writing this book was to influence legislation to protect the people from companies like Google. But it would be nice if regular folks had something accessible to them on this subject since they are the targets.

United States on Apr 27, 2022

GRD: This book should be required reading for everyone in the tech sector and should be a reference for all of us currently swimming in this sea of technology. This is a well written, important book that exposes and explains problems of bias that permeate all corners of technology. We have been led to believe that the Internet is an open neutral environment, but this books shows us that premise must be abandoned.

Canada on Jan 27, 2022

Samantha: This is an evidence-based book plus more on how search engines reinforce racism, stereotypes, and the negative consequences. Noble touches on the ranking system of Google and warns us about the dangers of prioritizing commercial interest over providing information that best serves the interest of all. Because we live in a world where there is an unequal balance of power certain populist views and values can be promoted on such platforms. Therefore, motivating the need for public policy to intervene in order to protect the public especially marginalized communities.

Noble also provides a black feminist perspective as she sheds spotlight on the history of oppression of Black women and how the negative stereotypes came about and how this image of black women is reinforced by search engines. This is part of the problem why the dismantling of unconscious bias etc is very difficult. We cannot achieve equality if different/diverse social context is left out in technology design.

This book really gives you a lot to think about and I am encouraged to learn more about bias in AI from a social and humanitarian perspective.

Germany on Oct 19, 2020

Isaac: I think this book is a good entry point for you to do your own research. The author relies heavily on other case studies and does a great job at synthesizing their results for the reader. Given that, Dr. Noble chooses when and she she does not want to go into the details. I think it's important for you to go ahead and look into the details yourself.

For example, the claim that Google is seen as the de facto source for objective truth goes largely unchecked, but that is the basis for a lot of the proposed solutions to algorithmic bias. I would have loved to see more research on how the public views the quality and accuracy of the information and rankings that are shown on Google. Yes, people click the top result most often, but why does that necessarily mean that the top result is being accepted as objective fact?

The example of Google Photos identifying a black teenager as a gorilla hit home for me since I went to high school with that person. The level of detail on how search algorithms come up with such results is much appreciated. A lot of the case studies do excellent objective analysis and is succinctly summarized for a curious reader.

All in all, the...

United States on Jun 12, 2020

crim law prof: Algorithms of oppression is essential reading for anyone who uses Google or other services online. Unlike some of the books attempting to explain the ways corporate monopolies shape the Internet, this book is beautifully written and easy for those not from a tech background to understand. Noble focuses on one key site- Google and other Internet searches - to explain how algorithms reflect and magnify human biases to drive discrimination and increase inequality between the few rich white men who run Silicon Valley and the rest of us.

This book should be required reading for everyone. Noble uses everyday examples to make the invisible processes that shape and corrupt search results online visible. This is an example of what the best scholarship does- addressing a social problem and educating the public about it.

Noble's original analysis improves on other work on algorithms and bias by foregrounding race, gender, and class and advocating for practical solutions. The resulting book will inspire parallel work on algorithms, search, and culture by providing a method for making the values and interests driving culture visible despite them being so normalised as to be...

United States on Jul 11, 2019

Khadijah Abdurahman: Thank you to Dr. Noble for this incredible contribution to the body of work serving as a permanent record of resistance to algorithmic rearticulations of eugenics. Thank you for centering critical race theory (CRT) as the epistemic lens through which we must evaluate the social impact of predictive analytics.

There is sections that at first glance feel *jargon laden*, but a patient reader will be rewarded with rich insights brought in by the information/library science expertise. We’re in an era where the Google color palette is immediately recognizable on the cover but few people pause to consider the implications of our communal knowledge being processed and delivered by the multi billion dollar company that’s far from politically or ideologically neutral.

She does a good job forcing us to pause and consider why Google Search initially generated images of Gorrilas when ‘Black Woman’ was entered as a keyword. This error and similar cases have since been programmatically removed from the search engine but the more global questions-how did we transition our communal knowledge and it’s curation to neoliberal industry absent public comment, how do we intervene...

United States on Mar 09, 2019

Deb Stacey: The problem with embedded biases in software and digital tech production and culture is hidden in plain view. I work in computer science and I wish that all of my students could be exposed to this book and to the author’s thinking. Our unknowing trust in software and the enterprises that produce it, is weakening our democracy and working against a diverse, multiracial society where differences are recognized and celebrated. Large tech companies are not benign - they are every bit as dangerous if unregulated as the extraction/energy industries that we mostly feel should be monitored and controlled. This book is a great introduction to one of the most important issues of our times - politically, economically and socially.

Read this book. Think. Act.

Canada on Jun 07, 2018